The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is rethinking its plan to declare April 30 "Jane Fonda Day," after Vietnamese Americans and Republican lawmakers slammed the decision as "alarming and profoundly disrespectful."
The idea was to honor the Academy Award-winning actor for her social justice and environmental sustainability work, but the chosen date of April 30 is known as "Black April" in the Vietnamese community and marks the fall of Saigon.
Fonda, 86, is notorious for her fierce opposition to the Vietnam War in the 1970s and for traveling to communist North Vietnam and being photographed with North Vietnamese Army soldiers.
Phat Bui, chair of the Vietnamese American Federation of Southern California, told the Los Angeles Times he was shocked to learn that Jane Fonda Day was going to be observed on Black April.
"She may be a very strong activist for climate change, but besides that, we also view her as being a person who was very cruel to the rights of the South Vietnamese people during the anti-war protests," Bui said.
In a letter to the Board of Supervisors, GOP state Sen. Janet Nguyen wrote that dedicating April 30 to Fonda was "alarming and profoundly disrespectful to over half a million Vietnamese-Americans in California." Nguyen's district includes Little Saigon.
Republican Rep. Michelle Steel also wrote a letter to the board, describing the decision as "unconscionable."
"To elevate 'Hanoi Jane' over the Vietnamese Community, Americans who sacrificed their lives, and the loved ones they lost to communism, is deeply offensive to the freedom-loving Vietnamese Americans who bear such tragic and painful memories of the Vietnam War," Steel said in a statement, using a derisive nickname for the actor that circulated after her protest of the war.
Board Chair Lindsey Horvath said the panel would consider a motion at its May 21 meeting to move Jane Fonda Day to April 8. In a statement on Friday, she said the decision was made "out of respect for the community voices who have spoken up."
"The April 30 date was a function of our board schedule and was unintentional," Constance Farrell, a spokesperson for Horvath, told the Times on Tuesday.
The fall of Saigon — now called Ho Chi Minh City — to communist forces on April 30, 1975, marked the end of the Vietnam War. The day is still observed by those who fled Vietnam or whose family members did.
In Orange County's Little Saigon, which has one of the largest Vietnamese communities outside of Vietnam, residents gather each year on April 30 to hold a ceremony that includes prayers and traditional songs.
Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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