Refugees in Syracuse say current, official flag is a symbol of hatred and fear.
March 27, 2004
By Cammi Clark
Syracuse Post-Standard
Vinh Dang is asking the Syracuse Common Council to ignore the Vietnamese Embassy and to honor a fallen flag.
The flag - three horizontal red lines on a yellow background - symbolizes freedom to Dang and other Vietnamese refugees who fled Vietnam when communists took over Saigon in 1975.
"This (flag) is the spirit of the community," said Dang, a former member of South Vietnamese Army. "We lost enough. Now we carry the flag, the symbol of freedom and peace."
But the Vietnamese government doesn't see it that way. It strongly urges against allowing the so-called Nationalist flag anywhere.
"By honoring the flag of the fallen regime, it can open up the past wounds of the war and past hatred," said Bach Ngoc Chien of the Vietnam Embassy in Washington, D.C.
France controlled Vietnam from the late 1800s until Japan occupied the country during World War II. After the war, France tried to regain control of the country, but communists had already gained power in the north and would eventually control all of Vietnam.
Dang and much of Syracuse's Vietnamese community are asking the city to ignore the Vietnamese Embassy's recommendations. The refugees plan to display the flag at the Southeast Asian Center in Syracuse.
Dang said Vietnam's current flag is a symbol of the Communist government that imprisoned him for nearly a decade and is hated by millions of refugees who fled Vietnam because of a fear of retribution, political and religious persecution.
Vietnam's current flag, a red background with a single five-point yellow star in the middle, is the official flag recognized by the United States and other countries. The idea of honoring the Nationalist flag has inflamed passions from Central New York to Southeast Asia. It was first raised last year in California and quickly spread to a few other localities throughout the United States.
Nationwide, about 40 other places have proposed petitions, resolutions or proclamations to support the fallen flag. Only one state, Louisiana, has approved legislation on the issue, according to Chien.
A few proposed bills have died after federal officials warned lawmakers that it could damage relations between the United States and Vietnam, he said.
The State Department did not return phone calls seeking comment for this article.
Vietnamese people living in Vietnam are sensitive about the issue, thinking the United States is allowing people to raise the fallen flag to oppose Vietnam, Chien said.
According to the 2000 census, there's an Asian population of nearly 11,000 in Central New York with more than 2,000 with Vietnamese ancestry. Most live in Syracuse.
More than 30 people signed a petition asking the city council for the resolution in support of the flag, which was sent last week to Bea Gonzalez, Common Council president. Gonzalez said there's no city law against allowing the flag to be displayed, but she was researching any state or federal issues.
The next Common Council meeting is Monday, but Gonzalez said the flag issue may not be discussed until a work study session on April 7.
Dang also spoke with Councilor Jeff DeFrancisco.
"Their concern," DeFrancisco said of Dang and others, "is the new Vietnamese-American community has gone through a history of communism and suppression and they want to distance themselves from that other history."
DeFrancisco forwarded the petition to the city law department to research. "As long as there's no legal reason, and if it's been passed in other areas, I think we should recognize it," he said.
He is piecing together a resolution to present to the council. DeFrancisco said Syracuse's resolution would be similar to one passed in Boston in July.
That resolution stated:
"Boston's Vietnamese-Americans and the City of Boston have proudly raised this Heritage and Freedom flag alongside the flags of the City of Boston and the United States on Boston City Hall Plaza as a demonstration of their support for freedom and democracy in their country of origin and in protest to the violations of basic human and civil rights of the current government of Vietnam."
Dang and Syracuse's Vietnamese-American community have not asked the city about the possibility of an official flag-raising at City Hall, said Christine Fix, the city's director of intergovernmental relations. But if asked, the city already has an answer.
"What we have decided to do is, we are going to raise this flag in commemoration of the freedom fighters that fled Vietnam during the conflict," Fix said. "So it's not raising the flag of Vietnam, it's commemorative to our Vietnamese-American community here who have requested the flag."
Fix said the city hosts commemorative flag-raisings all the time at the request of a variety of groups.
"This was the flag they held allegiance to," she said.
Those are comforting words to many of Syracuse's Vietnamese refugees - young and old.
"I think that should be the symbol to show the Vietnamese community," said Phuoc Mai, who came to the United States 21 years ago and now works at Mai Lan, 505 N. State St. "We want to show our symbol like the Irish and Italy. They all have their flags. That's what we want."
Tung Nguyen, 33, has been in the United States for a year but agrees with displaying the fallen flag. "I think it's a good idea. Every day we see it and we're happy," he said.
Vietnam veteran Vince Larkin, of Syracuse, says honoring the fallen flag is long overdue.
"Personally, I think it's wonderful," he said
"It's another part of the history of this country and another part of immigration of this country," he said. "That's why we're the United States of America."