Re: Opposition to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “Greetings” Letter
Sent to Consulate General of Vietnam in San Francisco, Dated September 2, 2009
Dear Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger:
We are writing this petition letter in opposition to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “Greetings” to the celebrants of Vietnamese Independence Day in which he states “Today we celebrate our Vietnamese American residents for their contributions to our Golden State. You enrich our communities and enhance California’s blossoming diversity. It is an honor to join you in commemorating this special occasion”. This “Greetings” letter was addressed to the Vietnam Consulate in San Francisco and is posted on its website: www.vietnamconsulate-sf.org. It is highly inappropriate for the Governor of the State of California to “commemorate” or “celebrate” September 2 as “Vietnamese Independence Day” because Vietnamese Americans as refugees from Communist Vietnam have never and will never “commemorate” or “celebrate” this day since we do not recognize the government or leadership of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, an illegitimate government which through force of arms overran the Republic of Vietnam, an independent democracy, of which most all Vietnamese Americans were former citizens.
We particularly condemn this action on the part of Governor Schwarzenegger since it was the Governor that recognized the Vietnamese Freedom and Heritage Flag (the yellow with three stripes flag, representing the government and people of the Republic of Vietnam) and thus the Governor most certainly cannot be ignorant of the history and culture of Vietnamese Americans in the State of California.
Your “Greetings” letter addressed to the Consulate General of Vietnam in San Francisco on September 2, 2009 is highly offensive and does not reflect the aspirations of the Vietnamese Americans or the spirit of democracy in the State of California, of which you represent as Governor. Although your term in office as Governor of the State of California is about to end, your understanding and position on Vietnamese Americans’ fight for freedom and democracy will remain historic. Therefore, the importance of these issues requires that we demand a full explanation and immediate public retraction of your “Greetings” letter to the Consulate General of Vietnam. We will continue to rally our Vietnamese American community to educate our elected public officials as to these matters.
Sincerely,
Dina Nguyen, Esq.,
Councilwoman of Garden Grove, CA
Sidenote from LSI: What is interesting about this letter is that neither Van Tran nor his usually anti-communist troops (Andy Quach, Tri Ta, Diep Truong, Lan Nguyen, Trung Nguyen) have signed on. They also have not publicly denounced the governor as the anti-communist community in Little Saigon urges them to do so.
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