Outrage from both the Vietnamese American community and veterans has forced a California politician to pull his bill that would have lifted a ban on communists working for the state, reports Voice of America.
“This bill is blatantly offensive to all Californians,” said Assemblyman Travis Allen, a Republican from Southern California where Vietnamese Americans have a strong presence. “Communism stands for everything that the United States stands against.”
Assemblyperson Rob Bonta from the San Francisco Bay Area acknowledged the backlash and apologized.
“Many expressed these concerns to me,” Bonta said in a statement Wednesday published in the Sacramento Bee. “Through my conversations with veterans and members of the Vietnamese American community, I heard compelling stories of how AB 22 caused real distress and hurt for proud and honorable people. For that, I am sorry.”
Here’s what Bonta said earlier about the bill when he was still pushing to eliminate language banning communists from working in the state government.
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“These archaic references should be removed from existing law and updated so that the law focuses on the action of the individuals and evidence of their conduct.
The law banning communists dates back to the McCarthy era red scare of the 1950s.
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