Book-Burning Scheduled in Little Saigon

Little Saigon activists preparing to mark the 25th anniversary of the Vietnam War’s end--and the start of a flight to freedom for refugees--have added book-burning to the list of events this weekend.

More than 100 books, newspapers and other items produced under the communist regime that captured Saigon on April 30, 1975, will be burned at 4 p.m. Saturday outside the New Saigon Mall on Bolsa Avenue.

“It’s one way to display our hatred for the communists,” said Du Mien, coordinator of the book-burning event. “The culture of the communists is not our culture.”

But Jeffrey Brody, a Cal State Fullerton professor who studies the Vietnamese immigrant experience, said he found the event ironic. “They’re adopting the tactics of totalitarians,” he said. “This is one of the first things that the communists did after they conquered South Vietnam.”

The victorious North Vietnamese government torched more than 4 million books and documents linked to the South Vietnamese government after Saigon fell, Brody said.

“People burn books because they’re afraid of the ideas in the books and they don’t want those ideas to be read, criticized or supported by others,” Brody said. “It’s a form of censorship.”

But event organizer Mien said the event is simply an expression of anger at communism.

“These are propaganda, not books. They ruin the minds of our youths,” Mien said. “What the communists did to us, we’re doing to them.”

This view also was reflected in a survey by Brody and others at Cal State Fullerton this month that found 56% of Vietnamese Americans in Orange County believe communists should not be allowed to speak publicly in the United States.

Coming from a nation torn by strife and oppression, many Vietnamese refugees “haven’t grown up with respect for the First Amendment,” Brody said.

The event is only one of many planned to mark the 25th anniversary of the fall of Saigon, now Ho Chi Minh City. Others include:

* An exhibit of more than 100 photos depicting the history of Little Saigon. The display will be open through Saturday at the Asian Garden Mall, 9200 Bolsa Ave., Westminster.

* A memorial ceremony from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday at the parking lot on Moran Street in Westminster.

* A fast to call for religious freedom in Vietnam starts at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Cultural Court, 9225 Bolsa Ave., Westminster.

* A candlelight vigil from 6 to 10 p.m. Saturday at the Cultural Court.

* A prayer vigil from 7 p.m. to midnight Saturday at the Nationalist Vietnamese Activity Center, 13139 Harbor Blvd., Garden Grove.

* A tribute to American and Vietnamese veterans from 10:30 a.m. to noon on Sunday at Camp Pendleton.

* A rally at 11 a.m. Sunday at the Cultural Court.