JVN Project Continues to Honor the Memory of John ‘Vietnam’ Nguyen with Hip Hop, Love & Learning

Inspired by the life and love of John Vietnam Nguyễn, The JVN Project presents the 4th annual JVN Day Hip Hop Festival: This is Alchemy!  This festival provides participants opportunities to engage in the tenets of Hip-Hop culture and understand that creativity is how we best generate solutions.  The JVN ProjectHere is the official schedule for ‪#‎JVNDAY16‬ !

This Is ALchemy logoAugust 27th, 2016
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Sunrise Open Mic | 8am- 11am
Mendota Terrace
This is a space designed to remember the life and legacy of John Vietnam Nguyen, as well as his commitment to consistently produce art. We will commemorated his legacy with the sharing of new poems, songs, and other forms of art, so BRING YOUR NOTEBOOKS! A light breakfast will be provided.

One Life: The Gatekeepers Gala | 5pm- 7pm
Wisconsin Institute for Discovery
A ceremony thanking and honoring the youth an community partners who have used Hip-Hop as a tool of empowerment. Special “One Life Edition”.

Showin’ Out | 9pm- 11p
The Marquee
A SURPRISE movie night and the screening of the John Vietnam documentary. Wear your pajamas! We’re talking onsies and slippers folks!

August 28th, 2016
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Drew it Up! | 12pm- 5pm
East Campus Mall
Come out and enjoy/participate in all 5 elements of Hip-Hop alongside fellowship, and funk!

The Goldmine Concert ft. Saba | 9pm-11pm
Mendota Terrace
The culminating event of the JVN Day festival featuring artists such as Broadway, Rich Robbins, MEeNYOU, Quaan, and more! This year’s headlining act is Chicago’s own SABA.

About The JVN Project

The JVN Project – Non-Profit Organization
The JVN Project is a commitment by many to continue the life work of one.

Rapper John ‘Vietnam’ Nguyen Honored With Street Name in Uptown

By Adeshina Emmanuel | March 17, 2014 10:59am

UPTOWN — John “Vietnam” Nguyen, a young rapper and activist from Uptown who drowned two years ago trying to save a friend, will have a street in the community named for him Wednesday.

Nguyen will be the first Vietnamese-American person honored with a street name in Chicago.

The teen died just before his sophomore year at the University of Madison-Wisconsin, where he was a standout in the school’s spoken word and hip hop artistic programs. The morning of Aug. 30, 2012, Nguyen and four friends were swimming in Lake Mendota in Madison, Wisconsin when one friend panicked and Nguyen came to her aid, WBEZ reported.

He was able to put his friend safely on the dock, but went under the water after and was later found dead.

At a ceremony Wednesday, the 5000 block of Winthrop Avenue where he grew up will be named “Honorary John ‘Vietnam’ Nguyen Way” and murals will go up at the corner of Winona Street and Winthrop Avenue to celebrate his legacy of positive artistic expression, community organizing and tolerance.

“He did an awful lot in a very short time, and he always had that positive image that inspired and encouraged people,” said his father “Saigon” Joe Hertel. “To see the influence that he’s had in the community and beyond is just overwhelming, and it’s also very comforting to know that his legacy is being carried on.”

 There's already a mural dedicated to John "Vietnam" Nguyen on Argyle Street, in an alley between Winthrop and Kenmore avenues.
There’s already a mural dedicated to John “Vietnam” Nguyen on Argyle Street, in an alley between Winthrop and Kenmore avenues.View Full Caption DNAinfo/Adeshina Emmanuel
Nguyen, whose father is a white Vietnam War vet and whose mother is a Vietnamese refugee, attended Goudy Elementary School before graduating from Lane Tech High School.

Hertel said his son was honest, charismatic and gifted. By the time he died, he had under his belt a mixtape, numerous online music videos and several knockout performances at annual citywide spoken word poetry competition Louder than a Bomb, where he performed as a member of Kuumba Lynx, an influential urban arts program for youth based in Uptown.

He was also part of various multicultural youth groups focused on art and activism, and was a central member of Uptown Uprise, a group of local youth who organized peace walks through the community decrying gang violence and police brutality.

There’s already a mural dedicated to Nguyen on Argyle Street, in an alley between Winthrop and Kenmore avenues. Now, Uptown will get one more constant reminder of who he was.

Since his passing in 2012, Nguyen’s friends and family have lobbied for a street to be named in his honor, and the idea has received strong support from Ald. Harry Osterman (48th) whose ward includes part of Uptown. Dan Luna, chief of staff to Ald. Osterman, said that renaming a street “just because somebody lived on a block 100 years ago is fine and dandy.”

“But,” he said, “when there’s a kid who really made a positive impact on the youth growing up in that area, to do something like this is truly an honor.”

Though he was young himself, many area teens knew Nguyen as a mentor and role model.

Kuumba Lynx poet Sejahari Villeges, 15, said Nguyen was a mentor and role model who offered advice about both art and life. When Villeges, of Humboldt Park, heard that “he passed away saving somebody else,” it was harrowing news. But the narrative fit the life of helping others that Nguyen professed.

“I just think that’s part of his legacy and part of his strength and beauty,” Villeges said.

Nguyen, in Kuumba Lynx co-founder Jacinda Bullie’s eyes, was a young man who “grasped who he was and the role he could play,” through his music and involvement in the community.

“People will say that he’s the 2Pac of Uptown,” Bullie said. “People loved 2Pac, but we didn’t recognize his power until he didn’t exist anymore.”

https://www.facebook.com/TheJVNProject/videos/1193126080746601/