Amended in Assembly April 21, 2016

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

House Resolution No. 34

Introduced by Assembly Member Daly

begin insert

(Coauthors: Assembly Members Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Arambula, Atkins, Baker, Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Roger Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Olsen, Patterson, Quirk, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams, and Wood)

end insert

January 13, 2016

House Resolution No. 34—Relative to Black April Memorial Week.

WHEREAS, April 30, 2016, marks the 41st 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 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, 2016, 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 Assembly of the State of California, That in
recognition of the great tragedy and suffering and lives lost during
the Vietnam War, the week of April 23, 2016, to April 30, 2016,
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 justice and
liberty for the people of Vietnam; and be it further

Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies
of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.