Vietnamese activists in Los Angeles are outraged by the county’s declaration of April 30 as “Jane Fonda Day.”
Only days after county officials announced the tribute to the 86-year-old actress, members of the Vietnamese community expressed their fury.
Activists quickly retaliated against the celebration by dubbing the month “Black April,” referring to the fall of Saigon, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Fonda, often called “Hanoi Jane,” is infamous not just for opposing the U.S. war effort but also for traveling into North Vietnamese territory and supporting the Chinese-backed enemy.
“She may be a strong activist for climate change, but we also view her as a person who was cruel to the rights of South Vietnamese people during the antiwar protests,” said L.A. resident Phat Bui, chairman of the Vietnamese American Federation of Southern California.
Bui also sent a letter to county officials urging them to change the date, stating that choosing such a date inflicts significant pain on their community and Vietnam War veterans.
U.S. forces fled the South Vietnamese capital on April 30, 1975. Members of L.A.’s Vietnamese community gather every April 30 to commemorate that dark day.
Republican State Sen. Janet Nguyen criticized the county, calling Fonda Day “alarming and profoundly disrespectful to over half a million Vietnamese Americans in California.”
Rep. Michelle Steel, also a Republican, also criticized the county.
“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.
Amidst the backlash, the county’s board of supervisors agreed to move the date and is now considering April 8 instead. The board insisted that the choice of April 30th for Fonda’s honors “was unintentional.”
Fonda, who spent many years refusing to apologize for her aid to the Communists, eventually relented later in life. In 2013, she admitted to making a huge mistake posing for her infamous photos alongside North Vietnamese soldiers in 1972.
“I made one unforgivable mistake when I was in North Vietnam, and I will go to my grave with this,” she said at the time, adding, “I don’t know if I was set up or not. I was an adult. I take responsibility for my actions…”
She has also said she often apologizes to American Vietnam veterans whenever she meets them.
