Union of Vietnamese speaker, 1975, at a UC Berkeley celebration of the withdrawal of U.S. Armed Forces from Vietnam. The banner reads, "Nothing is More Precious Than Independence and Freedom." The organization was made up of people who were, as Tram Nguyen describes it, "the only group of Vietnamese in America to organize against the war" (see text below).

Caring for the Soul of Our Community: Youth and Activism Today

By Tram Quang Nguyen

To certain outside viewers, Vietnamese in America may have become synonymous with flag-waving conservatism, embodying a reactionary and censorious nationalism couched in the rallying cries of "democracy" and "freedom." That's definitely not me nor quite a few other Vietnamese Americans both young and old. But neither are we the conical-hatted, machine gun-slinging peasant warriors glorified in the lore of America's left movement.

[However] there is a Vietnamese history in America -- and a leftist history at that -- going as far back as the 1940s national liberation struggles among émigrés in New York against French colonialism, to the 1960s anti-war activism of Vietnamese students and early immigrants. On July 2, 1972 in Los Angeles, the Union of Vietnamese in the United States was formed -- the only group of Vietnamese in America to organize against the war.

Reclaiming our Vietnamese American history and identity has come to have a lot more meaning for me these days. It will mean, I think, careful and strategic organizing work within our communities. It will mean nurturing the youth and not antagonizing the elders. It will mean growing and struggling in the U.S. without forgetting to fight the imperialism that brought us here.

[01 Transforming Ourselves]     [02 Not Without Struggle]     [03 Serve the People]
[04 Listening to the Small Voice]     [05 The Big Picture]     [06 Revolution]
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