In Memorium
Ngo Vinh Long
A hero is gone. The passing of our long time friend Ngo Vinh Long merited a substantial obituary in the New York Times. He spoke in our webinar about the Peoples Peace Treaty. After clicking here, go to 1:10 A google search offers many on-line interviews. It also produced this untitled undated poem:
On this land
Where each blade of grass is human hair
Each foot of soil is human flesh
Where it rains blood
Hails bones
Life must flower
Jay Craven, a member of the VPCC Committee, wrote this remembrance
I knew Ngo Vinh Long well in 1970-72, when I lived in Cambridge just a couple blocks from his home. He was a North Star for me, as I prepared to travel to Vietnam - and after I returned and needed to stay informed about the political situation in Saigon and more. We spoke at many events together and Long faced enormous pressures as he navigated the difficult waters of being at Harvard and in America during this impossible time that required him to say what he knew to be true.Ngo Vinh Long impressed me, always, as an original, meticulous, thoughtful and compassionate thinker. That he was Vietnamese challenged him, as it did anyone who was connected as he and his family were, to the French and American wars. He staked out a courageous position, reading, thinking and engaging - refusing to take the safe position by either being quiet or simply waving the flag supporting the American/Saigon position. But he persisted and it mattered.
If you have memories to share of Long, please post them in comments below and we'll move them onto this blog page.
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