BILL NUMBER: SCR 27	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Correa
   (Principal coauthor: Senator Harman)
   (Coauthors: Assembly Members Mansoor and Solorio)

                        MARCH 21, 2011

   Relative to Black April Memorial Week.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SCR 27, as introduced, Correa. Black April Memorial Week.
   This measure would proclaim the week of April 23 to April 30,
2011, 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, 2011, marks the 36th 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 fled to
the United States, including former military and government
officials and Vietnamese who had worked for the United States during
the war, and their families; and
   WHEREAS, Thousands of people took boats in order to leave Vietnam
in the late 1970s to mid-1980s. The successful ones 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, 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, 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 era in pursuit of freedom; and
   WHEREAS, Vietnamese American communities throughout California
will commemorate April 30, 2011, as Black April, a day of
remembrance; 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 era, the week of
April 23, 2011, to April 30, 2011, 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 a 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.