Speaking this morning to a packed house at the South Dakota Air and Space Museum, Rapid City dentist Dr. Anh Nguyen Harper, born during the war in Vietnam, detailed her early life under communist rule and her later emigration to the United States.
Her father fought alongside US Forces in the South Vietnamese Army (ARVN) as a Special Ops soldier, and was captured and imprisoned by the communists when the country fell in 1975. After years in prison to be reeducated, he was finally released and made his way to San Diego.
Harper herself ended up in Nebraska where she finally received her doctorate in dentistry at the University there, before coming to Rapid City where she works at the Ray Dental Group. Her colleagues and staff were present at the talk, sponsored by the South Dakota Veterans Forum.
When asked to comment on the thousands of unruly Central Americans now marching on America’s southern border, she responded that threatening and disruptive tactics are the opposite strategy of what she practiced as an immigrant. “Think of being invited to someone’s house for dinner. Being respectful and lawful and considerate is the best way of winning over hearts and support,” she recommended.
