How Vietnamese lawmakers struck back after a California county declared Jane Fonda Day
BY RYAN SABALOW| CalMatters
As Saigon was falling, Janet Nguyen’s uncle – an officer in the South Vietnamese Army – was taken before his village and executed. After the city fell on April 30, 1975, the communists put Nguyen’s father and mother in jail. Their “crime?” They got caught trying to escape the country.
After Saigon fell, Tri Ta’s father spent years in a re-education camp prison. His “crime?” He wrote books critical of communism.
Both Nguyen and Ta eventually made it to California with their families. She became a California state senator and he became a member of the Assembly. The Republicans represent Orange County districts home to the largest Vietnamese population outside of Vietnam.
Forty-nine years after the Fall of Saigon, April 30 remains a solemn day for Nguyen and Ta as it is for many of 2.3 million Vietnamese-Americans in the U.S. They call it Black April.
“It’s a day that we mourn,” Nguyen said.
Which is why Ta and Nguyen were outraged when leaders of neighboring Los Angeles County declared April 30 “Jane Fonda Day” to honor the celebrity for her environmental activism. The lawmakers immediately began pressuring officials to rescind the recognition.
To many Vietnam veterans and refugees, Fonda more than earned her pejorative nickname “Hanoi Jane” when she traveled to North Vietnam during the war, was interviewed for communist radio broadcasts and had photos taken with North Vietnamese Army soldiers and their anti-aircraft guns.
On Thursday, the Los Angeles County Supervisors announced they would change the date to another in April during Earth Month “out of respect for the community voices who have spoken up.”
The decision to honor Fonda on such a solemn day for Vietnamese Americans wasn’t intentional, said Constance Farrell, a spokesperson for Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, who chairs the Los Angeles County board. Rather, Farrell said that date was chosen because it fell on a scheduled meeting where board members routinely issue proclamations honoring people and organizations.
Why Vietnamese-American lawmakers were upset
Ta and his Democratic colleague, Assemblymember Stephanie Nguyen of Elk Grove, wrote a letter last week signed by nearly every Republican Assemblymember urging the L.A. County supervisors to rescind the proclamation.
“This honor for Ms. Fonda is an affront to the service and sacrifice of American and South Vietnamese soldiers who gave everything in the cause of freedom,” their letter said.
Stephanie Nguyen, a daughter of Vietnamese refugees who grew up in Sacramento’s Little Saigon neighborhood, didn’t respond to CalMatters’ interview requests.
Fonda didn’t return CalMatters’ request for comment sent to her publicists, but Fonda has since apologized for the photos with the anti-aircraft guns that may have been used to shoot down American pilots, saying she never intended to appear to be against American troops, merely against the war.
Ta and Janet Nguyen said they were relieved the board chose to change the date honoring Fonda, but they said it was nonetheless frustrating how easily the leaders of the state’s most populated county forgot the shared experience of Vietnamese-Americans families that escaped an oppressive communist regime. There are 521,100 Vietnamese Americans in California.
“I was really, really upset because (Black April) is a really sad day for almost every Vietnamese American here,” said Ta, who recently appeared on the Assembly floor in a dark blue traditional Vietnamese outfit.
Janet Nguyen was dressed in black when she attended Black April services in her district. When she learned of the Los Angeles County supervisors’ decision, she said she quickly began calling and urging them to reconsider.
“I pleaded to them that, you know, if you’re not going to rescind that, you at least change the date,” Nguyen said. “April 30 is not the day.” She said she’d prefer the supervisors pick a day that wasn’t in April.
Janet Nguyen opposes communism
It’s not the first time California’s Vietnamese-American community has pressured politicians to rescind measures that Vietnamese Americans found offensive.
In 2017, then-Assemblymember Rob Bonta authored legislation that would have repealed a 1953 law that allows California governments to fire communists.
At the time, Janet Nguyen called Bonta’s bill “an incredible insult to Californians who have escaped communism.”
Bonta, now California’s attorney general, apologized and rescinded his bill.
“Through my conversations with veterans and members of the Vietnamese American community, I heard compelling stories of how AB 22 caused real distress and hurt for proud and honorable people,” Bonta said at the time. “For that, I am sorry.”
Janet Nguyen is running for Orange County supervisor. But before she leaves the Senate at the end of the year, she’s made it a point to introduce anti-communism measures in a state known for its leftist politics.
She introduced a resolution declaring Nov. 7 “Victims of Communism Day, in memory of the 100 million people who have fallen victim to communist regimes across the world.” The resolution passed the state Senate last year. She also has a bill pending that would allow a nonprofit organization to construct a memorial to the victims of communism on the state Capitol grounds. It passed the Senate in April. Neither measure had any opposition.
“Vietnamese refugees coming here, we treasure democracy and freedom,” she told CalMatters. “And we treasure our voice. And so we don’t want anybody to have to live through what we’ve lived through.”