Week 8_Group Write-Up_Raylph Evangelista, Shannon Ngo, Jonathan Kha, & Miguel Flores_ASA150E

Raylph Evangelista
Shannon Ngo
Jonathan Kha
Miguel Flores
ASA 150E
February 25, 2020

Week 8: Legacy of Environmental Degradation 

          Chemical weapons are as equally, if not, more dangerous than combative and tactical wars. The selection of media this week captures themes of disturbing stories and accounts of people who narrated their experiences about their exposure to a herbicide called Agent Orange (AO). Fred A. Wilcox’s riveting exposé on the varied environmental and health effects of being saturated in AO, in essence, entails an outcry to find justice for the people who were severely affected by herbicides. Wilcox’s Scorched Earth: Legacy of Chemical Warfare in Vietnam angled his examination of the aftermath of the Viet Nam war through the heartfelt plea of families who endured years of trauma and pain dealing with their displacement from their villages and exposure to herbicides that caused them and their family chronic illnesses and diseases. Wilcox surmises the psychological, physical, and emotional impacts of not just Agent Orange but also the constant battles of people searching for justice in holding someone accountable for all the war crimes that happened during the war. A justice that has been long overdue, but suppressed many times by the highest court due to the inadmissibility of anecdotal evidence, lack of analytical scientific reasoning, and insufficient legislative definitions. In our presentation, we will interweave multimedia sources to supplement Wilcox’s examination of the lasting effects of chemicals on the environment and affected people. Documentaries encompassing vivid visuals on the victims of defoliation chemicals, offsprings, like Chau, who inherited altering effects of Agent Orange, and a podcast that highlighted the mysterious release of “yellow rain” onto a population of Hmong people - these are collections of media that uncovers the realities and aftermath of a war that affected millions of people. 

          In “Ecocide”, Wilcox discusses the atrocities with how the involvement of chemical warfare contributes to the greater Viet Nam and its impact on the world as a whole. Though chemical warfare of Viet Nam was used as a testing ground for future wars, thinking that its impact would not be so detrimental, it indeed resulted in environmental destruction through the damage of land and soil, as well as its effects on animals, people, and offspring. In “Generations”, Wilcox discusses the present-day consequences of the chemical warfare involved with the Viet Nam War. Wilcox incorporates the story of Dang Van Son and how the effects of chemical warfare caused him to develop throat and stomach cancer along with tumors. Even though it has been decades since the War occurred, remnants are still in effect today with unactivated bombs, high density in countries such as Cambodia, even killing people still to this day.

          A never-ending debacle and arguments on who should be liable was the main premise of Chapter 7: Jurisprudence; as a last effort to find truth and justice, a team of lawyers gathered to represent millions of Vietnamese citizens to launch a class-action lawsuit against wartime and chemical manufacturers of herbicides like Agent Orange (AO) (Wilcox, 85). Jack Weinstein was the presiding judge, right at the get-go he suppressed any anecdotal evidence - personal accounts from victims. He argued that there was no substantial evidence and cohesive analysis of the epidemiological effects of Agent Orange on humans. Despite the suppression of Judge Weinstein, reputable labs in the nation counterargued that there is a direct correlation between chronic diseases and inborn defects on babies with minimal or maximum exposure to AO. Dr. McNulty, a primate researcher, tested small doses of TCDD-dioxin on primates and found adversary health effects - they “just laid down and died (Wilcox, 95).” The lack of provisions, regulations, and legislative definitions put victims at a stand-still as they deal with trauma and pain. Blurred international laws did not hold in court and chemical manufacturers were never accounted for war crimes. 

          The chapter name Chemical Children is really an understatement. Just like in the later chapters, Wilcox brings up specific aftermath that came about from the war in Viet Nam and the chemicals involved. In Chapter 11 of Wilcox’s book, he recalls visiting a hospital, Tu Du, which housed children and people who were affected by Agent Orange in Viet Nam during the war. Wilcox talked about how people who weren’t even alive during the war are still being affected by the chemicals that the US used in Viet Nam. He mentions Duc and Viet Nguyen, two boys who were conjoined by the waist who shared organs, legs and arms. They were separated eventually and were able to live normal lives, but Viet passed away some years later due to complications from being born as a conjoined twin. In a talk with a doctor, Wilcox finds that Dr. Tan wants the people who caused this problem, namely the US, to pay for what they have done. He says this because it is clear that in Viet Nam specifically, there are many children who are born with disabilities and abnormalities because of the presence of chemicals in their parent’s DNA. The crazy thing is that even if they weren’t alive yet, they can still be affected by Agent Orange. It has already been over 40 years, and people are still paying the consequences of what the US did to them in the past. Besides the fact that these people are suffering because of disabilities that they were born with, there is also the problem of abandonment of newborn children due to the birth defects that Agent Orange causes. A lot of families leave their children behind, if they have any defects, to be taken care of at a hospital because they cannot bear to see who they had given birth to. This is sad because people who are born with such defects are grouped together and lose their families because of something that they could not control. A quote that stood out was actually at the last line of the chapter: “.. she opens the door to a room where the monsters are kept” (Wilcox, 153). This quote was a segway into the following chapter but it also shows that these poor people are viewed as monsters and that is the reason they are abandoned. Calling them monsters is strong and honestly isn’t appropriate, considering they had no control, but it is important to see that this is how society views them. It is also important to see that these people have to lead lives full of hatred and mistreatment because of the presence of chemicals in the past.

          Wilcox sets up Chapter 12 by recalling the protests that lead up to the wars; Buddhist monks dousing themselves with gasoline and lighting themselves on fire were crucial images that framed the disturbing radical movements happening in Southeast Asia. Evidence Room focuses the story on Dr. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Phuong who at the time of the war was an intern at Tu Du hospital. Her compassion in helping people was unmatchable and in her years of working in the hospital, she noticed a spike in mothers delivering deformed babies. Babies with deformities who only lived minutes of their lives here on earth are preserved in medical jars. These jars are reminders to Dr. Phuong and visitors of the evidence room that there are hundreds of cases where infants are born with malformations and defects. Dr. Phuong wants the public to know that the chemical manufacturers knew the intensity of herbicides but they did not disclose that to the government because they were afraid it was going to be regulated; fast forward to today, offsprings of those parents who were exposed to AO either abandon or lament their malformed child/ren (Wilcox, 157).

          In Chapter 13, Wilcox describes the aftermath of chemical warfare on the environment years after the war officially ended, focusing on the narrative of veteran Ken Herrmann’s reconciliatory journey in fully understanding the actions of himself and his country on Viet Nam. He conducted a study abroad program that emphasized social work, encouraging students to directly assist families affected by Agent Orange. In one of his efforts to raise awareness about the ravaged nation and help his students comprehend the devastating impact it had and still holds on the people, Herrmann published an article in a Vietnamese newspaper, asking for those affected to write letters to him detailing the damages Agent Orange caused on their families. Wilcox then includes a few of the 4,000+ letters Herrmann received, some of the letter-writers direct victims of the dioxin itself while others wrote as children or grandchildren generations following the first wave of those affected. And yet, the American government refuses to acknowledge the true destruction chemical warfare has unleashed on not only the land but the Vietnamese people as well. It took over twenty-five years for them to compensate its own veterans for the illnesses spurred as a result of Agent Orange, dismissing their complaints as “drug abuse, alcoholism, or combat stress” (Wilcox, 182). Likening the situation to an extremely biased court case where the judge refuses to see the evidence and victims, Wilcox posits that underlying fear of communism is partly responsible for this willful ignorance in the refusal to accept the consequences of this “toxic holocaust that befell [Vietnam]” under their orders (Wilcox, 185). He even suggests the government is waiting for the protests and campaigns for justice to the victims of chemical warfare to simply die out and cease; however, this haunting legacy is continually passed from generation to generation, a perpetual cycle of suffering that seems endless, especially with little aid from the nation that caused such agony to begin with. 

           "Scorched Earth: Legacy of Chemical Warfare in Vietnam'' is in our opinion a book that helps to further the understanding of post-war problems in Viet Nam due to chemicals, as well as revealing the true outcome of the use of chemicals during the war. In our class, we have covered Agent Orange so we are aware of it, but before covering it, most of probably wouldn’t have been able to say that we had heard of it. Honestly, we feel as though if we asked many other people about it, they may be just as ignorant of the subject as we were before taking this class and covering this reading. We believe that this is mainly due to the fact that the US wants to keep its narrative alive. The idea that they can do no wrong and everything they do is for the good of our “free” nation. In terms of the study of Southeast Asian Americans, and their place in the US, we think that this reading is important to really understand our history and what we came from. It wasn’t just coming to America for a better life, it was leaving a country because of how much it was ravaged and desecrated by warfare that the people probably didn’t even want. This reading really shows people that all the terrible things that the US did in Viet Nam, despite all of the covering up that was done, does have consequences and if you look around you will be able to find it. Wilcox does a great job describing how the natives felt when the US introduced Agent Orange into Viet Nam, and he does a great job talking about the aftermath and how the current generations, and even generations to come, will be affected by Agent Orange. He even tackles the fact that the government didn’t stop what they were doing despite the fact that they knew that there was something wrong with using AO in a country full of other human beings. Overall we think that Wilcox covered what was needed and he revealed something to the world that everyone should know about. He helped to deliver the message that Viet Nam will never be able to fully recover from the damage that the US caused, and there is nothing that they can do about it, as well as the fact that there is nothing the US will do about it.

           Wilcox’s book underscored the accounts of AO victims and how the atrocities of war diverged into a conversation about the injustices and unguided military strategies of the U.S. government; these sentiments very much reflect the on-going radical actions of the current administration. The Trump administration prioritizes the interest of big corporations by repealing environmental laws, provisions, and regulations to give them full authority and freedom to exploit our natural resources. Moreover, cutting the funding for the Environmental Protection Agency proves the corrupt interests of those who are in power. Government corruption not only captures the morals of authorities but it also captures their lack of awareness for the environment. At a time where a divisive nation argues if climate change is “fake news” or not, environmental exploitation consequently will affect the people that inhabit it. Engaging in chemical warfare or just the idea of it already puts resources at risk and people in fear. If legislative provisions are not put into place or not well defined in terms of the welfare and well-being of the people, then an irreversible environmental consequence will inevitably happen in the future. 

Reference:

Fred A. Wilcox. Scorched Earth: Legacy of Chemical Warfare in Vietnam. 2011. Introduction; Chapter 1: Ecocide; Chapter 6: Generations; Chapter 7: Jurisprudence; Chapter 11: Chemical Children; Chapter 12 Evidence Room, Chapter 13: Letters Don’t Lie.

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