Bill Text: CA SCR29 | 2009-2010 | Regular Session | Chaptered
Bill Title: Black April Memorial Week.
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Passed) 2010-04-20 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Res. Chapter 5, Statutes of 2010. [SCR29 Detail]
Download: California-2009-SCR29-Chaptered.html
BILL NUMBER: SCR 29 CHAPTERED BILL TEXT RESOLUTION CHAPTER 5 FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE APRIL 20, 2010 APPROVED BY GOVERNOR APRIL 20, 2010 ADOPTED IN SENATE APRIL 19, 2010 ADOPTED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 15, 2010 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY OCTOBER 26, 2009 INTRODUCED BY Senators Correa, Alquist, Ducheny, Harman, Maldonado, and Walters (Coauthors: Assembly Members Coto, DeVore, Harkey, Jones, Miller, Silva, Solorio, and Tran) MARCH 25, 2009 Relative to Black April Memorial Week. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SCR 29, Correa. Black April Memorial Week. This measure would proclaim the week of April 23 to April 30, 2010, inclusive, as Black April Memorial Week, a special time for Californians to remember the countless lives lost during the Vietnam War era, and to hope for a more humane and just life for the people of Vietnam. WHEREAS, April 30, 2010, marks the 35th anniversary of the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975, to communism; and WHEREAS, For many Vietnam and Vietnam-era veterans who were directly involved in the war and Vietnamese Americans who have settled in the United States, the Vietnam War was a tragedy full of great suffering and the loss of American, Vietnamese, and Southeast Asian lives; and WHEREAS, Fifty-eight thousand one hundred sixty-nine people were killed and 304,000 were wounded out of the 2.59 million people who served in the Vietnam War. One out of every 10 Americans who served in Vietnam became a casualty of war; and WHEREAS, After the fall of Saigon, over 135,000 Vietnamese fled to the United States, including former military and government officials and Vietnamese who had worked for the United States during the war, and their families; and WHEREAS, Thousands of people took boats in order to leave Vietnam in the late 1970s to mid-1980s. The successful ones reached refugee camps in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Hong Kong; while approximately one-half of the people fleeing Vietnam perished at sea; and WHEREAS, According to the United States Census for 2000, more than 447,032 Vietnamese live in California, with the largest concentration of Vietnamese found outside of Vietnam residing in Orange County; and WHEREAS, We must teach our children and future generations important lessons from the Vietnam War, including how the plight of the Vietnamese refugees following the end of war serves as a powerful example of the values of freedom and democracy; and WHEREAS, We, the people of California, should actively rededicate ourselves to the principles of human rights, individual freedom, and equal protection under the laws of a just and democratic world. Californians should set aside moments of time every year on April 30 to give remembrance to the soldiers, medical personnel, and civilians who died during the Vietnam War era in pursuit of freedom; and WHEREAS, Vietnamese American communities throughout California will commemorate April 30, 2010, as Black April, a day of remembrance; now, therefore, be it Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly thereof concurring, That in recognition of the great tragedy and suffering and lives lost during the Vietnam War era, the week of April 23, 2010, to April 30, 2010, inclusive, shall be proclaimed Black April Memorial Week, a special time for Californians to remember the countless lives lost during the Vietnam War era, and to hope for a more humane and just life for the people of Vietnam; and be it further Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.