The lawmaker removed from the floor of the California State Senate as she tried to make a speech critical of a former member of that legislative body has the the backing of hundreds of Vietnamese-Americans from up and down California.
Some those who showed up at the Capitol in Sacramento were on buses at 2:00 A.M. to make the trip from towns in Republican Senator Janet Nguyen's Orange County district. Their goal was to show their support after Nguyen was told she was out of order and removed from a Senate session for trying to give what she says is a different historical perspective on the late Tom Hayden - a member of the so-called "Chicago Seven" in the late 60's-- because of his anti-Vietnam War activism.
Photo by Ryan Harris, KFBK
Nguyen says Hayden's role in Vietnam not only hurt people in her native country who fought for Democracy, but that his actions also hurt American servicemen who fought with them and later returned to the United States and very poor treatment.
Photo courtesy California State Senate
State Senate President Kevin DeLeon said Nguyen's forcible removal left him 'troubled' and that it would be investigated by the Rules Committee in the hopes it never happens again.