Each week, a growing number of activists are coming together to protest on the corner of State College and Imperial Hwy in Brea, California. The gathering, which takes place every Monday from 5 to 6:30 PM, has become a focal point for individuals who are passionate about various local, national, and international issues. Participants express a sense of camaraderie as they rally for change and raise their voices against perceived injustices.

Among the participants is Phuong Vo, a 66-year-old Vietnamese refugee whose poignant story resonates with many in the crowd. She was just 16 when her family fled Saigon on April 29, 1975, one day before the city fell to Communist forces, marking the end of the Vietnam War. Phuong’s father, an officer in the Vietnamese Navy, passed away in 1964 after a mission when she was only five years old. Following her father’s death, her mother raised Phuong and her three siblings alone, then navigating a perilous escape from their war-torn homeland.

Their journey began aboard a Vietnamese Navy ship, overloaded with 5,800 people despite having a capacity of just 1,700. The ship suffered a power failure at sea, leaving its passengers adrift with minimal food and water until they were rescued by an American Navy vessel. Phuong’s refugee experience took her to refugee camps in Guam and the Philippines. From there, the family was flown to IndianTown Gap Refugee Camp in Pennsylvania. From there, Phoung was sponsored by the HAIS refugee resettlement organization settling in Baltimore, Maryland. In 1978, the family moved to Orange County and has lived here ever since.

As the community gathers for the protest, attention is drawn to the significance of the date, April 30th, which marks the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon, often referred to as Black April.

“I fled tyranny in Vietnam, and now I have to fight tyranny here in America,” Phuong Vo stated, drawing parallels between her past and the current political climate. Her words echo the sentiments of many attendees who are fighting for freedom and justice both at home and abroad.