The VietAID Community Center in Dorchester on April 20 hosted the “Intergenerational Cultural Commemoration Event” to mark Black April and look toward healing trauma and creating a cultural and generational bridge for the old and young. The event was led by the 1975 Vietnamese Diaspora Commemoration Initiative, which is creating the “1975: A Vietnamese Diaspora Healing Memorial.” Sampan was there.
Black April is viewed as a critical moment in the Vietnamese diaspora and coincides with the fall of Saigon. Since the pivotal fall of Saigon in 1975, which marked the end of the Vietnam War, there was a significant migration of Vietnamese people around the world. This diaspora has taken root globally, with the United States being one of the major centers, especially around Dorchester. Boston, while not the initial landing point for many Vietnamese refugees, has emerged as a critical hub for the Vietnamese community, notes Linh-Phương Vũ, a mental health clinician, who is a key member of the memorial project.
This migration to Boston owes much to the early presence of bilingual Catholic priests who played an instrumental role in aiding the settlement of Vietnamese refugees. Their ability to communicate in English and Vietnamese facilitated smoother transitions for new arrivals, helping them navigate the complexities of resettlement and integration into American society. Artist Ngoc Trân Vũ, another key member of the memorial project, however, emphasizes that the Vietnamese diaspora is a global phenomenon. Starting from Southeast Asia, Vietnamese communities have established themselves in various countries, each adapting to local contexts while striving to maintain their cultural heritage. This global spread has resulted in a rich tapestry of Vietnamese communities worldwide.
50-Year Commemoration
In 2025, the world will commemorate this fiftieth anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War — a conflict that not only reshaped the geopolitical landscape of Southeast Asia, but also triggered the substantial diaspora intimately tied to the United States and its role in the war. The “1975: A Vietnamese Diaspora Healing Memorial” project will represent engagement with this historical event, aiming to provide a narrative and spatial “recalibration” through a healing memorial in Boston’s Little Saigon Cultural District in Dorchester’s Fields Corner. This initiative seeks not only to honor the Vietnamese diaspora, but also to offer a space for intergenerational healing, addressing unresolved traumas and educating future generations.
Ngoc-Trân Vũ, the lead artist of the memorial project, brings a multifaceted approach to the endeavor, combining her extensive background as a multimedia artist and strategic consultant. With over fifteen years of experience, her work often explores the intricate themes of socio-cultural advocacy, migration, displacement, and resilience. She is working to bridge development, communications, and storytelling to ensure the project not only commemorates the Vietnamese diaspora but also educates and engages the broader public. Her approach is characterized by a deep commitment to empowering marginalized communities through art, which she views as a powerful medium for social change and community cohesion. By focusing on narratives of migration and resilience, she said she aims to create a memorial that resonates emotionally and culturally with the Vietnamese community.
Foundations of Community Involvement
The design and conceptualization of the “1975: A Vietnamese Diaspora Healing Memorial” project underscores a profound shift from traditional top-down approaches typically seen in public art installations. This initiative has woven community feedback into the fabric of its development from the very start, ensuring that the memorial authentically represents the experiences and aspirations of the Vietnamese diaspora. Trân Vũ highlights the importance of this engagement, noting that it fosters a deeper connection between the community and the final memorial.
Community workshops and brainstorming sessions have been central to this process, providing a platform for members to voice their thoughts and contribute creatively to the memorial’s design. These sessions, often filled with vibrant discussions and personal reflections, have become a home for the fusion of individual memories and collective aspirations.
Reclaiming Narrative and Cultural Identity
One of the fundamental goals of the “1975: A Vietnamese Diaspora Healing Memorial” project is to confront and redefine the predominant narratives surrounding the Vietnam War. Historically, these narratives have often been filtered through a Western perspective, which has simplified complex events and marginalized Vietnamese voices. This Western-centric view typically frames the conflict in geopolitical terms, overlooking the deeply personal and lasting impacts on Vietnam and its people. Linh-Phương Vũ, with her background in Asian American studies, emphasizes that in mainstream educational systems, the extensive and nuanced histories of Vietnam are often reduced to mere side notes, failing to capture the full spectrum of experiences and consequences experienced by the Vietnamese people.
Both Trân Vũ and Linh-Phương Vũ use the project as a platform to highlight overlooked aspects of Vietnamese history and contemporary identity. Tran Vu, leveraging her expertise as a multimedia artist, sees art as a vital tool in this reclamation process. Artistic expressions, whether through visual arts, installations, or performances, serve as powerful mediums to convey the complexities of the Vietnamese experience. These artistic endeavors not only honor the ancestors and their legacies but also challenge the audience to rethink their understanding of the Vietnam War and its aftermath.
Intergenerational Dialogue within the Diaspora
One of the profound aspects of the diaspora is the differing experiences and perspectives between generations. The older generation, those who lived through the war and its immediate aftermath, and the younger generation, born and raised outside of Vietnam, often have distinct views and emotional connections to their heritage. The project spearheaded by Tran Vu and Linh-Phương Vũ seeks to bridge these generational gaps through active dialogue and shared projects like the memorial.
This dialogue is not just about recounting past hardships but also about understanding the journey of resilience and adaptation that defines the community. It involves sharing stories of escape, loss, and rebuilding in a new land, which are crucial for younger generations to understand their roots and the sacrifices made by their forebears. Similarly, it’s important for the older generation to share in the new experiences and perspectives of the youth, who often balance dual cultural identities.
The success of the 1975: A Vietnamese Diaspora Healing Memorial” project hinges on its collaborative nature, which brings together a diverse array of partners with complementary expertise and resources. At its core are local community centers, such as Vietaid Community Center and the Vietnamese Community of Greater Massachusetts, which serve as invaluable anchors within the Vietnamese community.
In addition to community centers, advocacy groups play a pivotal role in amplifying the project’s reach and impact. Organizations like the Asian American Resource Workshop and UMass Boston’s Asian American Studies program lend their support by providing platforms for dialogue, research, and advocacy. The partnership with UMass Boston’s Asian American Studies program exemplifies the project’s commitment to academic rigor and community-based research. By engaging with scholars and students, the project gains access to interdisciplinary insights and methodologies that enrich its approach to storytelling, memorialization, and community engagement. Moreover, academic institutions serve as repositories of knowledge and expertise, offering valuable resources for historical research, oral history collection, and educational programming.
