Wednesday, May 06, 2015

Operation: Babylift: Perspective and Legacies exhibit at the Presidio


Over the weekend I had the chance to visit the Operation: Babylift: Perspective and Legacies exhibit at the Presidio Officers Club in California. It will be up from now until December 31st.  This exhibit "explores the diverse experiences and lasting impacts of a dramatic airlift that removed more than 2,000 Vietnamese children from their war-torn country to be adopted by American families as Saigon fell in April 1975." And as you can see, I'm quoted at one point among the exhibit displays.



There's a lot to process during this exhibit although some might think it somewhat modest and sparse. In fact, however, I find that it's the blank spaces and the unanswered questions that give the exhibit particular poetry and poignancy.



This is an exhibit where there are no easy answers, and I think for many who were involved directly or even tangentially, there are still lingering questions of what was the humane thing to do, and what we still have to be accountable for during the last 40 years as so many of these children grew up, found families, or didn't. It's definitely worth a visit.


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