Where Derek Tran steps in Falsehoods about Jane Fonda and Shows Ignorance

Derek Tran Sends Letter to Los Angeles County Supervisors Protesting the Dedication of April 30 as “Jane Fonda Day”

Tran Stands with Vietnamese Community Against Honoring Actress Jane Fonda on Black April

Garden Grove, CA — Today, U.S. Army Veteran and workers’ rights attorney Derek Tran, who is running in California’s 45th Congressional District, sent the following letter to the Honorable Lindsey Horvath, Chair of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. This board has designated April 30 as “Jane Fonda Day” in Los Angeles County. This decision has deeply upset the Vietnamese community, as April 30 is known as “Black April” and commemorates the tragedy of the fall of Saigon, a day when the Vietnamese population was driven from their country and forced to flee an oppressive regime. Jane Fonda was an anti-Vietnam War activist, earning her the nickname “Hanoi Jane” from her visit to Communist North Vietnam in 1972.

(editor’s note: there were hundreds if not thousands of anti-Vietnam War activists in this country).

The Honorable Lindsey Horvath

Chair, Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors

500 West Temple Street

Los Angeles, CA 90012

RE: Designating April 30 as “Jane Fonda Day” in Los Angeles County

Dear Chairwoman Lindsey Horvath,

I hope this letter finds you well. My name is Derek Tran, the son of a Vietnamese refugee family who fled communist Vietnam. I am writing to protest the Board’s decision to honor actress Jane Fonda on April 30, naming it “Jane Fonda Day,” for her contributions to environmental sustainability, gender equality, and social justice. (so Tran is against environmental sustainability, gender equality and social justice…read what he wrote; poorly done but its whya he said)

Let me begin by acknowledging the importance of recognizing individuals who champion causes such as environmental sustainability, gender equality, and social justice. I am a staunch supporter of these critical issues; I deeply appreciate and support initiatives that promote a sustainable and equitable future for all. (yea, but you called these reasons out against Fonda for your protest)

I must caution the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, however, against choosing April 30 as the day to honor Jane Fonda. For many people in the Vietnamese community, including myself, April 30 holds deep historical and emotional significance as it marks the fall of Saigon in 1975, a day symbolizing the loss of freedom and democracy for South Vietnam. Hundreds of thousands were forced to flee and many lost their lives doing so. Families were torn apart and we began the Vietnamese diaspora. This is why we refer to April 30 as “Black April.”

Jane Fonda’s past actions, which earned her the nickname “Hanoi Jane,” referring to her support for the North Vietnamese Communist regime during the Vietnam War, have left a significantly detrimental and far-reaching impact on the Vietnamese community in America.  (This is false; Fonda did not support the North Vietnamese Communist regime).

Factcheck from Snopes: In July 1972, during the waning days of U.S. military involvement in Vietnam, actress Jane Fonda incurred the enmity of untold thousands of Vietnam veterans and their families (as well as service members for generations to come) when she arrived in Hanoi, North Vietnam, and began a two-week tour of the country. Fonda visited North Vietnamese villages, hospitals, schools, and factories damaged in the war, weaving her comments about what she observed at those sites with denunciations of U.S. military policy in recordings broadcast as propaganda to U.S. servicemen via Radio Hanoi; met with international visitors and reporters who were also in North Vietnam; spent about an hour chatting with seven U.S. POWs at a meeting arranged by her North Vietnamese guides; and posed for photographs at an antiaircraft emplacement set up in a rural area just outside Hanoi.

She went to tour the country’s dike system, which was rumored to have been intentionally bombed by American forces — something the U.S. government to this day forcefully denies. During her two-week stay, Fonda concluded that America was unjustly bombing farmland and areas far flung from military targets. North Vietnamese press reported — and Fonda later confirmed — that she made several radio announcements over the Voice of Vietnam radio to implore U.S. pilots to stop the bombings.

“I appealed to them to please consider what you are doing. I don’t think they know,” Fonda said in a news conference when she returned home. “The people who are speaking out against the war are the patriots.” She said the radio addresses were the only way to get access to American soldiers, because she was barred from meeting them at their bases in South Vietnam.

The facts are that while in North Vietnam, Fonda met with only a single group of seven U.S POWs: all seven of those POWs agreed to meet with her, no POWs were tortured for declining to meet with her (or for behaving inappropriately during the meeting), and no POWs secretly slipped Fonda messages which she turned over to the North Vietnamese. The persons named in inflammatory claims about this alleged incident have repeatedly and categorically denied the events they supposedly were part of.

First of all, the whole premise on which this tale is based is contradicted by the plain reality of the situation: none of the POWs Jane Fonda met needed to furtively hand her messages encoding their identities in order to “get word to the world that they still survived.” Fonda spent about an hour talking with a single group of seven POWs whose names she had ample opportunity to learn during that time; the POWs didn’t need to sneak Fonda pieces of paper with their Social Security numbers written on them, as she could simply have remembered their names and repeated them once she returned home. Plus, there was no reason for the POWs’ identities to have been kept a secret in the first place — since the North Vietnamese arranged the meeting between Fonda and the POWs for its propaganda value, they very much wanted the American public and the world at large to know exactly whom she’d met with.

Over 58,000 American soldiers and over 260,000 service members who served the former Republic of Vietnam died in the Vietnam War, not to mention the millions of Vietnamese citizens who lost their lives. While we respect her contributions to environmental sustainability, gender equality, and social justice, the decision to honor Ms. Fonda on April 30 of all days is deeply flawed and hurtful to all Vietnamese Americans. I find it difficult to endorse the actions of those who dishonor  our Veterans.

I urge the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to reconsider the timing and context of honoring Jane Fonda. It is essential that we recognize the complexities and sensitivities surrounding historical events, especially those that continue to impact diverse communities in California and the United States.

I believe that through open dialogue and respectful consideration of diverse perspectives, we can find common ground and celebrate the contributions of individuals without causing unintended division.

Thank you for your attention to this matter. I look forward to receiving feedback and the opportunity to engage in constructive discussions on this important issue.

Best regards,

Derek Tran

Army Veteran

Congressional candidate, CA-45

So if Derek Tran really this ignorant of the role Jane Fonda played as an anti-war advocate?  Or is he stupid?  Fonda never supported the North Vietnamese regime.  This has been proven time and again.  This is Tran trying to manufacture news based on a flase premise, much like how Michelle Steel doesn’t like the Communist Chinese while her husband does business with them.

Do better Tran.