Hero effect
To the Editor:
Your newspaper's recent front-page article praising John Riordan as a "gay hero" for rescuing Vietnamese as the South Vietnam puppet regime collapsed shortly after U.S. troops retreated turns the concept of hero on its head.
Let's recall the facts about the U.S. role in Vietnam. After the Vietnamese victory over French rule in the mid-1950s, all signatories of the Geneva Accords agreed that elections should be held to unify a divided Vietnam. But when the U.S. Eisenhower administration realized that Communist leader Ho Chi Minh, hero in the war against the French, would easily win national elections, the U.S. violated the accords by preventing elections and instead created a puppet regime in the south—the one Riordan backed —that made the temporary split between North and South Vietnam permanent and led to continued war.
By the time Saigon was overwhelmed by North Vietnamese regular army units and the southern National Liberation Front guerillas in 1975 and the country was reunited, U.S. aggression and occupation in Southeast Asia resulted in 58,000 U.S. fatalities and the deaths of more than 3 million Vietnamese, Cambodians and Laotians, not to mention the vast chemical despoliation of the land through use of Agent Orange and the death and maiming of hundreds of Southeast Asians that continues to this day by the accidental detonation of unexploded ordinance in paddies and forests throughout the region.
The real heroes of the Vietnam War were the long-suffering Vietnamese people who fought valiantly for their right to chart their own destiny free from imperial interference, first from the Japanese, then from the French and, finally, from the Americans.
Other heroes were the men of draft age in the United States who went to prison or fled to Canada rather than fight in an unjust war. We also should honor the thousands of U.S. troops who staged mutinies in the closing years of the war by refusing to obey military orders. Other heroes were the whistleblowers who exposed U.S. war crimes, like Daniel Ellsberg, Seymour Hersh and Ronald Ridenhour. Finally, let's not forget on the 45th anniversary of the Kent State massacre the many people in the U.S. and around the world who demonstrated against the war calling for an end to U.S. aggression and victory for a united Vietnamese people.
The U.S. effort to stop the national liberation struggle in Vietnam was an ignominious failure. It is something to remember today as the U.S. attempts to impose new regimes on a host of Middle Eastern countries—with hundreds of thousands of more needless deaths, a resulting refugee crisis lapping on the shores of Europe, and chilling civil-rights violations at home. An ever-widening United States war in the Middle East unchecked by protest at home, has encouraged a growing militant Islamic response. Where are the real heroes today? They are those who stand up publicly and denounce this endless war. They are the ones who warn us against the growing surveillance state that threatens to rob us of our privacy rights in the name of "security." They are the ones calling for reparations.
Rather than celebrate a gay guy like John Riordan, who shielded hangers-on of a failed U.S. puppet regime years ago, Windy City Times should honor the likes of Chelsea Manning who, at great cost to herself, today has joined the ranks of a long line of past heroes who exposed the truth about U.S. government barbarism.and fought to end it. She's a hero worth celebrating!
Bob Schwartz
Andy Thayer
Chicago
Kiss conception
Hugs, kisses and many thanks to Sidetrack and its generous patrons who allowed themselves to be smothered in love from PFLAG moms and dads on Mother's Day at the annual "Kisses from Mom" event.
Bargoers and unsuspecting folks walking past Sidetrack dug deeply into their pockets to support the work of PFLAG in the greater Chicagoland area. PFLAG—formerly Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays—provides support, education and advocacy to promote the dignity and well-being of our LGBT loved ones.
Toni Weaver
PFLAG
