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Why do Vietnamese Americans continue to use the Vietnamese Heritage and Freedom Flag?

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Most Vietnamese-Americans today are, or are descended from, refugees from South Vietnam around the time of its defeat to North Vietnam in 1975. They consider the current government of Vietnam (the Socialist Republic of Vietnam) and its flag to be illegitimate, and the old South Vietnam flag to represent the “real” country of Vietnam.

In official capacities, such as those of the U.S. government, the government and flag of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam are recognized.

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To answer this question, one should ask oneself what is the reason for the Vietnamese overseas to leave their ancestors homeland in the first place? Is it because of economic reason? If that is the case, then they would be labeled as immigrants. Or is it because of political reason? If that is the case, then they would be labeled as refugees. From history perspective , the Vietnamese overseas left Vietnam as refugees. Therefore, they left Vietnam to go to their host countries to avoid political or religious prosecution. So to ask the Vietnamese overseas to accept the current Vietnam flag is like to ask them to betray the very real reason why they left Vietnam in the first place and also to ask them to betray their host countries which took them in as refugees to protect them from harm ways. The reason the Vietnamese overseas still keep using the former South Vietnam flag is because they want to make a statement that they are truly refugees and not economic immigrants. Currently half of Vietnam population are under 30 years old, born after the war ended 43 years ago, so understandably they view the current Vietnam flag as the true flag that represents Vietnam. But to the Vietnamese overseas, that flag is the real reason why they left Vietnam in the first place.

Now let’s reverse the history and let the South Vietnam win instead; therefore, the people that ruled North Vietnam will take refuge in Russia or China. After a while, would they and their descendants in turn accept the South Vietnam flag as a flag that would represent them while they are exiled in their host countries? So hopefully the person that had asked this question would be more understanding and be more empathy to the Vietnamese overseas as they live their lives in exile in their adopted countries.

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As far as I know the only place and the only people who defiantly fly the flag of the former country of South Vietnam are Vietnamese emigres living in North America and Australia. The country of South Vietnam ceased to exist in 1975 and the flag is not recognized by any countries of the world, and is displayed only by a number of private citizens.

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The diaspora in Western countries are mostly made up of people who left VN as political refugees. In the USA, those who fly the SVN are either:

People and their descendants who left VN in 1975 with the help of the US administration.

People who were admitted to the USA from the refugee camps in HK, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines. They left Vietnam clandestinely mostly by boat and were boarded by merchant ships crossing them on their way to commercial harbours.

People and their descendants who underwent imprisonment in Vietnam because they were workers in the South Vietnamese administration, they served in a US admin or organisation, they got granted access to the USA under the Ordered Departure Program.

You understand why those are flying the SVN flag and not the current Vietnamese flag.

The immigrants who settled in the US recently with workers visa, marriage or green card against investments …are loyal to the communist flag.

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As citizens of the former Republic of Vietnam, they are now citizens of Australia, Canada, or the US. They are Vietnamese but not Vietnamese citizens after all. They do not need to obey the laws of Vietnam, hence they can follow whatever flags they like.

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Below is the flag of the country I was born in and this is the flag of the country my father fought for even though this country no longer exists, the flag my uncle “died” for when his plane went down in a battle, an uncle whose big brother, my father, still insists (hopes) is “MIA” 43 years later since no remains were ever recovered from the wreckage. We DO accept that the current flag represents the current government of the country of Vietnam in its current state. We fought that government and left that state, not once but twice. My family fled south and lost everything in the land reform of the 50’s, and we did it all over again two decades later, this time fleeing across an ocean. The fact is that the current flag is thoroughly foreign to us and doesn't represent us. It's linked indelibly to a profound sense of loss, betrayal, aggression, and trauma from our perspective.

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By the same token, I was born in the city of Saigon. That city no longer exists, since shortly after my birth, but I don't tell people I was born in Ho Chi Minh City because the fact is that I wasn't. HCMC did not exist when I was born. My birth certificate and my U.S. passport still read born in Saigon. It's the same concept with the current flag. I accept HCMC and the current flag for what they are to Vietnam today, but I don't accept them as part of my identity as an ethnic Vietnamese.

The question essentially asks why someone like me wouldn't use, accept, or embrace the current flag of Vietnam. I have a better question. Why would I?

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