A Fourth of July Reflection
"What's important to me is that because of my sacrifice, many, many young people... are seen now as whole people, as people who have the ability to excel, as people who should be evaluated based on their worth.”
- Nesbit Crutchfield, Third World Liberation Front and San Francisco State’s Black Student Union activist leader
Over the past decade (or more), the Fourth of July has elicited a plethora of mixed emotions for many. A country, which was once a beacon of hope to many, has now fallen far from grace. With ICE raids in our communities, a president in office who incites divisiveness and is a convicted felon and key constitutional rights being appealed, one may wonder, how can we find hope in such a time?
The America at present is one that feels so different from the America which our founding fathers once envisioned. The three unalienable principles of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” are actively under assault as our government seeks to squelch any dissidence.
As Americans, and as outlined in the Declaration of Independence, “It is our [their] duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for our [their] future security." It is our responsibility and civic duty to engage in peaceful protest and civil disobedience to preserve the core principles that our country was founded upon. The great American philosopher Henry David Thoreau coined the idea of “civil disobedience” as a way for individuals to prioritize their own conscience over unjust laws. It was also a philosophy that was later utilized in the abolitionist and Civil Rights movements to argue that governments had forfeited moral authority due to unjust laws. In the 1970s, philosopher John Rawls expanded upon civil disobedience as encompassing nonviolent and public acts carried out in opposition to laws, to stimulate direct governmental change.
Growing up, I heard stories from my mom and her family’s escape from Vietnam.
Of the times of fear when my mother and her siblings were separated from each other on the refugee boat.
Of the uncertainty during time spent at Camp Pendleton refugee camp in San Diego, trapped in cramped, dusty quarters.
And, of joy, when my grandfather was finally reunited with my mother and her siblings at the refugee camp, after they thought he had perished during the war.
As Vietnamese refugees fled a war torn country, America was a land of promise and safety.
A place they could hope to survive after their country was ravaged by war and suffering.
My mother and her family came to the United States under the Indochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act of 1975, which provided federal funding for resettlement for over 130,000 refugees in the U.S. The Refugee Act of 1980 standardized the resettlement process through adoption of the United Nation’s definition of refugees. It also later became the primary framework for granting Vietnamese refugees legal citizenship. Legislations like Amerasian Homecoming Act of 1987, the Orderly Departure Program, and McCain Amendment then reinforced America’s commitment across presidents to allow Vietnamese refugees to come to the U.S. and become citizens who made up a crucial part of the fabric of America. This set a precedent for millions of refugees afterwards.
When my mom and her family talk about America, they talk about the opportunities it gave them. Despite the sacrifices that they had to make in a new country, learning a new language and culture that was foreign and strange to them, they knew they were building better lives for future generations.
For myself though, as someone born in the U.S. and having benefited from my family’s sacrifices, America looks, feels, and tastes like solidarity as pioneered by the Third World Liberation Front (TWLF).
First established at San Francisco State University in 1968, TWLF was composed of several student organizations, dedicated to fighting racism and inequity. They presented ten demands to school administration, including the creation of a Black Studies department. The five month long protest that ensued, which was led by the SFSU Black Student Union and later joined by the Third World Liberation Front, became the longest student strike in history.
Students at Berkeley were so inspired by the actions at SFSU, and submitted a petition to the administration for a Black Studies department to be created, and initiated a strike. The groups at Berkeley and SFSU collectively pushed for increased enrollment of minority students on college campuses, the hiring of minority faculty and creation of ethnic and Black studies departments. During this period, students protested, participated in hunger strikes, sit-ins and boycotts that resulted in both schools establishing the first two ever Ethnic Studies schools in the United States. Students faced police violence, academic suspension and arrests. The efforts of these students allowed me, and a multitude of other students, to learn history in a way that felt authentically representative of the vibrant cultural make-up of America.
Although it feels difficult to celebrate the Fourth of July, my family still sees this country as a place of hope. They recognize that this is an opportune moment to reflect on the people who have fought throughout history to make our country a more just place.
As noted in the Declaration of Independence, it is a reminder to continue the commitment of past generations to cultivate a country that embodies the ideals of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Even in the darkest moments, we look to recent events like Zohran Mamdani's recent mayoral victory in New York City and the reversal of federal immigration raids in Minnesota as wins for us all.
We see today as an evolution of what the U.S. was, is, and can be. For me and my family, you’ll find us celebrating the contributions of immigrants, refugees, and more who truly make up the fabric of the United States of America.
About Writer: Carina Kimlan Hinton is a mixed race, Vietnamese American poet and writer who explores issues of identity, cultural belonging and intergenerational trauma in her writing. Her mother's family are Vietnamese refugees, and she grew up hearing stories of their escape during the Vietnam War. She seeks to understand this journey and legacy in her writing. In 2020, she graduated from UC Berkeley with a major in History, and concentration in Post Vietnam War Vietnamese Amerasian History. As part of her program, she completed a senior thesis exploring the experiences of Vietnamese Amerasian children born in Vietnam during the war. She is a regular contributor to publications such as Project Yellow Dress, Vietnamese Boat People, Diacritics/Diasporic Vietnamese Artists Network, Marin Independent Journal, The Dirt and Davis Living Magazine. She was a finalist for the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Digital Storytelling Contest.
