What does this day mean? This depends on who you ask.

For people today in Vietnam, April 30, 1975 marks the end of US occupation, the reunification of North and South Vietnam, Liberation Day, the beginning of peace and self-sovereignty. It is celebrated proudly with nationalistic banners, flags, and military parades, and reminds the people that a country as small as Vietnam was able to defeat a military superpower, the US.

For the US, April 30, 1975 was the end of its military involvement in Vietnam. It was when “our boys could come home” after having been drafted into a morally questionable war. It conjures the chaotic scenes of Vietnamese people, who had helped Americans during the war, desperately pushing through US embassy gates in order to be evacuated, and being kept out by those they had helped. It is a reminder of the humiliation of military defeat and withdrawal for the US. It is when, as Yen Le-Espiritu puts it, the US starts the “we-win-even-when-we-lose” narrative, through which the US can remain heroes and saviors of Vietnamese refugees, by giving them the “gift” of safety and freedom (Mimi Thi Nguyen). But why were people fleeing in the first place and in need of this “gift”? 

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Members In Action

 

 

 

Jeff Roy, Minneapolis Chapter 27, speaks at a rally for SOVA. 

Speakers included Governor Tim Walz and the mayor of Minneapolis.

 

Check out other highlights about VFP Members!

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