Today, on April 30, 1975, we commemorate the fall of Saigon. Many Vietnamese families continue to deal with the painful legacy of war and displacement. The narratives of their exiled war-torn spirits make real a temporal and apparently intergenerational gap in emotions caused by the loss. Victoria Ngo, a refugee who emigrated to the United States in the early 1980s, recently shared her experience at a conference on the Vietnam War, hoping to honor her father’s memory.
Cat Nguyen has been resident in Ho Chi Minh city for more than two years. She considers the rapid dislocation that Vietnamese refugees experienced when they were suddenly made to leave their country of birth. This shift was not just about moving cities. It marked the beginning of a years-long separation from family members who were sent to reeducation camps or into permanent diaspora. The burden of the Vietnam War alone has taken an estimated 3.1 million lives. This shocking loss of life should be a stark reminder of the deep wounds that remain.
For others such as Ngo and Nguyen, the path toward reconciliation means reckoning with personal and shared histories. The legacy of the Vietnam War continues to influence Vietnamese identity and relationships within and outside the country.
A Legacy of Loss
Victoria Ngo’s family narrative reflects the experience of many immigrant Vietnamese families exploring their new home. They heroically escaped their native land following the war in pursuit of a brighter future. Upon arriving in the United States, Ngo’s extended family had immediate and grave needs, having lost everything in their escape.
“The first few years in the US were filled with sadness for them: difficulties adjusting to a strange land, a language they were not fluent in, a people who did not understand the world they were coming from,” – Cat Nguyen.
Ngo told the story of how she agreed to speak at a conference about the Vietnam War, thinking it would impress her father. Her story is that of most Vietnamese refugees. They work to process their history and identity while building a new life in a new country.
The countryside of Vietnam lay in ruins after years of guerrilla warfare, leaving behind memories that many attempt to reconcile with today. In 1993, Vietnam’s then-prime minister Vo Van Kiet initiated a resolution aimed at reconciliation, marking a significant step toward addressing the wounds left by the war.
Understanding Perspectives
Cat Nguyen tells their transformative story, and advocates passionately and unapologetically for Vietnamese refugees. To accurately understand the costs of war, she argues, we need to recognize competing narratives. Her work demonstrates how Vietnamese refugees were subjects of an “Americanized gaze.” This view became used to demonize them as either violent radicals or to save them as sympathetic, deserving victims.
“While it is true that Vietnamese refugees suffered greatly, this gaze strips human beings of their own agency and humanhood, displacing them into a framework that upholds the system of white supremacy,” – Cat Nguyen.
This lens contributes to creating an overly simplistic view of nuanced histories and the diversity of people’s experiences. Empathy Nguyen further contends that empathy is key in bridging divides.
“I am empathetic to the suffering from both sides despite which flags they identify with, either the three-stripe or the red flag with yellow star,” – Cat Nguyen.
Kevin Pham, a third voice in this constructive conversation, makes a similar call for a different understanding that goes beyond simplistic red versus blue storylines.
“There is this tendency on both sides of seeing the other side as puppets who cannot think for themselves,” – Kevin Pham.
He promotes a deep dive into these different perspectives to create a greater sense of empathy among all those impacted by the war.
The Importance of Memory
Yet the search for reconciliation is equally as rooted on the side of memory and storytelling. This composite portrayal of the journeys realized and not taken, frequent among Vietnamese refugees, is searing in its beauty and pain. Cat Nguyen’s poetry captures this sentiment poignantly.
“You crossed / an ocean / for me / to cross / another and then you crossed / a world / before I / could follow,” – Cat Nguyen.
Nguyen’s musical meditations demonstrate the ways that memories of family, culture and ancestry shape her conception of self in the present. Her family endured an excruciating loss, soon after coming to the United States. This sorrow then turned into a strong desire to reconnect with their roots.
Victoria Ngo, our fellow at the time, shines a light on yet another dimension of this fight. Though she acknowledges the gap in history as often overlooked, it has a powerful impact.
“There is this void in our history that doesn’t get talked about. You don’t know about what’s happened in the past,” – Victoria Ngo.
This void can continue cycles of trauma and misunderstanding and further impede healing between Vietnamese communities in Vietnam and those overseas.
