
Our Younger Generation Paying
Tribute To All Veterans on Freedom Rally in Prescott Valley, AZ
on July 24, 2010.
Administrator’s
Note: The sincere gratitude and heartfelt tribute to Viet Nam veterans and all veterans below was
delivered by Quang Nguyen at the Freedom Rally in Prescott Valley, AZ
on July 24, 2010. He also demonstrated his profound appreciation to his
adopted country, United States
of America. This young man had
eloquently expressed the feeling of his elder Vietnamese American
generation. Quang immigrated to the U.S. as a
Vietnamese refugee 35 years ago at the age of 12.
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35 years ago if you were to tell
me that I am going to stand up here speaking in English to a large group of
patriots, I’d laugh at you. Every morning I wake up thanking God
for putting family and me in the greatest country on earth.
I just want you all to know that
the American dream does exist and I am living the American dream. I was
asked to speak to you about my experience as a first generation Vietnamese
American, but I rather speak to you as an American.
If you hadn’t noticed, I am
not white and I feel pretty comfortable with my people.
I am a proud US citizen and
here is my proof… It took me 8 years to get it, waiting in endless lines,
but I got it and I am very proud of it.
I still remember the images of the
Tet offensive in 1968. I was six years
old. Now you might want to question how a 6 year old boy could remember
anything. Trust me, those images can never be
erased. I can’t even imagine what it was like for young American
soldiers, 10,000 miles away from home, fighting on my behalf.
35 years ago, I left South Vietnam to come to America for
political asylum. The war had ended. At the age of 13, I left with the
understanding that I may or may not ever get to see my siblings or parents
again. I was one of the first lucky 100,000 Vietnamese allowed to come to
the US.
Somehow, my family and I were reunited 5 months later, amazingly, in California. It was
a miracle from God.
If you haven’t heard lately
that this is the greatest country on earth, let me tell you, IT IS!!! It is the
freedom and the opportunities presented to me that put me here with all of you
tonight. I also remember the barriers that I had to overcome every step
of the way. My high school counselor told me that I could not make it to
college due to my poor communication skills. I proved him wrong. I
finished college. You see… All you have to do is to give this
little boy an opportunity and encourage him to take and run with it.
Well, I took the opportunities and here I am. This person standing
tonight in front of you could not exist under a socialist/communist environment.
By the way, if you think socialism is the way to go, I am sure many people here
will chip in to get you a one-way ticket out of here. And if you
didn’t know, the only difference between socialism and communism is an
AK-47 aiming at your head. That was what I knew and grew up with.
In 1983, I stood with a thousand
new immigrants, reciting the pledge of allegiance and listening to the National
Anthem for the first time as an American. To this day, I can’t
remember anything sweeter and more patriotic than that moment in my life.
Fast forwarding, somehow I
finished high school, finished college, and like any other goofball 21 year old
kid, I was having a great time with my life, I had a
nice job and a nice apartment in Southern California.
In someway and somehow, I had forgotten how I got here and why
I am here.
One day I was at a gas station, I
saw a veteran pumping gas on the other side of the island. I didn’t
know what made me do it, but I walked over and asked if he had served in Vietnam.
He smiled and said Yes. I shook and held his
hand. His eyes started to well up. I walked away as fast as I could
and at that very moment, I was emotionally rocked, this was a profound moment
in life. I knew something had to change in my life. It was time for me to
learn how to be a good citizen. It was time for me to give back.
You see… America is not
place on the map; it isn’t a physical location. It is an ideal, a
concept. And if you are an American, you must understand the concept, you
must buy into this concept and most importantly, you have to fight and defend
this concept. This is about Freedom… and not free stuff. And
that is why I am standing up here. Brothers and sisters, to be a real
American, the very least you must do is to learn English and understand it
well. In my humble opinion, you cannot be a faithful patriotic citizen if
you can’t speak the language of the country you live in. Take this
document of 46 pages… Last I looked on the internet,
there wasn’t a Vietnamese translation of the US constitution. It took me a
long time to get to the point of being able to converse and until this day, I
still struggle to come up with the right words. It’s not easy, but
if it’s too easy, it’s not worth doing.
Before I got to know this 46- page
document, I learned of the 500,000 Americans and so many of South Vietnamese
soldiers including my two brothers, who fought
for this little boy. I learned of the 58,000 names scribed on the black
wall at the Vietnam War memorial. You are my heroes. You are my
founders.
When I was eligible to vote, I
went out and performed my civic duty. For all of you young people out
there, who just turned 18, I encourage you to exercise your duty as an American
to be an informed voter no matter where you are or what you do. America fought
and died for your rights. DON’T LET HER DOWN!
At this time, I would like to ask
all the Vietnam
veterans to please stand. I thank you for my life. I thank you for your
sacrifices, and I thank you for giving me the freedom and the liberties I have
today. I now ask All veterans, firefighters, and
police officers, to please stand. On behalf of all first generation
immigrants, I thank you for your service and May God bless you all and May God bless America!

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