 |
|
Amanda Nguyen, poised to be the primary girl of Vietnamese descent to enterprise into area. Photograph from Nguyen’s Instagram |
House for Humanity introduced final month that Nguyen, 33, can be traveling past the earth’s atmosphere as a part of its Citizen Astronaut Program, which is devoted to “empowering every citizen astronaut to handle international challenges with a broader perspective.”
The Vietnamese-American girl is about to embark on her area journey aboard a New Shepard rocket by Blue Origin, an American aerospace producer, protection contractor, and area launch supplier.
The launch date for the New Shepard mission has but to be introduced.
Earlier than information of her deliberate journey into area, Nguyen was famend for her contributions to the Sexual Assault Survivors’ Rights Act and her advocacy for Asian-American rights.
In line with a 2016 report by The Guardian, Nguyen’s path in the direction of changing into an astronaut, a dream she had lengthy cherished, was disrupted following a sexual assault in opposition to her in 2013.
The report highlighted that after she submitted proof through a rape equipment in Massachusetts, state legal guidelines granted Nguyen 15 years to determine on pursuing authorized motion. Nonetheless, a pamphlet she acquired on the hospital indicated that, with out an “extension request” each six months, state regulation permitted the destruction of her rape equipment.
Required to resume this request biannually, Nguyen acknowledged the system compelled her to “reside her life by the date of the rape.”
This example led Nguyen to query sexual assault survivors’ authorized protections in different states. She compiled a listing of over 20 authorized rights obtainable to this group throughout totally different states and found a large variance in safety ranges. She famous the absence of any state regulation that assured the retention of a rape equipment till the expiration of the statute of limitations.
Prompted by this, Nguyen quickly put aside her aspirations for area journey.
“On the crossroads of justice or my astronaut dream, I selected justice,” Nguyen declared in a video posted on the Fb web page of the U.S. Consulate Basic in Ho Chi Minh Metropolis on March 27 as she recounted her journey.
She mobilized her associates and contacts into an internet community of volunteers, which later grew to become referred to as Rise, a non-profit group devoted to preserving and furthering citizen’s civil rights. Collectively, they explored numerous authorized treatments and efficiently garnered assist for laws.
Nguyen’s efforts subsequently impressed Senate Democrats to introduce a invoice geared toward consolidating and standardizing rights for sexual assault survivors.
Merely two months after the institution and mobilizations of Nguyen’s group, legislators in Massachusetts had proposed a invoice introducing quite a few new rights for survivors of sexual assault. This invoice aimed to ascertain a monitoring system for rape kits and stop the untimely destruction of those kits by regulation enforcement with out correct processing, testing, or notifying the sufferer.
Shortly thereafter, Nguyen’s group crafted an identical legislative proposal for lawmakers in California who confirmed curiosity and engaged with legislators in New York. The proposal was then launched in Congress and the Home of Representatives.
The invoice was unanimously handed by each the Senate and the Home of Representatives within the U.S. in Sep. 2016, in response to Time journal. Former U.S. President Barack Obama signed it into regulation in October of the identical yr. Many states have since adopted related laws, in response to CNBC.
It’s estimated to have an effect on almost 25 million folks within the U.S. Many U.S. states have adopted the act or used it as a foundation to develop suitable state legal guidelines.
“For 10 years, I traded my telescope for a pen to draft legal guidelines defending survivors,” she declared.
Nguyen can also be identified for being a robust voice for the Asian-American and Pacific Islander group, opposing the hatred directed at this group.
In Feb. 2016, she uploaded a video on Instagram urging nationwide media to extra successfully report on the surge of anti-Asian violence. The video shortly gained widespread consideration, resulting in such a major affect that U.S. President Joe Biden condemned the violence throughout his first prime-time deal with as president a month later, as reported by The Harvard Gazette.
Along with her achievements, Nguyen was then nominated for the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize and named Lady of the Yr by Time journal in 2022.
After graduating from Harvard, she took on the function of Deputy White Home Liaison for the U.S. Division of State and resumed her pursuit of area journey, in response to Forbes.
“I’m Vietnamese. I’m flying to area in order that younger Vietnamese ladies can see themselves among the many stars,” she spoke within the video posted on the Fb web page of the U.S. Consulate Basic in Ho Chi Minh Metropolis.
“I is likely to be the primary, however I cannot be the final.”