Over Four Decades Later, the Bitter Ending of the Vietnam War Looms On

Cover Story

By: Whitney-Jocelyn Kouaho (’20), Staff Writer

In a small historical district in the heart of the United States exists a university with a largely hidden story. I suspect that it isn’t a popular story as the university was founded by a group of former soldiers of the Viet Cong (the Viet Cong was an opponent of the US and its allies during the Vietnam War). The story gets even more odd as these same soldiers founded the university upon alleged liberal ideals and progressive emotions. Yet this supposed beginning is easily questionable when I observed a few interesting symbols that corral the interest of the university and after some digging, the cultural environment that exists there becomes glaringly obvious.

The first is the flag.

Everyone knows the flag. The flag that’s not quite the flag but the flag nonetheless. To some it represents bravery, gusto, and a time where people ‘got it.’ You know—it—pride in one’s own country and the sacrifice of those who served to protect it. To others it represents this town’s inability to “let things go.” Yet these cries aren’t heard because “letting things go” is an insult to the ancestors who were oh so brave! Their descendants lash out in anger, “Its History! Not dislike!”. The flags are often plastered on their clothing, homes, cars, and any other personal artifacts that they deem fit. The gold star that sits in the middle of the blue and red striped Viet Cong emblem thrives on to this day because of their constant parading.

Then there is the salute.

We all know the salute. The salute consists of the nearly vertical raising of an arm and a stoic face. A salute that is meant to intimidate and get the point across that they sure do mean business! The salute begins at the sides and within a few seconds, there is a sharp dismount of an arm. All of the muscles in their bodies quench together, creating the illusion that they are locked into a bodies’ worth of macho-ness.

Finally, there are the place names and monuments.

These are not as obvious to the casual student. These are simply the buildings in which their 8 a.m.’s are housed, who would think twice when their schedule says “Ho Chin Minh Hall”? He sounds like some Asian leader, how are they supposed to know he led the guerilla army? It didn’t ring a bell to most of them when a few of the similarly named buildings were abruptly changed to insignificant titles. For example, this can be seen with the computer science library which was previously named “Phung Van Cung” and now is “Dakota Hall”. Yet they aren’t completely oblivious to the poorly hidden agenda of the university and some openly objected to the dedication of Ho Chin Minh that thrives at the entrance of the school’s grounds.

They don’t understand the logic behind the school’s inability to remove its “former” allegiance to the Viet Cong.

After I did some social media searching, I found one very interesting point that was made about the grievances. Sarah Smith, a sophomore student at the university, has an interesting caption on her Instagram page that reads: “Thousands of our ancestors were slaughtered in the Vietnam War and they seriously think that having a statue dedicated to the Viet Cong is smart? It’s productive to feed the interests of a few alumni who served under the Viet Cong 40 years ago but it’s ok to ignore the pleas of the current students who were negatively affected by the Vietnam War? It’s very clear whose best interest they have in mind.”

I just lied. I lied freely and recklessly and I don’t have an ounce of remorse. The only thing I didn’t fabricate were the names of the Viet Cong soldiers. I know I framed Sarah as an inspiring young woman, but alas, she does not exist. Can you blame me? It was the only method that I could think of that wasn’t already attempted to discuss Silent Sam. Most know that Silent Sam is a statue that was built in the honor of a fallen confederate soldier that stands on the lower quad of UNC’s campus. This statue was erected by the United Daughters of the Confederacy and UNC Alumni. Some may not know that the United Daughters of the Confederacy is a group that was developed several decades after the confederate war as a means to “preserve the truth” behind the war and to commemorate the fallen soldiers of the confederacy. Although the group defends that their organization serves to provide a new outlook onto the Confederate soldiers, they have been connected to many white supremacist ideals and pseudo historical “facts” about the war. Regardless, there are always debates between the advocates of Silent Sam and the activists against it and it’s clear that the disagreement lies in the inability to conceptualize how outrageous the statue is.

I thought if I could use an example from American history to prove my point then maybe the conversation wouldn’t be the same as it always is. That’s why it was so easy to fib. All I did was juxtapose a supposed Viet Cong saluting, non-American flag wearing, right arm raising university (and accompanying town) to the very true circumstances of the confederate presence at UNC. ‘Our’ “prideful” flag: the confederate flag, which to put in the simplest of terms, represents a rebellious group of slave owning white men. ‘Our’ salute: the (neo)Nazi salute, done by individuals without a regard for equality. ‘Our’ places and monuments: the newly named “Carolina Hall” which was formerly named Saunders Hall (Carolina Hall isn’t the only arguable landmark at UNC and if you’re looking to learn about another, look into Old Chapel Hill Cemetery).

Silent Sam must come down simply because it inherently promotes the agenda of those who erected it—white supremacy and racism.