Bill Text: CA SCR111 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Black April Memorial Week.
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2014-05-08 - Referred to Com. on RLS. [SCR111 Detail]
Download: California-2013-SCR111-Introduced.html
BILL NUMBER: SCR 111 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Senator Correa
(Coauthors: Senators Beall, Block, Hill, Pavley, Steinberg, Vidak,
Walters, Wolk, and Wyland)
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Allen, Hagman, Harkey, Mansoor, and
Salas)
APRIL 10, 2014
Relative to Black April Memorial Week.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SCR 111, as introduced, Correa. Black April Memorial Week.
This measure would proclaim the week of April 23 to April 30,
2014, inclusive, as Black April Memorial Week, a special time for
Californians to remember the countless lives lost during the Vietnam
War era, and to hope for more justice and liberty for the people of
Vietnam.
Fiscal committee: no.
WHEREAS, April 30, 2014, marks the 39th anniversary of the fall of
Saigon on April 30, 1975, to communism; and
WHEREAS, For many Vietnam and Vietnam-era veterans who were
directly involved in the war and Vietnamese Americans who have
settled in the United States, the Vietnam War was a tragedy full of
great suffering and the loss of American, Vietnamese, and Southeast
Asian lives; and
WHEREAS, Fifty-eight thousand one hundred sixty-nine people were
killed and 304,000 were wounded out of the 2.59 million people who
served in the Vietnam War. One out of every 10 Americans who served
in Vietnam became a casualty of war; and
WHEREAS, After the fall of Saigon, over 135,000 Vietnamese people
and their families fled to the United States, including former
military personnel, government officials, and those who had worked
for the United States during the war; and
WHEREAS, Thousands of people took boats in order to leave Vietnam
in the late 1970s to mid-1980s. The successful emigrants reached
refugee camps in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and
Hong Kong; while approximately one-half of the people fleeing Vietnam
perished at sea; and
WHEREAS, According to the United States Census for 2010, more than
465,000 Vietnamese live in California, with the largest
concentration of Vietnamese found outside of Vietnam residing in
Orange County; and
WHEREAS, Human rights, religious freedom, democracy, and
protection against threats of aggression are important concerns of
Vietnamese Americans; and
WHEREAS, We must teach our children and future generations
important lessons from the Vietnam War, including how the plight of
the Vietnamese refugees following the end of war serves as a powerful
example of the values of freedom and democracy; and
WHEREAS, We, the people of California, should actively rededicate
ourselves to the principles of human rights, individual freedom,
sovereignty, and equal protection under the laws of a just and
democratic world. Californians should set aside moments of time every
year on April 30 to give remembrance to the soldiers, medical
personnel, and civilians who died during the Vietnam War in pursuit
of freedom; and
WHEREAS, Vietnamese American communities throughout California
will commemorate April 30, 2014, as Black April, a day of remembrance
and rededication to the principles of freedom, including freedom of
expression, freedom of press, and Internet freedom; now, therefore,
be it
Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly
thereof concurring, That in recognition of the great tragedy and
suffering and lives lost during the Vietnam War, the week of April
23, 2014, to April 30, 2014, inclusive, shall be proclaimed Black
April Memorial Week, a special time for Californians to remember the
countless lives lost during the Vietnam War era, and to hope for more
justice and liberty for the people of Vietnam; and be it further
Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this
resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.
