This April, known as Black April in the Vietnamese American community, marks 50 years since the fall of Saigon — the day South Vietnam’s capital fell to communist forces on April 30, 1975, and the end of the Vietnam War.
As the Republic of Vietnam collapsed, so too did the lives of millions of South Vietnamese families. Reeducation camps and political persecution awaited those who remained. For those who fled, the journey was perilous as millions took to small, wooden boats, risking everything for a chance at freedom.
In the wake of this tragedy, San Diego became a beacon of hope. Camp Pendleton became the first base to welcome Vietnamese refugees, processing over 50,000 in 1975 alone. In the decades that followed, San Diego continued welcoming waves of “boat people,” contributing to the vibrant Little Saigon communities we see today.
Within San Diego City Hall, we carry this history with us. Kent Lee, the current City Council president pro tem, represents the Sixth District, serving alongside staffer Dustin Nguyễn and intern Tracy Nguyễn.
Known as San Diego’s Asian Empowerment District, District Six is home to neighborhoods with the highest percentage of Vietnamese residents. Like many in our constituency, our families, too, lost their country 50 years ago.
Kent Lee’s mother was born and raised in Saigon — her family settling there after fleeing China during the revolution. But when the Vietnam War broke out, they were forced to flee again, escaping on a wooden boat.
Dustin Nguyễn’s mother was also born and raised in Saigon, working as a teacher up until Saigon’s fall. She too became a boat refugee, drifting for over a day before being rescued by a ing container ship.
Tracy Nguyễn’s grandfather fought alongside American troops as a soldier of South Vietnam. After the war, he was imprisoned for eight years in a reeducation camp before being released through the United Nations.
Fifty years later, we now serve the city of San Diego, the very city that welcomed our families as refugees.
But while we’re proud to represent such a diverse constituency, the history of our community’s relationship with government isn’t lost on us. Like many political refugees, after our parents escaped government persecution, they now carry a deep distrust toward political institutions and government — and even struggle to understand why their children work in it.
In our eyes, however, this is precisely why we need more Vietnamese Americans, especially in our generation and the next, to step into public service. Our communities deserve public servants who can understand the complexity of their traumas, who can help communicate, empathize and rebuild trust in government.
As we work to eliminate barriers to city services, for example, we must remain intentional in meeting our Vietnamese communities where they are — by communicating in their language, through media they trust, in spaces they gather.
Or as we’re celebrating holidays or milestones, we must recognize the many other cultures that also contribute to San Diego’s history. Twenty years ago, the city ed a resolution recognizing the flag of South Vietnam, Cờ Vàng Ba Sọc Đỏ, as the flag of the San Diego Vietnamese community. This year, the City Council for the first time declared April as Black April Memorial Month, Tháng Tưởng Niệm Tháng Tư Đen, to mourn and commemorate all those impacted by the war.
And as we’re shaping policy, we must continue considering cultural context. Understanding that many refugees fled as families or through reunification programs reflects the importance of family in our culture — making what is San Diego’s current housing crisis all the more painful as the next generation struggles to remain in the same communities their families raised them in. It’s a harsh reality for our elders who fled in search of the American dream, now only hoping to keep that dream alive for their children.
Fifty years after the fall of Saigon, Ngày Quốc Hận, after everything our families endured escaping the North Vietnamese takeover, we now serve the city of San Diego — striving to make our government here what it wasn’t for our parents: transparent, just, democratic and inclusive of all.
Lee serves as the San Diego City Council president pro tem and is in his first term representing the Sixth District. Dustin Nguyễn serves as the district’s director of community engagement and as a U.S. Army Reserve officer. Tracy Nguyễn is an undergraduate at UC San Diego, serving as an intern for the City Council and the San Diego Asian Pacific Islander Coalition. All three are the children of Vietnam War refugees.
