Watching the HBO series “The Sympathizer” is a very odd experience. Beautifully crafted with excellence in every department, it reveals a central misconception about Vietnamese citizens who fled Saigon in April 1975. As Americans, we believed that those who fled were “saved” during the fall and were lucky to make it to America.

Lucky? How? They were vilified and reviled, called every racial epithet in the book, confused with other people from Asia and treated as badly as the most disenfranchised Americans during that tumultuous period in history.

At the time, several of us protested against the war and against the treatment of Vietnam citizens by the United States government and many, many people disagreed with that protest. It was “America…love it or leave it,” or being called “unAmerican” or “unpatriotic.” Some people still refer to actress Jane Fonda as “Hanoi Jane” and refuse to watch anything she’s in.

Presently, we are experiencing a protest by some American citizens to the outcome of the 2020 election. They claim it was stolen and some went as far as to attack the nation’s Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. We are also seeing many protests against the war in Gaza. Many see it as an attack on........

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