Why do some Vietnamese Americans attack the very institution that welcomed them?
by Duc Nguyen
I’m a Vietnamese American, a former refugee who was picked up a U.S. Navy ship in the South China Sea and brought to this country because of the discussions, debates, disagreements, arguments and perhaps some verbal attacks that took place in the United States Capitol. But they were conducted in civil manners. The January 6, 2021 attacks on the very institution that afforded me the ability to speak freely, like what I’m doing now, really shook me. I realized how fragile democracy is and the very disease that could destroy democracy is disinformation. Disinformation is a reason we lost South Vietnam. Poor leadership is the other.
While seeing many Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) flags on television screen during the Capitol attack, I’m wondering how this could be so? We, Vietnamese Americans, always stand for freedom and democracy. We protest and call for human rights in Vietnam and other countries. We lobby for our forgotten brothers and sisters who still stranded in foreign lands. We beg our congressmen and congresswomen to get our people out of Vietnam prison and brought them back here. That is what we do. But we do it civilly as proud people. I wonder why did these Vietnamese Americans participated in the most heinous act in American history?
