500 Vietnamese protest casino in Garden Grove CA.

by Tracker
9/1/07

Leaders in the Garden Grove Vietnamese community have been organizing to stop a proposed casino in the Orange County city. About 500 Vietnamese Americans packed the city's Community Meeting Center last month, carrying banners and holding signs protesting casinos and gambling.

Five elected Vietnamese officials signed a letter sent to Mayor Bill Dalton stating their objection to the casino project. This has caused friction with the Santa Monica-based Gabrielino-Tongva Indian Tribe, who is proposing two casino resorts. Native American representatives have called it "a political hit piece" and an "outrage." Other city elected officials have also severely criticized the Vietnamese.

However, Asians disproportionately patronize casinos, and the fear of gambling addiction is real.

During recent years, Garden Grove has also attracted notice as the target of a resolution, proposed by Vietnamese officials, declaring it off-limits to visiting officials from Vietnam and other communist countries.

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