Today marks the 37th year anniversary of the Fall of Saigon, a day
that would forever be in the hearts of many Vietnamese people worldwide.
In April 30, 1975, the North Vietnamese Army tanks drove into Saigon
and the everlasting image to the world is their entrance into the
Presidential Palace gates; they called it "Liberation Day". For the
millions of Vietnamese citizens, it was the day that we lost our
country. People began to search for a means to escape, by boat or by
air. Masses of people crowded outside the US Embassy; mothers push their
infant children through the gates, hoping, begging for anyone to come
to take their children to America. Anywhere would be better than under
the oppressive and cruel Communist regime. For the next few years,
Vietnamese people would continuously try to find a way out of the
country. Many sold their homes, sold their life savings to get a place
on a small Vietnamese fishing boat, crowded with over maximum capacity,
hoping to escape. If they were caught, they would do it again. There was
no other choice for them. They would rather take on the ravages of the
Pacific Ocean than to stay. Many faced dehydration, starvation, pirate
attacks, shipwrecks. The lucky ones were found by western ships. The
unlucky ones were buried with the sea. One must ask how terrible must a
government be to have its own citizens escaping from it, facing all
these horrors rather than living under its rule.
Thirty seven
years have passed and the Communist government in Vietnam is still as
brutal to anyone who speaks against it. A few years ago, it had
imprisoned a Catholic priest for speaking against its lack of
humanitarian effort; it imprisoned a few lawyers who spoke out against
it. Recently, it imprisoned a musician, for composing two songs, asking
"Anh La Ai" (Who Are You) and "Vietnam Toi Dau" "Where is My Vietnam",
criticizing the corruption of the government, its lack of interest in
what its citizens want. The first song questions who are you, who are
you, mister, to not let me speak, to not let me protest and carry out my
natural rights to protect my country from foreign invasion, and most
importantly, who are you to stop me from trying to prevent you from
erasing our country's past and future. The second song speaks of the two
Vietnamese islands, Hoang Sa and Truong Sa (part of the Spratly
Islands), territories of Vietnam, which China is trying to take; it
criticizes the government for "selling" the islands, a term which
translated into Vietnamese is considered the utmost betrayal to a
nation. Men and women have died protecting those islands and for the
Vietnamese government to just hand it to China is like a desecration
upon the souls that have lost. But then again, the Communists were never
hesitant toward desecrating anything sacred. Temples, churches, graves
have been destroyed before.
However, it is different now in the
21st century. With access to social media, people are connected
everywhere, even in countries like Vietnam whose government restrict
access. Vietnamese citizens within the country are protesting along the
streets, demanding for their government to do right by them, demanding
for a voice, demanding for their country. They have suffered through
abuse, silence, oppression, and persecution from their own countrymen,
the very same ones whose job it is to protect them. However, the
Vietnamese people will not stand in silence when these same countrymen
allow their country to be torn from them. The famous Hung Kings of
Vietnam have fought foreign invasions, and the successor kings, with the
blood and sweat of our ancestors, have continued the fight and gave up
so much to secure the nation of Vietnam today.
The Vietnam War had
torn Vietnam apart, separating families, dividing brothers. Like the
tale of Lac Long Quan and Au Co, who are considered as the father and
mother of the Vietnamese people, Vietnam is divided--fifty of their
children when to the mountains, fifty went to the oceans. However, when
the time comes to secure their country from foreign invasions, they will
do so. Remember Vietnam, remember the fires of war, remember the tears
of sacrifice, remember the skin of yellow and blood of red of those who
fell to secure freedom before you...because it is now your turn to
secure it.
