CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2019–2020 REGULAR SESSION
Senate Concurrent Resolution
No. 7
Introduced by Senator Umberg
(Principal coauthors: Assembly Members Daly and Diep)
|
January 23, 2019 |
Relative to Black April Memorial Month.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SCR 7, as introduced, Umberg.
Black April Memorial Month.
This measure would proclaim the month of April 2019 as Black April Memorial Month, a special time for Californians to remember the countless lives lost during the Vietnam War era, and to hope for more justice and liberty for the people of Vietnam.
Digest Key
Fiscal Committee:
NO WHEREAS, April 30, 2019, marks the 44th anniversary of the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975, to communism; and
WHEREAS, For many Vietnam and Vietnam-era veterans who were directly involved in the war and Vietnamese Americans who have settled in the United States, the Vietnam War was a tragedy full of great suffering and the loss of American, Vietnamese, and Southeast Asian lives; and
WHEREAS, Fifty-eight thousand one hundred sixty-nine Americans were killed and 304,000 were wounded out of the 2.59 million people who served in the Vietnam War. One out of every 10 Americans who served in Vietnam became a casualty of war; and
WHEREAS, The Vietnam War resulted in the deaths of 250,000 South Vietnamese soldiers and 2 million Vietnamese civilians; and
WHEREAS, After the fall of Saigon, over 135,000 Vietnamese people and their families fled to the United States, including former military personnel, government officials, and those who had worked for the United States during the war; and
WHEREAS, Hundreds of thousands of people took boats in order to leave Vietnam in the late 1970s to mid-1990s. The successful emigrants reached refugee camps in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Hong Kong; while approximately one-half of the people fleeing Vietnam perished at sea; and
WHEREAS, According to the United States Census for 2010, more than 465,000 Vietnamese live in California, with the largest concentration of Vietnamese found outside of Vietnam residing in Orange County and Santa Clara County; and
WHEREAS, Human rights, religious freedom, democracy, and protection against threats of aggression are important concerns of Vietnamese Americans; and
WHEREAS, We must teach our children and future generations important lessons from the Vietnam War, including how the plight of the Vietnamese refugees following the end of war serves as a powerful example of the values of freedom and democracy; and
WHEREAS, We, the people of California, should actively rededicate ourselves to the principles of human rights, individual freedom, sovereignty, and equal protection under the laws of a just and democratic world. Californians should set aside moments of time every year on April 30 to give remembrance to the soldiers, medical personnel, and civilians who died during the Vietnam War in pursuit of freedom; and
WHEREAS, Vietnamese American communities throughout California will commemorate April 30, 2019, as Black April, a day of remembrance and rededication to the principles of freedom, including freedom of expression, freedom of press, and internet freedom; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly thereof concurring, That in recognition of the great tragedy and suffering and lives lost during the Vietnam War, the month of April 2019 shall be proclaimed Black April Memorial Month, a special time for Californians to remember the countless lives lost during the Vietnam War era, and to hope for more justice and liberty for the people of Vietnam; and be it further
Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.