Westminster City Council members recently voted to condemn a local progressive nonprofit, VietRISE.
VietRISE recently hosted an event in Garden Grove that recapped Vietnam’s history and posted a series of slides on their Instagram page entitled “The August Revolution: Vietnam’s Fight For Freedom.”
The slides quoted the Vietnamese communist dictator, Ho Chi Minh, and referred to the August Revolution as a “movement for self determination.” They also presented quotes by Hồ.
The slides included this statement: “This year marks the 80th anniversary of the August Revolution – when Vietnam rose up to end nearly a century of colonial rule. It was grounded in the struggles of everyday people. It proved that liberation comes from collective power built over time.”
Hồ was born in Nghệ An province in French Indochina, and received a French education. Starting in 1911, he worked in various countries overseas, and in 1920 was a founding member of the French Communist Party in Paris. After studying in Moscow, Hồ founded the Vietnamese Revolutionary Youth League in 1925, which he transformed into the Indochinese Communist Party in 1930. On his return to Vietnam in 1941, he founded and led the Việt Minh independence movement against the Japanese, and in 1945 led the August Revolution against the monarchy and proclaimed the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. Under Hồ’s leadership, the North Vietnamese forces and their allies, such as the Viet Cong, were responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands to millions of people, including civilians, in the First Indochina War and the Vietnam War, through warfare, mass killings, and terrorism(Source – Wikipedia)
Westminster Councilwoman Amy Phan West, who is running against Democrat Derek Tran for the 45th Congressional District, led the condemnation of VietRISE from the Westminster City Council. West alleged that VietRISE leaders tried “indoctrinating” young people at the event last month.
VietRise is also opposed to the ongoing ICE raids.
The Orange County School District reacted to all this scandal by removing VietRISE from its speaker lineup for their upcoming Vietnamese American Experiences Model Curriculum Conference.
Santa Ana City Councilwoman Viet Thai Phan appointed the leader of VietRISE, Tracy La, to the Santa Ana Rent Stabilzation Commission.
Phan promised not to support rent control when she first ran for the Santa Ana City Council. She later changed her mind, much to the chagrin of the many Vietnamese residents of Orange County who own rental properties in Santa Ana.