End of Vietnam War and Southeast Asian Refugees
Once the People’s Army of Vietnam captured Saigon, President Gerald Ford enacted the Indochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act (1975) to bring approximately 130,000 Southeast Asian refugees to the United States, a sweeping overhaul of the nation’s refugee admission system. As Southeast Asia experienced mass turmoil following the conclusion of the Vietnam War, the Khmer Rouge seizing Cambodia, and Laos falling under the control of the Pathet Lao, as well as continued ethnic, religious, and political persecution, over 1.2 million people from Southeast Asia migrated to the United States between 1975 and the late 1990s. The influx of refugees, known originally as “boat people,” from Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, and Laos faced perilous journeys and countless challenges upon reaching the United States, from discrimination to resettlement struggles. Despite their harrowing journey and frequent hostile experiences in the United States, many of the immigrants resiliently fought for fair treatment, legal protections, and opportunities for themselves and other immigrants.
The rapid pullout of the United States armed forces in Southeast Asia at the end of the Vietnam War destabilized the region and left many vulnerable. This section of the mural is composed of a half circle of the Earth– this composition is reminiscent of the World War II section in the original Great Wall of LA. A pair of U.S. Marine boots step away from Vietnam, leaving a trail of skulls on the Indochina peninsula in its wake, and back to California. In contrast to the boots stepping over the Pacific Ocean, a group of Vietnamese Boat people struggle in a rickety raft on rough ocean waves. On the right side of the section, a line of distressed Southeast Asian Refugees is shown with activist Yuri Kochiyama at the forefront. These two images metaphorize the hasty pullout of the U.S. government from Vietnam.Sources:
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- 1970s Research Timeline Taylor Robertson