“I think ultimately that much of the negative response goes back to the very natural response to cover up or not acknowledge that which is painful or unpleasant.” Maya Lin
“The biggest lesson I learned from Vietnam is not to trust [our own] government statements. I had no idea until then that you could not rely on [them].” J. William Fulbright
“Now, it should be incandescently clear that no one who has any concern for the integrity and life of America today can ignore the present war. If America's soul becomes totally poisoned, part of the autopsy must read Vietnam.” Martin Luther King, Jr.
Dissent. Disgust. Anger. Words used to describe the Vietnam War. Never could I have imagined that a country could learn so little from such a huge mistake; but congratulations, you, the USA, the grand ‘ole state, have done it. You have managed to not learn a damned thing from such a disaster. Not only did you massacre hundreds of people, destroy an entire country, and preach false information to your peoples, you also learned nothing from your affairs. The Vietnam War ended in 1975 and in 1982 you still didn’t have the gusto to let go of your misfortunes. A very skilled architecture student, only by the grace of anonymity, designed a beautiful memorial only to come to realize that because she is Asian that her opinion doesn’t matter. Some people saw the memorial as “too Asian,” others viewed it as too subtle. She couldn’t win. Don’t mind her Ivy League school diploma or her references, only take a good hard long look at her race, and let that, and only that, determine whether or not she is qualified to even be in the discussion of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
1982: America still had not let go of their hatred for Vietnam; America still had not let go of the anger they exhibited toward Asian people; America still had not learned to accept defeat.
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