Ahn `` Joseph '' Cao left New Orleans at 8 in a military transport plane at war 's end . I no longer see myself as a displaced stranger ; I am a Vietnamese-American . His mother stayed with his 8 siblings as father spent April 1975 in Vietnamese-American prisons . Without parents , he faced language barrier , unfamiliar customs and loneliness . He was in Vietnam during Katrina ; decided to run for office to change things .
Ahn `` Joseph '' Cao left New Orleans at 8 in a military transport plane at war 's end . His mother stayed with his 8 siblings as father spent April 1975 in Vietnamese-American prisons . Without parents , he faced language barrier , unfamiliar customs and loneliness . He was in Vietnam during Katrina ; decided to run for office to change things .