On Saturday, July
24th, 2010 the town of Prescott Valley, AZ,
hosted a Freedom Rally. Quang Nguyen was
asked to speak on his experience of coming
to America and what it means. He spoke
the following in dedication to all Vietnam
Veterans. Thought you might enjoy hearing
what he had to say:
Thirty-five years ago,
if you were to tell me that I am going to
stand up here speaking to a couple
thousand patriots, in English, I'd laugh at
you. Man, every morning I wake up thanking
God for putting me and my family 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'd 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 for political asylum. The war
had ended. A t 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, I am telling you that right now. It
was 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 cannot 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 opportunity
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 aimed at your head. That was my
experience.
In 1982, 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 some
way and somehow, I had forgotten how I got
here and why I was here.
One day I was at a gas
station, I saw a veteran pumping gas on the
other side of the island. I don'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. The grown man began 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 my 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 a 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 knew this
46-page document, I learned of the 500,000
Americans who fought for this little boy.
I learned of the 58,000 names scribed on
the black wall at the Vietnam Memorial.
You are my heroes. You are my founders.
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 liberty 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 services and may God bless you all.
Quang Nguyen
Creative
Director/Founder
Caddis Advertising,
LLC
Notice that he
referred to himself as an American, NOT
Vietnamese-American. How good it would be
here in America if all of the immigrants
-- no, EVERYONE -- felt like Quang Nguyen.
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