''Vietnamese Fishermen's Association v. Knights of the Ku Klux Klan'' was a successful lawsuit brought by
Vietnamese Americans
Vietnamese Americans () are Americans of Vietnamese people, Vietnamese ancestry. They constitute a major part of all overseas Vietnamese. As of 2023, over 2.3 million people of Vietnamese descent live in the United States, making them the fourth ...
in 1981 against a faction of the
Ku Klux Klan
The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to KKK or Klan, is an American Protestant-led Christian terrorism, Christian extremist, white supremacist, Right-wing terrorism, far-right hate group. It was founded in 1865 during Reconstruction era, ...
.
Background
After the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...
, conflict arose on the
Texas Gulf Coast
Texas Gulf Coast is an intertidal zone which borders the Coast, coastal region of South Texas, Southeast Texas, and the Texas Coastal Bend. The Texas coastal geography boundaries the Gulf of Mexico encompassing a geographical distance relative be ...
between white fishermen and newly arrived Vietnamese shrimpers. On February 14, 1981, the Ku Klux Klan hosted a fish fry on a private farm in
Santa Fe, to protest the growing presence of Vietnamese shrimpers. During the event, a Vietnamese fishing boat was ceremonially burned.
There were similar conflicts in nearby port towns like
Rockport, and an offshore "boat ride" by Klan members on March 15 the same year, which frightened families of Vietnamese fishermen.
Legal action
On April 16, 1981, Morris Dees
Morris Seligman Dees Jr. (born December 16, 1936) is an American attorney known as the co-founder and former chief trial counsel for the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), based in Montgomery, Alabama. He ran a direct marketing firm before fou ...
of the Southern Poverty Law Center
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal advocacy organization specializing in civil rights and public interest litigation. Based in Montgomery, Alabama, it is known for its legal cases against white ...
filed a lawsuit against the Klan on behalf a group of Vietnamese American fishermen.[ The trial of ''Vietnamese Fishermen's Association v. Knights of the Ku Klux Klan'' began on May 10 before Judge Gabrielle Kirk McDonald in the , Houston Division; on May 14, the judge issued a preliminary injunction forbidding the defendants from harassing the Vietnamese fishermen or inciting harassment of them, and in a July written opinion, entirely upheld the lawsuit on the basis of Texas law and the ]Sherman Antitrust Act
The Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 (, ) is a United States antitrust law which prescribes the rule of free competition among those engaged in commerce and consequently prohibits unfair monopolies. It was passed by Congress and is named for S ...
.[ In June 1982, McDonald granted the VFA and the SPLC’s request for injunction against the Texas Emergency Reserve, a militia with ties to the Klan, on the grounds that the organization violated Texas law prohibiting private militias. McDonald rejected the KKK’s First and Second Amendment defenses, writing that “The First Amendment is no defense to a charge of conspiracy even if the act was committed for political or ideological reasons”; and that the “Second Amendment does not imply any constitutional right for individuals to bear arms and form private armies.]
See also
*''Alamo Bay
''Alamo Bay'' is a 1985 American drama film about a Vietnam veteran who clashes with Vietnamese immigrants who move to his Texas bay hometown. The film was directed by Louis Malle, and stars Amy Madigan and Ed Harris. Future Texas A&M and Dalla ...
'', 1985 film about the conflict
References
{{reflist
1981 in Texas
United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas cases
Vietnamese migration