The latest controversy regarding the Vietnamese yellow flag with three stripes appearing in a foot bath, published by Nguoi Viet newspaper, has drawn international attention. Yet no one has been able to adequately explain the phenomenal outrage that has not just engulfed Little Saigon, but also polarized the overseas Vietnamese’s sense of national pride and ethnic identity.
Two opposing views have emerged from this debate. One casts the issue as a matter of artistic freedom of expression, while the other alleges that any unorthodox representation of the flag is a desecration and direct attack upon the cultural values of overseas Vietnamese, who hold that the yellow flag is the symbol of their heritage and aspirations for freedom. The two camps appear to be on a collision course with no middle ground.
It is worth noting that despite a vocal minority, the majority of Vietnamese Americans has not taken to the streets but has exercised other civic rights, such as withholding their support for such offensive artwork or not dignifying it with a response. These are people who have matured in their sophistication and understanding of the First Amendment right to freedom of speech and have grown beyond the point of intolerance.
After all, we do not see frenzy and mass paranoia whipped up every time the American flag is burned. Generally, those who commit such acts are held in contempt, and the general public should roundly denounce them and move on so that such behaviors do not get the same publicity in the future. Here, the protesters are actually furthering the harm by keeping the issue alive in the news without educating the public about their grievances or offering any solutions against future attacks upon our beloved flag. On the other hand, those who have ridiculed protesters or defended the artist’s intentions deserve no praise either.
It is time to recognize that the overseas Vietnamese community is no longer just a community of refugees, but includes those who have gone abroad under other circumstances, who do not necessarily share the same cultural heritage and identity as those of us who lived, served and sacrificed under the Vietnamese yellow flag. While to us the yellow flag is a sacred, living symbol of our hopes for freedom, democracy and human rights, not all other Vietnamese share the same views. This does not permit them to offend our flag, but neither does it permit us to insist on eradicating their treasured symbols.
Those who insist that, as overseas Vietnamese, we could only have one heritage and one identity are bound to failure, because the Vietnamese people have always been a diverse and dynamic force that resists singularity and values plurality — a hundred children born of a single mother.
What we need are real leaders who can unite us through reason and compassion, and not political demagogues who divide us into small camps for their own advantage.
The Vietnamese yellow flag does not belong to any one group, historically or at present. It is a symbol of the Vietnamese’s aspiration to unite as a people, even though we are as different as the three main regions of Vietnam for which the three red stripes stand for. Thus, to act divisively is to go against the spirit of the yellow flag. We need to remind each other to be tolerant and open to other expressions and values not our own. The recent controversies have provided us with one more opportunity to come together and heal the wounds of past wars, not create the seeds for future hostilities.
Joseph Do Vinh is the author of Green Plums, a collection of poetry published in 2005. He was born in Vietnam in 1968 and immigrated with his family to America in 1975. He is a graduate of the University of Washington with a B.S. in political science.