Westminster City Council members are condemning leaders of the local nonprofit VietRISE for allegedly revising Vietnamese history, calling it offensive.
It’s happening in a town that’s home to Little Saigon, an ethnic enclave that arose as scores of Vietnamese refugees began arriving after the fall of Saigon in April 1975, with many having served in the South Vietnamese army – a prime target of North Vietnamese communist forces.
The town’s also home to one of the largest Vietnamese populations outside of Vietnam.
[Read: From Exodus to Emergence: Black April 50 Years After the Fall of Saigon]
The accusation came after VietRISE hosted an event in Garden Grove teaching Vietnam’s history and posted a series of slides on their Instagram page titled “The August Revolution: Vietnam’s Fight For Freedom.”
The slides quoted Ho Chi Minh and referred to the August Revolution as a “movement for self determination,” while also quoting the controversial communist leader.
“This year marks the 80th anniversary of the August Revolution – when Vietnam rose up to end nearly a century of colonial rule,” reads the slides. “It was grounded in the struggles of everyday people. It proved that liberation comes from collective power built over time.”
Councilwoman Amy Phan West, who spearheaded the condemnation from the Westminster City Council, alleged VietRISE leaders tried “indoctrinating” young people at the event last month.
“The seminar promoted a distorted historical narrative that glorified Ho Chi Minh and the communist party, whitewashing decades of dictatorship, political repression and human rights abuses,” Phan West wrote in a statement attached to the resolution.
VietRISE leaders posted an unsigned statement on their website Thursday morning defending their posts, saying the complaints were a politicized attack to oppose their other work.
“The blatant attacks from MAGA politicians are a direct response to VietRISE’s long-term vision: to ensure that people aren’t being separated from their families, that Vietnamese seniors can live with dignity and afford their rent, and that young people feel empowered to express their beliefs,” reads the statement.
“These are all issues that have been ignored by the Vietnamese American political status quo,” they continued. “A class of inadequate leaders who have built their careers on years of corruption and mismanagement of public resources.”
VietRISE organizers have been outspoken opponents of federal immigration raids throughout Southern California, and in the past have advocated for policies including rent control and giving undocumented immigrants the right to vote.
Orange County Supervisor Janet Nguyen, who represents Westminster and was criticized by name in VietRISE’s statement, said she was “beyond disappointed” in the nonprofit.
“Touting Ho Chi Minh as a hero is, they really don’t know their history,” Nguyen said in a Thursday interview. “He’s a dictator, he’s a communist leader. He’s the reason why Vietnam is not a free country. He’s the reason why my family is here. He’s the reason why millions of Vietnamese have died … murderers should be known as murderers.”
She also said VietRISE’s claim she was coordinating with other politicians to attack them was false, calling it a “distraction.
At Wednesday’s council meeting, Westminster City Council members argued VietRISE’s presentation whitewashed the human rights abuses in Vietnam that led to many Vietnamese people fleeing to the United States.
“Our city was expanded by brave refugees who fled the horrors of communist oppression,” Phan West said, “We cannot allow false narratives or propaganda to distort history.”
The Harbor Institute – a local immigrant rights advocacy group – said the council’s condemnation attacks free speech.
“During a time when free speech and civil liberties are being eroded by an increasingly authoritarian government, a resolution denouncing VietRISE for their work on community engagement and advocacy would actively weaken the democracy Westminster claims to stand for,” reads an unsigned Wednesday email news release.
Mayor Chi Charlie Nguyen, who regularly clashes with Phan West at city council meetings, agreed with her.
“I myself risked my life escaping Vietnam since I was 15 years old, by myself,” Nguyen said during Wednesday’s meeting. “This is deeply offensive and historically inaccurate … Ho Chi Minh is not viewed as a hero but rather as a nationalist figure, responsible for immense suffering and displacement.”
Councilman Carlos Manzo abstained from the vote, saying they didn’t have enough information to condemn VietRISE.
“I’m not going to condemn somebody when there’s all this information missing,” Manzo said. “By trying to suppress people’s voices here in this country, that is communism. That’s the irony that you can’t even see that.”
Several people also defended VietRISE, accusing West of silencing free speech during the public comment portion of Wednesday’s meeting.
“You think you get to come up here and come after our rights?” said one commenter. “Who do you think you are?”
Another commenter called it a “targeted, petty attack.”
“Organizations like VietRISE do really important work when it comes to helping low income and marginalized communities,” they said. “I’m really struck by the utter hypocrisy.”