HẠ VIỆN TEXAS CÔNG NHẬN CỜ VÀNG

House approves resolution targeting Vietnamese flag
By Corrie MacLaggan
Monday, May 25, 2009, 05:07 PM
http://www.marshallnewsmessenger.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/politics/entries/2009/05/25/house_approves_resolution_targ.html

The Texas House today unanimously approved a resolution targeting the Vietnamese flag, which many Vietnamese Americans find offensive. The measure now goes to the Senate.

The flag — red with a yellow star in the center — reminds Vietnamese Americans of the violence during the Vietnam War and of a government that “still oppresses their own people,” said State Rep. Hubert Vo, D-Houston, the sole Vietnamese American member of the Texas Legislature.

Many Vietnamese Americans have adopted the former flag of South Vietnam — yellow with red stripes — which they call the Freedom and Heritage Flag. Gov. Rick Perry in 2004 recognized that flag as the official symbol of the Texas Vietnamese-American Community, and it has also been recognized by other state and local governments in the United States.

Vo said that the University of Houston displays the red flag on its central campus, and the resolution specifically calls on that and other universities to fly the golden Freedom and Heritage Flag instead.

The resolution says that the red flag “represents a source of anguish to countless people who fled to the United States as a welcoming haven of liberty and tolerance,” while the golden flag “symbolizes both the Vietnamese cultural heritage and a deeply rooted resilience and yearning for democracy.”

As Vo gave a passionate speech about the flags on the House floor, he was surrounded by many of his colleagues.
“I hope this is a message for all the universities to respect the Vietnamese Americans,” Vo said after the vote.

Elwyn Lee, vice president for student affairs at the University of Houston, said that the red Vietnam flag has for years been part of a collection of flags in the World Affairs Lounge in the University Center, a student union. The golden flag was more recently added because of student requests, he said.
Lee said that if the Senate also passes the resolution, university leaders would probably discuss whether to remove the red flag.
“The point of view of the Legislature is something we should certainly respect,” Lee said.

(Rep. Hubert Vo, D-Houston, is pictured in the AP photo at top. (http://alt.coxnewsweb.com/shared-blogs/austin/politics/upload/2009/05/house_approves_resolution_targeting_vietnamese_flag/Vo-thumb.JPG)
The photo at bottom ( http://alt.coxnewsweb.com/shared-blogs/austin/politics/upload/2009/05/house_approves_resolution_targ/Vietnam-thumb.JPG) shows the golden Freedom and Heritage Flag in a Vietnamese bilingual class at Walnut Creek Elementary School in Austin. That photo was taken in 2007 by Jay Janner of the Austin American-Statesman)