SAN JOSE — Some supporters draped yellow flags of the former South Vietnam over their shoulders while others joined hands and held back tears as San Jose became the first Bay Area city to ban the flag of the communist Socialist Republic of Vietnam on city flagpoles.
Councilman Tam Nguyen, who fled communism in his native Vietnam when he was 19 and proposed the idea, got emotional when the unanimous vote was cast after a lengthy debate late Tuesday night.
“It shows we understand the pain of our community,” Nguyen said after the City Council meeting. “It gives us a chance to heal. We are no longer oppressed. We are really free now and we can sleep at night.”
The highly charged debate Tuesday pitted two factions of the city’s Vietnamese-American community against each other: Older generations of Vietnamese refugees who escaped communism and younger immigrants who identify with their country’s current national flag.
San Jose ceremonially raises cultural flags on its flagpoles at City Hall throughout the year. Although no requests were made to fly the Vietnamese flag, city leaders aimed to curb the possibility. Nguyen said the Socialist Republic of Vietnam flag — red with a gold star — symbolizes oppression and bloodshed. Some compared it to raising the Nazi flag.
“We speak up on behalf of those who have lost their lives,” said San Jose resident Khanh V. Doan, a U.S. Army veteran. “Please do not allow that bloody flag to exist in this city. It is our nightmare.”
Daniel Nguyen, another San Jose resident, said Vietnamese people “lost our country, lost our husbands, our wives and children because of that communist flag.”
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After hours of emotional testimony, the City Council approved Nguyen’s flag ban and reaffirmed the city’s recognition of the “Vietnamese Heritage and Freedom Flag” as the official flag of San Jose’s Vietnamese-American community. That’s the yellow flag with three horizontal red stripes that represented the former Republic of Vietnam, the “South Vietnam” the U.S. backed in its battles against communist insurgents before it fell in 1975.
“It’s obvious the community still suffers very deep emotional wounds,” said Mayor Sam Liccardo after the meeting. “And to the extent we can help with that healing and still comply with the Constitution, we should do whatever we can.”
Councilman Chappie Jones likened it to raising the Confederate flag, which he said represents lynching and pain. But a small group of Vietnamese residents said banning the communist flag sends the wrong message.
“Many of us hate the communist regime but we are here to defend the American ideas,” said San Jose resident Long Le. “Will you ban the flag of Mexico next? Cuba? We do not support the communist flag but we support keeping San Jose free.”
Nguyen said he got the idea to oppose the communist flag in San Jose from a similar measure in Westminster, a city of 90,000 in Orange County. Last year, city officials there adopted a policy to oppose displaying the communist flag anywhere in the city, though San Jose’s proposal is limited to city property.
Westminster Councilwoman Kimberly Ho, who supported San Jose’s measure on Tuesday, said the Socialist Republic of Vietnam flag brings back “a lot of hurtful memories.”
“It’s just like the Nazi flag,” Ho said. “Would you fly the Nazi flag? Why would you not oppose it? It might be (Vietnam’s) flag, but once you step foot on our turf — this is our home now. And they need to respect our flag.”
