Valley residents blend in American melting pot

Friday, Oct. 21, 2005 | 6:54 a.m.

Naomi, a 10-year-old student at Nevada Chinese Academy, raised her hand in the front row of seats in a class of 21 children.

"These are all yes-or-no questions," she said, in English, to teacher Sean Lin, pointing to a series of questions written in Mandarin characters vertically lining the blackboard. Lin praised her unsolicited comment.

The scene would not have been possible a decade ago, when the Las Vegas Valley's Chinese population was too small to support such a class, academy director David Wang said.

But as of last year, according to census estimates, the Chinese population had grown to about 12,900.

And that's one of the reasons why UNLV professors Thomas C. Wright and Jerry L. Simich have edited the book "The Peoples of Las Vegas: One City, Many Faces," the first book about the history and characteristics of some of the communities that make up the valley's increasingly diverse ethnic mosaic.

Although published by the university's press in the spring, the first event devoted solely to the book will be from 3-4 p.m. today at the Vegas Valley Book Festival at the Reed Whipple Cultural Center, 821 Las Vegas Blvd. North.

At the university Thursday, Wright, a history professor, explained why it was important to put the book together, with its profiles of local communities ranging from Croats to Mexicans.

"Las Vegas has become the object of fascination nationally and internationally," he said. "But nobody had looked at the ethnic angle of the city."

The two had the idea about two decades ago, said Simich, assistant professor of political science. He drew on a few memories the two longtime colleagues share -- the first time they saw a waitress from Bolivia in a local restaurant, or African women on the streets of Las Vegas in their traditional, colorful dress.

For a long time, their thoughts on doing such a project would turn to, "What groups are there (in the valley)?" Wright said.

Then the 2000 Census came out and confirmed how diverse a metropolitan area the valley had become. And -- a key ingredient in such a project -- the university press showed interest in the book proposal.

And so, Wright said, "When we finally did it (the book), the challenge was to find out what groups aren't in the valley."

He said they didn't find an ethnic group that isn't here, but that wasn't really the purpose of the book.

The book begins with two chapters offering an overview of immigration and the growing diversification of Las Vegas -- one written by Wright and his wife, Dina Titus, who is a UNLV political science professor, a state senator and a candidate for governor.

Profiles of 13 communities follow, chosen both for their numbers -- Mexicans and blacks -- and for their unexpected presence, such as Chileans or Croats.

The choice of communities also depended on the practical matter of finding people who were experts, Simich said.

The two editors have already begun scouting potential authors for a second edition at some as yet unnamed point in the future -- for chapters on Koreans, Thai, Scandinavians and Irish.

Helen Hsueh, publisher of the Las Vegas Chinese Daily News, stood on the Spring Mountain Road office's balcony overlooking Chinatown Plaza and remembered when the lot, and the buildings, were empty.

Hsueh moved to Las Vegas with her husband from Taiwan in 1974. She said there were only four or five families valleywide with whom to speak Chinese at the time.

Over the next 15 years, as she raised her children, she "tried to explain to them our culture, but it wasn't easy," she said.

When Chinatown got off the ground about a decade ago, "I felt so happy -- finally, some culture, some food," she said.

Now she looks forward to her grandchildren becoming bilingual through programs such as those at the Nevada Chinese Academy.

"With our grandchildren, it's easier."

As for the book, she said it was "a great idea."

If the valley is to be "like a community, we should know each other better. This book is like a bridge."

Timothy Pratt can be reached at 259-8828 or by e-mail at timothy@ lasvegassun.com.