During this week of commemoration, we honor the resilience of Southeast Asian American (SEAA) refugee communities who made perilous journeys 50 years ago and were forced to rebuild their lives in the United States after war, genocide, and persecution in their home countries.
Join us each day this week to take a moment to pay homage to our diverse SEAA communities.
On this day 50 years ago, Saigon fell and the lives of millions of people who called Vietnam home were forever changed. April 1975 marked a chapter of profound loss and mass displacement for Vietnamese families, many of whom were forced to flee their homeland in search of safety and a new future. Against all odds, communities from Vietnam have survived the trauma of war; and five decades later continue to fight for a vision of abundance, not just survival. But this is not just the story of the Vietnamese, it is also the story for the Mien, Tai Dam, Montagnard, and other Southeast Asian refugees who fled.
From 1975 through 2002, nearly 760,000 Vietnamese arrived in the United States as refugees. Vietnamese parents came with little, but carried the determination and dream for their children’s lives to have more opportunity than theirs. Our Vietnamese elders have sacrificed so the next generation might have opportunities they never did. In total, over 1.1 million Southeast Asians were resettled in the United States and carried similar visions for their families. The Vietnamese American community built new lives in unfamiliar places and planted roots in distant soil, nurturing the growth of a community that today stands nearly 1.9 million strong and make up over two thirds of the total Southeast Asian refugee population.
Five decades later, our communities once again face similar threats that we once escaped. Today’s anniversary date coincides with the Trump Administration’s first 100 days in office, during which it has:
- orn our families apart with inhumane and overreaching immigration enforcement;
- Stripped our communities of employment and educational opportunities by gutting the federal government;
- Aimed to harm the health and wellbeing of all our families by slashing support for Medicaid and SNAP; and
- Threatened the very foundation of our country, including our democracy, First Amendment rights, and the service sector.
This administration wrapped all these actions in nationalistic language and rhetoric that our communities have seen before in an effort to overwhelm us and center disinformation. Southeast Asian Americans have lived this before, and we know where this story ends. Millions never made it on the oceans or across the Mekong. There is no reason to repeat it.
But this moment is not only about survival, it is about our power.
As the largest Southeast Asian community, Vietnamese Americans carry our responsibility to stand together with all communities living under threat. We must protect each other, our dreams, and our democracy. And we must remind this Congress, this administration, and this country that we not only belong here but are woven into the American fabric. Our story is not one just of escape, it is also a story of resilience, of love, and of hope. For 50 years, we have transformed trauma into power. And together, we will keep building a future rooted in justice, healing, and abundance.
LEARN MORE
In their joint blog post “Finding Truth in an Unexpected Connection,” Sarah Burtner and her mother, Kathy Nga Nguyễn Burtner, write about the disconnected societal expectations of women and the lived reality of Vietnamese refugee women striving for dignity and survival.
What if, in the future, the most prominent stories were ones like my mom’s? What if we heard more often about the women who provided free child care, education, and transportation to help people who are struggling get ahead? What if we crafted policies around these truths? What if these were the women giving commencement speeches, being elected to office, and dominating the news cycle?
Read Sarah and Kathy’s blog post and other reflections from Vietnamese community members on our new Our Roots, Our Power website here.