Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 34

Introduced by Senator Correa

(Coauthors: Senators Anderson, Beall, Hernandez, Hill, Hueso, Huff, Roth, Steinberg, Walters, and Wyland)

(Coauthors: Assembly Members Allen, Daly, Hagman, Harkey, Mansoor, Quirk-Silva, and Wagner)

April 4, 2013

Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 34—Relative to Black April Memorial Week.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SCR 34, as introduced, Correa. Black April Memorial Week.

This measure would proclaim the week of April 23 to April 30, 2013, inclusive, as Black April Memorial Week, a special time for Californians to remember the countless lives lost during the Vietnam War era, and to hope for a more humane and just life for the people of Vietnam.

Fiscal committee: no.

WHEREAS, April 30, 2013, marks the 38th 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 people
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, 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, Thousands of people took boats in order to leave
Vietnam in the late 1970s to mid-1980s. 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

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, 2013, 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 week of April
23, 2013, to April 30, 2013, inclusive, shall be proclaimed Black
April Memorial Week, a special time for Californians to remember
the countless lives lost during the Vietnam War era, and to hope
for more humane and just life 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.