This chapter sets the foundation for the lived experiences of the Vietnamese American community in New Orleans, focusing on two intersecting objectives: examining their status within a racialized U.S. society and analyzing their complex transnational relationship with Vietnam. The analysis is framed by theories of white supremacy and the model minority myth, exploring how these ideologies position Vietnamese Americans in a city predominantly structured by Black-White dynamics. The study investigates how Vietnamese Americans both endure racial discrimination and, at times, reproduce aspects of the white racial hierarchy. Concurrently, the chapter introduces diaspora and deterritorialization frameworks to analyze the enduring anticommunist sentiment and familial ties that sustain connections with the homeland, even across generations. Ultimately, this research provides a holistic, long-term ethnographic perspective on how the community navigates belonging, racial politics, and persistent transnational identity beyond the myth of the “model minority”.