Throughout the next few weeks, we would like to give recognition to these individuals and thank them for their hard work. Meet the Faces of UNAVSA.

Ken Le

What region are you from?

Southern California

What is your level of involvement?

UNAVSA Logistics Director, UVSA SoCal CoRR, UVSA SoCal High School Outreach Coordinator, and UVSA SoCal Tet Festival Operations Traffic Sergeant.

What are some of your hobbies?

Some of my favorite hobbies would be playing tennis, going swimming, go airsofting, go running, and travelling to adventure the beauty of Mother Nature.

Who is your favorite Disney character? Why?

I would have to go with Peter Pan because overall, the movie ties back to childhood and the quotes he uses in his movie are meaningful in life.

What is your favorite Vietnamese food?

My favorite Vietnamese food would have to “Nem Nuong” Spring Rolls.

How did you become involved with UNAVSA?

I first became involved with UNAVSA by attending my first conference at UNAVSA 9 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. After being surrounded by amazing leaders from all over the country, I decided to get more involved with the organization and have no regrets on doing so.

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Eric La Nguyen

What region are you from?

Midwest

What is your level of involvement?

UNAVSA-10 Activities Director, UVSA Midwest Board of Advisors

What are some of your hobbies?

Harry Potter, Star Wars, MMA, Wisconsin Football

Who is your favorite Disney character? Why?

Scar, Jeremy Irons is amazing. That or Prince Eric. Grew up being teased for sharing the same name. Now I kind of have a kinship with him.

What is your favorite Vietnamese food?

Anything mama makes.

How did you become involved with UNAVSA?

I was the external vice president for the UVSA Midwest, a position that sits on the Council of Regional Representatives of UNAVSA.

Eric is taking charge of fun activities for all UNAVSA-10 attendees, including the Friendship games! Be sure to do so at http://conference.unavsa.org/ and meet Eric and his activities team, maybe you’ll earn brownie points and get a head start in the competitions…

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Tam Phan

What region are you from?

Northern California

What is your level of involvement?

UNAVSA-10 Hospitality Director, NorCal UVSA Alumni

What are some of your hobbies?

I like taking friends on tours of Disneyland, trying out new places to eat from Yelp, and getting out to enjoy a bit of sun

Who is your favorite Disney character? Why?

Mike Wazowski. That little green monster is hilarious, takes care of his schmoopsie-poo, and is a great friend to Sully — things that I try to achieve.

What is your favorite Vietnamese food?

Any kind of banh! Banh cuon, banh xeo, banh beo, banh ngoc, banh xe…

How did you become involved with UNAVSA?

I got tricked into helping out as a volunteer at UNAVSA-4. Then I got tricked again into Security Director at UNAVSA-5. Been stuck ever since.

Tam is working with his hospitality team to bring you a MAGICAL experience! Have you registered for the UNAVSA-10 conference yet? Be sure to do so at http://conference.unavsa.org/ and meet Tam Phan and his hospitality team! He might even take you to Disneyland…

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Stacy Nguyen

What region are you from?

Southern California

What is your level of involvement?

UNAVSA-10 Programming Director, UVSA SoCal 2011-2013 Treasurer

What are some of your hobbies?

Trying new food places, meeting new people and playing/watching sports

Who is your favorite Disney character? Why?

Belle from Beauty and the Beast, because she is kind, intelligent and brave.

What is your favorite Vietnamese food?

Pho

How did you become involved with UNAVSA?

My first conference was UNAVSA-6 in Atlanta, Georgia, I attended because a close friend of mine guaranteed me that I would have a good time. I had a GREAT time and have attended every conference since!

Stacy is currently working diligently with her programming committee to bring you the best minds and wisdom to the annual UNAVSA conference this year in Anaheim, California! Register at http://conference.unavsa.org/ and meet our programming director Stacy Nguyen!

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As you might have read from our previous entry, 2013 Vietnam Human Rights Day, I spent the past week in Washington, D.C. participating in the 19th Commemoration of Vietnam Human Rights Day. I was a part of the 2013 Vietnam Human Rights Day team, which is a student-led a initiative. The team consisted of myself, Kayla Tran, Long Nguyen, Kim Dang, and Byron Cheon. Although we all come from different backgrounds, we share a passion in promoting human rights in Vietnam.

In May 1994, the U.S. Congress designated May 11th as Vietnam Human Rights Day upon passing the U.S. Senate-House Joint Resolution 168. This resolution recognized the deteriorating human rights conditions in Vietnam and urged the Vietnamese government to uphold human rights for all of its citizens in Vietnam. Since May 1994, members of the Vietnamese American community nationwide, members of the Senate, Congress, and various NGOs have joined to commemorate this important day, but also continue to shed light on the on-going human rights abuses committed by the current Vietnamese government and work together to find ways to address this issue.

This year’s Vietnam Human Rights Day team flew into D.C. last Monday, May 6th through the support and hospitality of AASuccess, a non-profit organization “dedicated to empowering students and professionals to achieve their academic, social, personal, and professional fulfillment.” Our tasks for the week, included working with SBTN-DC during the actual event and creating a full-scale social media campaign to spread the message of Vietnam Human Rights Day. Thus, the following Tuesday, we spent the entire day at AASuccess’s headquarters where we participated in a workshop led by Dr. Amy Trang, a professor at the University of Virginia. Her workshop, Crash Course in Public Policy & Advocacy, focused on how public policy works, the importance of advocacy, and how different laws, resolutions, acts are enacted in the U.S. government. We were able to tie in what we learned in the course to Vietnam Human Rights Day by discussing different ways to push this agenda further, especially among young Vietnamese Americans. Overall, this was an fun and interactive workshop. Thank you to Dr. Trang for taking time out of her schedule to work with us!

On Wednesday, we spent the day at SBTN’s DC studios where we learned how to become iReporters using our mobile devices, like iPhones, iPads, iPods, etc. to record and edit videos. We recorded a quick video on the actual training session which was all edited on our iPhones and  later broadcasted on SBTN. On Thursday morning, we headed off to Washington, D.C. to participate in the commemoration event. The event was located on Capitol Hill at the Senate Hart Building and was attended by Senators, Congressmen/women, various dignitaries, NGOs, and leading members of the Vietnamese American community. Many individuals flew in from different parts of the country, including California, Texas, etc. Our main tasks were conducting interviews with members from the Senate and Congress as well as people from NGOs and Vietnamese Americans. Kim, Long, and I had the opportunity to interview a wide variety of individuals, such as Senator John Cornyn (TX) and Congressman Ed Royce (CA). We also interviewed different Vietnamese Americans, such as Truc Ho (founder of Asia Entertainment and SBTN) and activists from various organizations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. We also met leaders from pro-democracy groups, such as the China Democracy Party. Groups such as the China Democracy Party came to not only show support for human rights in Vietnam, but also to shed light on human rights abuses occurring in their own countries. Throughout the event, we updated our Facebook page and Twitter with news and provided a live-stream. Last, but not least, our very own Kayla Tran delivered a riveting speech on why this event and cause is important to young Vietnamese Americans.

Overall, VNHRD was an amazing experience for myself and my team! We learned so much and met wonderful, inspiring individuals. We will be recruiting members for next year’s VNHRD team in the coming months, so if you are interested in applying, please  check out our Facebook page or our website for more information in the fall! Check out some of our clips with interviews from the event through this link Vietnam Human Rights Day 2013

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I will be in D.C. beginning on Monday, May 6th until Saturday, May 11th for the 18th annual commemoration of Vietnam Human Rights Day or VNHRD. I will be working closely with a team of wonderful individuals who share a passion for human rights awareness, especially in Vietnam. For those of you who do not know, VNHRD marks the passing of the joint House and Senate Resolution S.J. Res. 168 in 1994. This particular resolution recognizes the deteriorating human rights conditions in Vietnam and importantly, reaffirms the need to call upon the Vietnamese government to uphold basic human rights for all of its citizens.

Throughout the week, I will be preparing for the actual commemoration which will be on May 9th (Thursday). My team and I will be working closely with various Vietnamese American activists, event logistics, reporting on behalf of SBTN-Washington, D.C., and keeping folks up-to-date with information via social media, etc. As you can tell, we have a jammed pack week, but we are all so excited to get to work!

I will be blogging each day and letting you all know what is happening at before, during, and after the conference! Please check back each day!

If you would like to learn more about VNHRD, please visit: Vietnam Human Rights Project

Video Recordings of Vietnam Human Rights Day

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Growing up, I’ve always known that like many others, our family had to risk danger to come to this land of freedom. Over time, living in this free country slowly made me forget all the history that led up to that point. Only until recent years did Black April start to have more of an imprint in my mind as I continued to learn more about the events surrounding it.

April 30, 1975 marked the end of the Vietnam War and the fall of Saigon, altering the history of our country forever. After that day, my family struggled to find a place in our own country while my grandfather was sent to the re-education camp for ten years. Our lives were permanently changed but unlike some families, mine did not leave the country until years later.

My mother got married at age 16 in 1977 and shortly afterwards bore four children consecutively. In 1985, I was born and at the same time, my father was the first to escape from our country in search of a better future for all of us. My mother followed suit in 1989 because the immigration process was taking too long and she was afraid if her children came to the U.S. too late, we would not have the same opportunity for success. I was then only 3 years old at the time of escape, not knowing what was going on or what lied ahead. We fortunately survived the boat escape and two and a half years of the refugee camp before arriving in the U.S. in 1992.

My family’s story is similar to many stories about the journey out of our beloved Vietnam. I sometimes wonder what it would’ve been like if the war did not happen and how our country may have advanced. But then I quickly realize that we need to stop dwelling in the past and simply commemorate our history so that we never forget. The story of our people is a unique one.  We’ve come into this country with nothing and have gradually made a name for ourselves in a short amount of time. It is my hope that we continue to remember where we come from as we advance in our lives and continue to commemorate Black April so our future generations will know where we came from.

In UNAVSA spirit,

Lan Anh Nguyen, President

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UNAVSA hopes to commemorate the fall of Saigon with our Blackout Campaign.  UNAVSA encourages the unity by participating in the Facebook blackout campaign by changing your profile picture to the photo below with the link http://www.unavsa.org/black-april/ in the description.

We do not wish to seek this campaign as a political movement, but a commemoration of this historical event in Vietnamese and Vietnamese-American history as well as honoring the generations impacted by the fall of Saigon.

Nationwide Black April Events:
Black April Live Forum Event:
https://www.facebook.com/events/557713080918891/?ref=ts&fref=ts
When: April 30, 2013
Time: 9:00PM CST
UVSA Midwest and UNAVSA will be hosting a webinar discussion about Black April and what this day means for many Vietnamese Americans. Join the discussion to learn more and hear stories of our friends and family.

NorCal:
Black April Commemoration by Vietnamese American Roundtable on Tues, April 30th in San Jose
Black April Commemoration Tues, April 20th at UC Davis, VSA Collab with SEA Community
 

SoCal UVSA: UVSA General Meeting – Remembering Black April:
https://www.facebook.com/events/183518561798349/?ref=ts&fref=ts
When: April 28, 2013
Where: 12821 Western Ave., Suite H, Garden Grove, CA
Time: 12:00PM to 4:00PM PST
After the meeting (at 2:00 PM), there will be an event to commemorate the Boat People at Westminster Memorial Park (Peek Family). Please dress business casual.

SoCal UVSA Black April Commemoration Ceremony:
https://www.facebook.com/events/381877068587298/?ref=ts&fref=ts
When: Saturday April 27, 2013
Where: Sid Goldstein Freedom Park – 14180 All American Way Westminster, CA 92683
Time: 5:00pm – 9:00pm PST
The Black April Commemoration Ceremony will be combined with the Commemoration of the 10th Anniversary of the Vietnam War Memorial.

FSU ViSA Presents Black April:
https://www.facebook.com/events/245436672262658/?fref=ts
When: Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Where: Westcott Fountain
Time: 7:00pm EST
ATTIRE: Black shirt

UVSA-GA Black April Candlelight Vigil:
https://www.facebook.com/events/178045749016309/?ref=ts&fref=ts
When: April 27, 2013
Where: Grand Ballroom, 6100 Live Oak Pkwy., Norcross GA 30093
Time: 6:30pm to 9:00pm EST
UVSA-GA plans on having a candlelight vigil to memorialize all of those who have fought for our freedom. This event is our way to honor the past while educating the youth about the importance of this day. By educating the Vietnamese youth, we’ll be able to carry our parents’ legacy on to future generations. We are reaching out to college students as well as the Vietnamese community, and we would be honored to have your support.
 

UF VSO Black April Remembrance:
https://www.facebook.com/events/148230102023529/?group_id=0
When: April 30, 2013
Where: Turlington Plaza (Gainesville, Florida)
TIME: Picture at 12:30PM EST
We will be making a commemoration board where members stamp their thumbs on a board in the shape of a ribbon starting at 12:30PM. We will take a group picture at 12:45PM in remembrance of Black April.
VAYLA (New Orleans) Black April Commemoration:
https://www.facebook.com/events/328354080624091/?ref=14
When: April 26, 2013
Where: 4646 Michoud Blvd, Ste D2, New Orleans, Louisiana
Time: 5:00PM CST
We will be having a Vietnamese Comfort Dinner along with watching a film followed by a candlelight vigil.
Vietnamese-American Community of Massachusetts:
When: April 30th, 2013
Time & Place:12 PM – Raising the Flag at Boston City Hall Plaza, Boston, MA 02201
3 PM – Commemoration Flowers at Vietnam War Veterans Memorial, Morrissey Blvd., UMass Boston.
Black April (Tháng Tư Đen):
https://www.facebook.com/events/439038622848412/?ref=ts&fref=ts
To commemorate this important day in our history and to educate the people around us, Write “Saigon” on your arm, hand or wrist, on April 30th so it will spark the curiosity of those who see it. This gives you the opportunity to educate the community about what this day means.

April 30th: Fall of Saigon (Wear Black for Remembrance):
https://www.facebook.com/events/162685157222820/?ref=ts&fref=ts

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Today was a historic and monumental one for Southeast Asian American communities across the United States. Twenty organizations representing immigrant and refugee communities from Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Bhutan, and Burma have put together a nationwide petition calling for immigration reform that unites families and addresses various problems of inequality faced by immigrant communities in the United States.

Thousands of Americans of Cambodian, Vietnamese, Laotian descent have been wrongly removed from the United States. Their refugee experiences reflect war and genocide when millions of Cambodians, Vietnamese, and Laotians were uprooted from their homelands during the 1970s to 1980s. Those who have been deported arrived to the United States as infants or young children, thus the United States is the only home they have ever known. All are departed back to their country of origin – Vietnam, Cambodia, or Laos and face culture shock immediately. For example, many know little to none Vietnamese, Khmer, or Laotian. The numbers of deportations in these communities rose in the late 90′s when the United States Congress passed the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA) and the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA). These laws have subjected many individuals to mandatory and permanent deportation for connections to the criminal justice and prison systems in the United States.

Non-profit organizations such as the Southeast Asia Resource Action Center have taken the charge to reform such laws. Responding to the immigration reforms, Doua Thor, SEARAC’s executive director, says, “The 1996 laws call for mandatory deportation, do not allow judges discretion to look at an individual’s circumstances. . .” By bringing together various refugee and immigration communities, Doua and others hope that this collective action will lead to greater investment in education, community healing from old wounds, and emphasis on keeping families together. UNAVSA along with other organizations across the United States have pledged their support.

If you would like to learn more about the petition and sign it, please visit:

https://www.change.org/petitions/southeast-asian-american-communities-demand-immigration-reform

You can also read the official press release by 1Love:

http://1lovemovement.wordpress.com/2013/04/11/press-release-southeast-asian-american-community-statement/

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In 2011, Thúy Võ Đặng, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California-Irvine’s Asian American Studies Department, began the Vietnamese American Oral History Project. Through a series of interviews, films, and other forms of media, the Vietnamese American Oral History Project’s goal is to “assemble, preserve, digitize, and disseminate the life stories of Vietnamese Americans in Southern California”. The hope is to gather a collection of stories and experiences from Vietnamese American refugees for future generations of Vietnamese Americans.

With the help of anonymous donors as well as students, researchers, and professors, the project has quickly come together over the past year and a half. Đặng and others interview various first-generation Vietnamese Americans from all walks of life about their memories of the Vietnam War and lives after moving to Southern California. Like thousands of Vietnamese Americans, Đặng spent time in a refugee camp at a young age and arrived to the United States in 1994 as a young child.

According to Đặng, participants “have opened up to me about their private personal losses, the loss of children, what it was like to lose their homes multiple times, from 1954 to 1975, and having to rebuild.” For those who finally arrived in the United States, the first several years was very difficult: many newly-arrived immigrants were “baffled by the grocery stores or how fast cars are going in the road,” Đặng continued.

The project has certainly been a wonderful experience for Đặng and others who have the opportunity to speak to older generations of Vietnamese Americans. A project like this one is an important part of the history of Vietnamese American – one that should be preserved and passed onto future generations.

If you are living in Southern California and would be interested in assisting with the project, please visit: http://sites.uci.edu/vaohp/ for more information.

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