Introduction to Asian American Studies: Final Zine Project (3) - Regina Gaffney - Jonny Mather - Conner Prendergast

OVERVIEW It is important to recognize the author’s statement of the organized forgetting of refugees in American literature. The author states, “The literature on Vietnamese refugees seldom mentions the internally displaced.” By recognizing only the refugees fleeing Vietnam in 1975. This statement is directly linked to the United State’s attempt to portray the Vietnam war as a “good war.” By setting up refugee camps for Vietnamese people that were displaced as a direct result of the war, the U.S. hoped to be viewed as a “refugee providing nation” rather than a “refugee producing nation”. Moreover, in April 1975 President Ford enacted “Operation BabyLift.” Operation Baby Lift was an all out effort to reposition the United States as a force for good in Vietnam. One can make a connection between the United States’ efforts to be a “do-gooder” in Vietnam to efforts by the United States to portray that same persona in other nations around the world. However, this intention to be a force for good and spread democracy is not always achieved. Many Americans believe that the War in Vietnam was a total catastrophe.