(C) Verite News New Orleans This story was originally published by Verite News New Orleans and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Year of community events to mark 50th anniversary of Vietnam War’s end [1] ['Minh Ha', 'More Minh Ha', 'Verite News'] Date: 2024-02-01 Cyndi Nguyen remembers her father carrying her on his back as her parents and siblings tried to get to a boat along with thousands of others also escaping capture by North Vietnamese troops. Nguyen was just 5 years old when she fled her hometown, a small fishing commune on the southern coast of Vietnam, near the end of the war. Nearly half a century later in New Orleans, the former city councilmember is now organizing a year’s worth of events leading up to the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon, which marked the end of the war in April 1975. The next year will be marked by festivals as well as educational workshops and other events celebrating Vietnamese history and culture in the city, Nguyen said. She hopes these events will offer the city’s Vietnamese American community opportunities to reflect and heal from the collective trauma of the Vietnam War while connecting to others with similar refugee experiences. “It’s about past, present and future for me. It’s about the journey of resiliency,” she said. “We take this 50th year anniversary as a way of continuing to give people hope. And not just for the Vietnamese people, but for individuals that lost their country… I hope they are creating a space for their community and continuing to celebrate their culture like we have been for the past 50 years.” Nguyen and a group of volunteers began work in 2021. They’re planning a variety of activities to engage not just the city’s Vietnamese American population, but also to educate other city residents. The group is affiliated with VIET, a community organization founded by Nguyen, which recently received a $60,000 grant from the New Orleans Recreation and Culture Fund to help pay for the events. The celebration highlights Vietnamese refugees’ contributions to New Orleans over the past half-century. After the Vietnam War, the Archdiocese of New Orleans helped coordinate the resettlement of Vietnamese refugees. Since then, the Vietnamese and Vietnamese American population in the New Orleans metro area has grown from around 1,000 people to more than 17,000, according to a 2021 census estimate. Former New Orleans Councilmember Cyndi Nguyen at the VIET community center on Jan. 24, 2024. Credit: Minh Ha / Verite News “While we may not always have people that look like us in office or as elected officials, to be recognized and selected to receive this grant signifies recognition,” said Nguyen, who served as the city’s first Vietnamese American city councilmember for District E from 2018 to 2022. “We want to make sure that the funds that were awarded to us are used in a very equitable way.” The group’s kickoff event will take place during the annual Lunar New Year festival, or Tết in Vietnamese, which is held at the Mary Queen of Vietnam Church on Feb. 16. There will be food vendors, live music, fireworks and dragon dance performances, Nguyen said. The Historic New Orleans Collection will also display artifacts related to Vietnamese people in the city, she said, and VIET will also hand out South Vietnamese flags. Other activities are still in the planning phase, but Nguyen said the group is preparing to hold Vietnamese cooking classes, documentary viewings, art exhibits and cultural workshops. The group also recently talked to the NOLA Tree Project to acquire 50 trees to plant on the neutral grounds of streets in the Village de l’Est neighborhood, where an influx of Vietnamese refugees arrived in the 1970s. These events will be held monthly leading up to the anniversary of the fall of Saigon next year. John Hoa, a member of the planning committee, also fled Vietnam during the war. He was 21 when he boarded a boat in 1975, living in refugee camps in the Philippines and Guam before arriving in New Orleans. Hoa hopes the 50th anniversary commemoration will remind younger generations of the journeys their elders took to get to New Orleans. “We want the Vietnamese young children, younger generations, to know that when you are a small country … you have to stand on your feet to fight for freedom,” he said. “We don’t want to revive the bad memories. But we want to remind younger generations of how precious freedom is.” For Lang Le, VIET’s director, the yearlong commemoration also provides an opportunity for those who lived through the war to reflect and have an open dialogue. Many of the former refugees still live with mental illnesses and trauma from the war, Le said, adding that these events would provide an opportunity for healthcare providers to understand the community and its history. “This would probably give us a better understanding and find resources for our elders, maybe just to sit and talk and openly about it to share with the children,” Le said. “Because when the grandparents pass away, if we don’t leave that history behind, no one’s gonna know.” The committee is planning a workshop in March to document the reflections of some senior citizens on their journey to New Orleans. Nguyen said she is also considering an art and essay contest for younger generations of Vietnamese Americans, many of whom she said have lost touch with their culture, or, like her children, don’t really speak the language. “It’s important for our kids to recognize the importance of our culture,” Nguyen said. “I’m hoping that what we do that is gonna turn on light bulbs, for them to say, ‘Hey, you know, Miss Cyndi is aging out, we got to take over. But we could do it in our own way. We could share our culture, or we could be our culture in our own fashion.’” Her most ambitious plan is to host a tour to Vietnam this May, which is open to anyone interested in attending. “It will be my first time home,” Nguyen said. Related Stories Republish This Story Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license. [END] --- [1] Url: https://veritenews.org/2024/02/01/community-events-vietnam-war/ Published and (C) by Verite News New Orleans Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 US. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/veritenews/