05.30.07
Michigan recognizes South Vietnamese flag
Right: Student Phuoc Tran hangs a South Vietnamese flag at UT Arlington in 2006, protesting the university’s flying of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam’s flag.
The Michigan Legislature has decided to let the flag of former South Vietnam represent the state’s Vietnamese American community and its contributions, and more than 1,000 Vietnamese Americans from throughout the nation have come to Holt, near Lansing, to celebrate.
The decision came after two years of lobbying by the state’s Vietnamese American community.
Thi Tran, 25, of Grand Rapids, is simple in explaining why the flag is important to him: “It’s the flag symbolizing the freedom we had before the war,” he says, and “the reason everyone came here was freedom.”
Update: On Tuesday, the City Council of Rosemead in L.A. County also voted to recognize the South Vietnamese flag.