I Love Yous are For White People

Chapter 2 opens in Hong Kong with Pa warning his family that life will not be as it was in Da Nang. They move from one tent city to another until overcrowding prompts local authorities to house some refugees in hotels, including the Sus. Pa is suspicious of their sudden good fortune. He does not trust government authorities, a feeling that stems from his childhood experiences with China’s Communist Party, whose policies caused mass famine and forced him to move in with an uncle in Vietnam. Unhappy at having to care for another child, Pa’s uncle abused him physically and fed him table scraps. Pa left his uncle’s house at the age of 12, surviving on his own by selling banh bao for a vendor on the streets of Da Nang. He expanded the business after his employer died and left him his recipes. By the age of 23, he was well-known in his community as the prosperous owner of several businesses.

Pa and Ma announce their departure for America the day after Su’s fifth birthday. They arrive at a dilapidated building in Hollywood populated by Hispanic and Asian immigrants. Pa hits Su when he catches him playing with a “balloon” (a condom discarded by a prostitute), marking the beginning of years of physical abuse at the hands of his father. Pa becomes increasingly controlling in his efforts to protect his family. He refuses to let Su play with children in the neighborhood, instead forcing him to stay home and learn Chinese.

Like the rest of the family, Ma struggles with the realities of life in the US. Despite having been disowned, she misses her parents and 10 siblings, particularly her mother. She worries when Pa does not return from his first day as a prep cook. When he reappears the next morning, he explains that he got lost on the bus and found himself unable to ask for directions. The next day, he takes Su dumpster diving to familiarize him with the neighborhood. Pa threatens to leave Su to find his own way home, but he relents when his son starts crying.

Ma leaves the children unattended in their West Los Angeles apartment after receiving a late-night phone call. Su comforts Quy until she goes to sleep, but he is ill-equipped to handle the stress of being without his parents. He falls asleep, only to be wakened by a call from Ma, who tells him Pa is in the hospital. Su and Quy eat cereal and quietly wander around the apartment. Their placid behavior is at odds with their normally fractious relationship. Su wakes to find Pa in bed heavily bandaged and covered with cuts and bruises. Ma reveals that a Mexican gang attacked Pa with PVC pipes, stealing his watch, wallet, and leather jacket before driving a screwdriver into his throat and leaving him for dead.

Pa’s scars are still healing when the school year begins. Su is apprehensive on his first day, despite reassurances from his parents. Wanting to make a good first impression, Pa dresses Su in a suit and tie and walks him to school, where the other children tease him. Pa tells him not to cry, but Su cannot hold back his tears. His teacher is horrified when Pa yells at Su. Inside the classroom, the children recite the Pledge of Allegiance and sing God Bless America. In ELS class, Su befriends a Vietnamese boy named Phat Bich, now called Johnny. The English lesson is too easy, but he and Johnny fool the teacher into thinking they know less than they do. On the playground, the two friends try to play with the white and Hispanic children, but both groups reject them.

Pa takes the family out to an American restaurant, a fast-food establishment called Bob’s Big Boy. The family dresses up for the occasion, but the cheerful mood dampens when Pa berates Ma for speaking to the waitress in Vietnamese. Pa points to various items on the menu, but the waitress does not understand his order. He wants to ask for chopsticks when four hamburgers, French fries, and coleslaw arrive at the table, bristling when he sees other patrons eating with their hands. Despite the awkwardness, the family enjoys their outing until the check arrives and the waitress informs Pa he cannot pay with food stamps. Unable to overcome the language barrier, she calls the manager, who grows frustrated with the family and throws them out. 

Su performs poorly in school. Every night after finishing his homework, Pa quizzes him in math and Chinese, withholding food until he is satisfied. Su goes to bed hungry when he fails to meet his father’s expectations. Pa beats Su with bamboo shoots every time he answers questions incorrectly or dozes off, switching to other weapons when the shoots break. Su normalizes the abuse and wishes he could be smarter to please his father. Ma offers the spirits sugar cookies and oolong tea in hopes of making Su smarter. Pa blames Su’s stupidity on his wife’s inferior genes. Ma prepares a dish of cow brain her husband purchased from a Chinese medicine man. Pa tells Su that the more he eats, the smarter he will become. The brain is repugnant, but Su forces himself to eat. The meal reappears every Saturday for the remainder of the school year.

Su and Quy set off to school together, but they part ways as soon as they are out of their parents’ eyesight. Quy forges ahead with her friend, while Su lags behind with Johnny. A young Mexican strung out on drugs grabs Su and demands money, threatening him with a Swiss Army Knife. He steals Su’s dollar bill and the food stamps Ma gave him for groceries before targeting Quy and her friend. Su and Johnny race to protect the girls. By the time they reach them, the man is out of sight. Rather than admit what happened, Su tells his mother he lost her food stamps.

Ma gives birth to a boy named Vinnie, whose arrival fills the void in Su’s life left by Vu. This is Ma’s second pregnancy since arriving in the US. The first child, a boy named Zeal, died shortly after birth from a lung defect likely caused by the pesticides Pa used to rid their apartment of vermin. Vinnie’s arrival, combined with a never-ending stream of guests, make the family’s cramped apartment feel even smaller. Su’s 20-year-old cousin, Crazy, stays with them for roughly eight years. Crazy frequents prostitutes and touches Ma and Pa inappropriately. Eventually he sets his sights on Su. When Su tells his mother about the molestation, she dismisses the complaint and orders him to respect his elders. Pa instructs Su to shower with Crazy to save water. Su keeps the abuse to himself in fear that his father will kill Crazy and go to prison. The molestation worsens on Halloween when Crazy slips into bed with Su and Vinnie. Su lies between his brother and cousin to spare Vinnie from being abused.