During a webinar for Vietnamese professionals, a 39-year-old male named Rich Vu speaks about his experiences as a Vietnamese American entrepreneur in Saigon. The color of his black eyebrows and red lips are oversaturated in the Zoom camera, like the mythical heroes in ancient artworks. Before Rich’s anecdote, the conversation had been about bland racial identity politics.

Millennial and Gen Z Vietnamese professionals with perfect English complained about whites asking, “Where are you really from?,” sob stories about primary school classmates complaining about stinky lunches and dating disasters where their companion called them little lotuses or Jacky Chans.