“Black April is not a time for glorifying successes and contributions to America. This is about why do we exist in America at all? It’s because we rejected Communism. That reason still exists and we should be calling the world’s attention to it.”

— Lan Diep, former San Jose City Council member, on the 50th anniversary of the April 30, 1975 fall of Saigon, the former capital of South Vietnam, to communist forces. San Jose is home to the largest Vietnamese population in a single city outside Vietnam, but Diep said while the community has succeeded in the U.S., many still dream of seeing Vietnam freed from communism.