Over 40 years have passed since the August day when Sau Van Nguyen fatally shot Billy Joe Aplin.
A crowd of 50 gathered Sunday to watch a screening of Seadrift, a film documenting the racism leading to and resulting from the shooting. The director, cast and community members met in the bayside town’s Vietnamese Community Center, a monument to the immigrant community’s impact on the town.
The 1979 shooting depicted in Seadrift was proceeded by an influx of Vietnamese immigrants and competition between local fishermen and the Vietnamese for the crabs in the bay. Following the shooting were threats of violence, which only de-escalated after locals refused a Ku Klux Klan rally in the town.
Director Tim Tsai said the film has special significance in today’s political climate.
Refugees and immigrant communities are under attack, Tsai said.
The film’s first 15 minutes paint a picture of war-torn Vietnam and the process by which the refugees found themselves in rural Texas.
2019 victoriaadvocate.com