VI:Truong abuses rights to provoke anger/pain
Vietnam Insight
Enclosed are:
1. Flag Ruling Inflames Crowd Protest
2. Melee at store after display OKd
""Documents filed in connection with the court case revealed he
not only displayed the picture and flag, but also challenged
anti-communist groups to come to his shop.
``Here, I dare all of you!'' he wrote in a fax to two
anti-communist groups and other activists."" (Excerpts from an AP
article AP-NY-02-11-99)
-----------------------------
Los Angeles Times
Thursday, February 11, 1999
Flag Ruling Inflames Crowd Protest:
Shop owner allowed to hang Vietnam banner, but falls after
altercation at store.
TINI TRAN
A Little Saigon video store owner won a court ruling Wednesday
that allows him to hang a Communist flag at his business--and
then he walked into an escalating community furor that ended
hours later with his collapse in a confrontation with protesters.
Hundreds of Vietnamese Americans enraged by Truong Van Tran's
plans to put up the flag of Communist Vietnam and a picture of Ho
Chi Minh gathered outside the Santa Ana courtroom in the morning.
Passions reached a peak when Tran returned to his Westminster
store in the afternoon to find a small group of protesters
waiting.
"Someone approached [Tran], spit in their hand, and then tried to
wipe it on him hard," said Westminster Police Lt. Bill Lewis,
describing a showdown that unfolded after Tran arrived outside
the store to put up the items. "It didn't look like much of a
blow. There was some hesitation and then he fell to the ground."
Several protesters chanted "Let him die! Let the Communist die!"
but Tran, 37, did not appear to suffer serious injury, Lewis
said. He was taken to Fountain Valley Regional Hospital and
Medical Center, where officials only described his condition as
stable.
The protests followed a Superior Court judge's decision Wednesday
morning to lift her earlier ban on the display of the flag and
photo of the legendary Communist leader Ho Chi Minh in Tran's
store, saying the owner's 1st Amendment rights must prevail over
concerns about symbols that are "indisputably offensive" to the
Vietnamese American community.
Judge's Ruling Angers Courthouse Crowd
Store owner Tran is "far from blameless" in sending out letters
challenging anti-Communist groups to confront him, said Judge Tam
Nomoto Schumann, but the items he displayed in his store
constitute political expression, the most protected form of
speech.
"Mr. Tran's display is indisputably offensive, and engenders
hatred and anger to members of the community, especially those to
whom he issued his challenges," Schumann said. "However, these
symbols are a form of political speech, which Mr. Tran has a
right to express, even if the content of that expression is
offensive."
The decision was greeted with stunned silence and anger by an
estimated 400 protesters who had gathered in the halls outside
the courtroom, many of them refugees and former prisoners of the
Communist regime.
"We are very disappointed," said Thang Ngoc Tran, head of the
Vietnamese Community of Southern California, a nonprofit
social-service group. "But the decision doesn't change what's in
our hearts. We hate communism and we want everyone to know that."
Protester Ky Ngo said the community felt betrayed by the court's
ruling.
"Ho Chi Minh is a murderer," he said. "It's like waving a picture
of Pol Pot in front of the Cambodian community or a picture of
Hitler in the Jewish community. This is not freedom of speech.
This is abuse of freedom of speech."
Later Wednesday afternoon, the community's anger was again in
vivid display when Tran drove up to the store in a car with his
wife and two young children--only to be surrounded by a small
crowd of screaming protesters.
Tran got out of his car, calmly listened and then quietly told a
reporter, "I think I have a right to do it." After one protester
then wiped his hand on Tran's face, the store owner fell to the
ground.
Protester Chau Carey defended the group's anger: "We have the
freedom of speech too," she said.
Police said they had repeatedly warned Tran to notify them if he
planned to return to his store so they could provide an escort.
This marks the second time a confrontation between Tran and
protesters turned physical: On Jan. 19, he was struck in the head
by a demonstrator as he left his store.
"What we had continually told Mr. Tran was that if the judge
ruled in his favor, he was to get in touch with the Westminster
police so we could escort him and keep the peace. He did not do
that," Lewis said.
Inside the hospital emergency waiting room, Tran's wife, Kim
Nguyen, said her husband has undergone two open-heart surgeries
and was still very weak.
Nguyen deplored the crowd's violence. "I think it's time for them
to use speech instead of the fist," she said.
Protests Could Last Until Flag Is Gone
Wednesday's events marked a new crisis in a controversy that
broke out Jan. 18, when protesters gathered outside Tran's Bolsa
Avenue store, Hi Tek TV and VCR.
Carrying out promises made in letters to community leaders, Tran
said he displayed the flag and photo to express his right of free
speech. Although he said he is not a Communist, he believes the
current Vietnamese government has improved life in that country. (VI:If
Mr. Tran really believes so, he must be closing his eyes and ears to the
on-going sufferings in VN for the past 24 years. And why didn't he go
back and live in the communist "heaven" he believes in; but chooses to stay
in this free country and abuses his rights to provoke the anger and pain
from the Vietnamese-American community?).
At the request of Tran's landlord, Schumann on Jan. 21 issued a
temporary restraining order that required Tran to remove the flag
and photo and required protesters to keep their distance from his
store, which has been closed since the trouble began.
Attorneys for both sides said that Schumann's reversal on
Wednesday of her earlier decision does not necessarily signal a
change of heart on the issue. Neither Tran nor any lawyer to
represent him appeared at the first hearing to argue against the
temporary restraining order.
While she granted Tran the right to display the items, the judge
on Wednesday left in place the curbs against protesters, which
prohibit them from demonstrating in a manner that would
"interfere with the ordinary, peaceable operation of the
businesses there."
Schumann rejected the landlord's argument that Tran's provocative
letters were the equivalent of "fighting words," which don't have
1st Amendment protections.
In essence, the judge's ruling allows free speech on both sides,
said attorney Ron Talmo, who represented Tran, along with the
American Civil Liberties Union.
"This is a victory for speech. He gets to put up his flag, and
they get the right to demonstrate," he said.
"The fact that some people may not like his speech has never been
a basis in this country to stop it from being expressed," said
ACLU attorney Peter Eliasberg. "You don't need the 1st Amendment
to protect popular speech."
Attorneys for Tran's landlord, who had won a temporary
restraining order against Tran by arguing that he had violated
his lease agreement in creating a public nuisance, declined to
comment on the ruling or say whether he will appeal it.
Stuart Parker, an attorney representing protesters, said he is
negotiating with the landlord's lawyers and Westminster police
over ground rules for future protests. He predicted protests will
continue until the flag and photo are gone.
That day may come soon. Landlord Danh Nhut Quach served Tran with
a 30-day notice on Jan. 20, and he will be forced to move out of
the shopping complex on Feb. 20 unless he successfully contests
the move.
Police and community members say that the upcoming Tet
holiday--which will bring thousands of visitors to Little Saigon
for Lunar New Year festivals and a parade--heightens the
possibility of confrontation.
Times correspondent Harrison Sheppard contributed to this report.
-----------------------------
The Orange County Register
February 11, 1999
Melee at store after display OKd
COURTS: An angry crowd prevents the Little Saigon storeowner from
re-erecting communist symbols.
By VIK JOLLY and MAI TRAN
WESTMINSTER - A shaken but determined Truong Van Tran faced down
about 500 protesters in court Wednesday, leaving to exercise his
just-affirmed free- speech rights.
But he never made it into his Little Saigon video store to rehang
a poster of Ho Chi Minh and the communist Vietnamese flag. A
crowd of about 100 was waiting for him outside, a melee erupted
and Tran fell and was taken to a hospital.
Orange County Superior Court Judge Tam Nomoto Schumann had
revoked her temporary restraining order that prohibited Tran from
displaying the communist icons in his Hitek video store.
She had issued the order after Tran's landlord, Terra-Buchard
Ltd., sought an injunction against his display, citing violations
of his lease agreement and the state's Civil Code and the
potential for violence.
The order last month had ended a five-day protest by hundreds of
Vietnamese residents outside Tran's store. The protesters said
Tran had insulted the refugee community with his display.
Communists, they said, destroyed their homes, killed and maimed
their relatives and left them without a homeland.
Wednesday, Schumann sided with the American Civil Liberties
Union, which had argued that preventing Tran from displaying the
flag and poster violated his First Amendment free-speech rights.
But Schumann also chided Tran, who sat in a packed court with his
family, and urged him to use his rights wisely.
"I'd like to tell (critics) that just because I have a picture of
Ho Chi Minh, I'm not a communist," Tran, 37, said in ACLU
attorney Ronald Talmo's Santa Ana office after the ruling. "I'm
afraid, but I never give up."
Added his wife, Kim Nguyen, 41,: "If they don't want to see it,
they don't have to come to the store."
Tran, who came to America via a Southeast Asian refugee camp in
1980, said that at one time he, too, hated communists, at whose
hands two of his relatives were killed.
"I've a right to hang a flag - that doesn't mean I win, they
lose," Tran said. "It's an opportunity to understand each other.
... I love Vietnam and I love the Vietnamese community in here
and America."
Nearly 500 people lined the hall near Schumann's courtroom and
outside the Superior Court building in Santa Ana before the
morning hearing.
Many held anti-communist signs and some sat on the floor with
little children.
As Tran arrived with his family and Talmo, an opponent of Tran's
views parted the crowd for them. Tran, his wife and their two
children all had handmade signs supporting their beliefs hanging
from their necks.
In response to the ACLU's appeal to revoke the restraining order,
attorneys for Terra-Buchard argued in court documents that Tran
had used "fighting words," a category of unprotected free speech.
They cited faxes to anti- communist community groups that Tran
had sent, challenging group members to make him take down his
display.
Judge Schumann said she was not considering the "fighting words"
argument because the original petition filed by the landlord
addressed only the flag and picture.
"The display of symbols such as a flag and the picture of Ho Chi
Minh constitutes expressive conduct and political speech for
First Amendment analysis," she said. "As such, it is accorded the
highest degree of First Amendment protection."
Tran can display what he chooses on his property unless he
knowingly and voluntarily waived his right to do so, Schumann
added.
"No evidence has been presented that when he signed the lease,
Mr. Tran was aware that he was relinquishing any of his
constitutional rights" she said. "Mr. Tran's display is
undisputably offensive and engenders hatred and anger. ...
However, these symbols are a form of political speech which Mr.
Tran has a right to express even if the contents of that
expression are offensive."
Tran's landlord has initiated eviction proceedings Tran is on a
month-to- month lease. Tran said Wednesday that he plans to fight
that in court. The landlord's attorney declined to comment
Wednesday.
The attorney for two local groups responsible for organizing the
Little Saigon protests and the heavy turnout in court Wednesday
was asked to return to court Feb. 25. The court ordered
protesters to keep their demonstrations peaceful.
"If you understand the (Vietnam) war, you understand why there's
so much anger in us," said Phuong Pham, 38, of Orange, tears in
her eyes.
Stuart Parker, who represented the protesters, said the court
ruling was a victory for the North Vietnamese communists.
"If this is free speech, then there's no such thing as fighting
words," he said. "The law says that freedom of speech has its
limits. For example, you cannot yell 'fire' in a crowded
theater."
A rally outside the courthouse by some Vietnamese disappointed
with Schumann's ruling turned volatile when protesters saw a man
sporting a communist flag on his jacket lapel and distributing
copies of a court document submitted on Tran's behalf by a San
Diego group.
About 25 Santa Ana police officers rushed to the scene and
whisked the man away, but not before Giang Ho, 26, of Garden
Grove draped a South Vietnamese flag over the man.
Ho said he was struck twice with a police baton during the melee,
an account supported by a witness.
Santa Ana police Sgt. Gary Adams said officers used the batons
only to push people back, not to strike them.
Hours later, during the melee outside the video store, a crowd
surrounded Tran's car when he pulled up.
Tran rolled down his window and waved at the media.
"I am here to put up the flag and photo. The judge says I have
the right," he told the media.
Someone reached over into the driver's seat and yanked the
name-tag-sized Vietnamese flag on his suit's lapel.
Tran got out of his car to confront the person. A protester spit
into his own hand and smeared the saliva onto Tran's left cheek.
Tran, who has a history of heart problems, fell to the ground.
"Step on his head," someone yelled while Tran was down. "Go back
to Vietnam," shouted others. Still others shouted: "Let him die"
and "Down with the communists."
Tran was taken by ambulance to Fountain Valley Regional Medical
Center, where he was in good condition Wednesday night, a
spokeswoman said.
Police are looking for two people who they say assaulted Tran.
"We repeatedly told him to call us so we can escort him, so he
can be safe," Westminster police Lt. Bill Lewis said.
An Nguyen, 8, said he joined the anti-communist protest because
his father was jailed for 18 years during the party's regime.
"That flag reminds me of murder," said Nguyen, of Los Angeles,
holding a yellow flag in one hand and rolling a yo-yo in the
other. " They gave my dad poison ivy and other stuff like grass
and cockroaches to eat. They hit him on the head and made him
sleep on the floor in the cold with a thin blanket."
Nguyen and his mother, Bich Nguyen, 40, made signs that read:
"With freedom of speech, does Truong have the right to provoke
the Vietnamese refugee community, judge?"
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