LIVING UP TO THE PROMISE OF AMERICA

On 2025-04-30, Representative Sam T. Liccardo (D-CA-16) delivered a floor speech titled "LIVING UP TO THE PROMISE OF AMERICA" in the House.

LIVING UP TO THE PROMISE OF AMERICA

Congressional Record, Volume 171 Issue 72 (Wednesday, April 30, 2025) [Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 72 (Wednesday, April 30, 2025)] [House] [Page H1763] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] LIVING UP TO THE PROMISE OF AMERICA (Mr. LICCARDO asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.) Mr. LICCARDO. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Black April. As Pulitzer Prize-winning author and one of San Jose's favorite sons, Viet Nguyen, has written: ``All wars are fought twice; once on the battlefield and a second time in memory.'' On this day, 50 years ago, fathers, mothers, sisters, and brothers looked out across a vast ocean as Saigon was falling behind them. Among them was Helen, my constituent, who watched as her aunt boarded a boat, and days later she would also follow the path of Vietnamese refugees on to San Jose in my district, which proudly boasts the largest population of ethnically Vietnamese people of any city in the world outside of Vietnam. Helen's journey was filled with horror and hardship, but rooted in hope, hope for a life with freedom and opportunity. We must honor her hope by living up to the promise of America, by fulfilling our democratic values, and by embracing those who come to America from around the world earnestly seeking freedom, as she did. ____________________