Support of Assembly Bill 2064 by Assemblyman Arambula regarding instructional materials related to the Vietnam War.

Dear Members of the California State Assembly Education Committee,

I am writing in strong support of AB 2064, which would require the State Board of Education and the Curriculum Development and Supplemental Materials Commission to adopt textbooks and instructional materials to include instruction on the Vietnam War. Specifically to include the "Secret War" in Laos, the role of Southeast Asians in that war, and the refugee/immigrant/new American experience as a result of the war.

My experience in this topic includes service on the Southeast Asia Community Advisory Board to the Oakland Museum, contributor to the Smithsonian Exhibition “Enter Saigon—Enter Little Saigon” now at San Jose City College, and as an adjunct instructor of U.S. History and Ethnic Studies classes at SJCC, De Anza College, CCSF, Solano College, and Diablo Valley College between 1994 and 2005 (now retired).  At DVC I taught a Critical Reasoning in History class that was themed on the Vietnam War era.

But I didn’t learn anything about the Vietnam War until talking to students from refugee families from Viet Nam, Cambodia, and Laos.  Then I went into the communities for events and commemorations and learned from their parents.  Some of the leaders asked me to help with the misinformation in the high school history textbooks.  We held a seminar “Vietnamese Americans in California Textbooks” at De Anza College on October 22, 2004. 

My experience also includes the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and 1970s – the NAACP—in Santa Clara County.  All of us learned that making changes in textbooks regarding African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans must come from the people themselves first getting support from the legislature.   You are the link for inclusion and democracy.  The textbook publishers are not interested in revision except when it is legislated. 

I am counting on you as representatives of the communities to bring this legislation forward.  And I am promising you to be of as much assistance as possible in facilitating the much-needed changes regarding textbook interpretations of the Vietnam War.