These letters are the reactions of young people to the ongoing protests outside the Người Việt Daily News in Westminster, Calif.

Protesters gathered in late January weeks after the paper’s Lunar New Year special edition contained a photo that they believe was ''offensive'' to the flag of South Vietnam. The image, the work of UC Davis graduate student Châu Huỳnh, showed a foot-spa tub splashed with the color yellow and three red stripes, which critics said was a reference to the flag of their fallen country. The artist created the piece to salute Vietnamese refugees including her mother-in-law, who worked faithfully in a nail salon after the family’s arrival in America to put her children through school and to support her extended family.

After its publication, Người Việt terminated two top editors, publicly apologized and initiated a recall of the magazine, offering refunds. Still, protesters continue to harass and threaten employees and customers. Người Việt has filed a lawsuit seeking to stop such illegal acts, contending that the demonstrators’ presence and their constant use of bullhorns are intimidating staff and members of the public who visit. Today, we’re publishing the voices of the young, the first batch, to share our readers’ reactions.

We truly value all kinds of feedback.

Sincerely,
Jami Farkas

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To the Newspaper:

As a member of the younger generation. I have been SHOCKED by the protesters outside your office. I had a horrible experience with them when we went to an education event at Nguoi Viet in February. They stopped my mom driving her car. A short man wearing some kind of jacket with two flags on them used a bullhorn to scream in my mom's ear and even though I speak a little Vietnamese I did not recognize those words, my mom told me those are curse words and she did not want me to learn them. As we walked to the entrance the same man and an older woman also holding a bullhorn came up to us. They were screaming. I was SHOCKED and I stood in front of my mom and told them to leave us alone. They would not leave but kept yelling some kind of phrase with the word ''Communist'' in it. I told them another time to leave us alone. They were blocking us and they answered me in English and told me, ''Get the hell out of here.'' I repeated my request another time and they called me ''you stupid girl, you don't know Vietnamese culture and Vietnamese history.''

When I told my experience to my classmates, they were SHOCKED, they told me I should report this to the newspaper. One of them told me that as members of the younger generation, we are educated in America so of course we learn about Vietnamese culture and Vietnamese hisotry, and our Vietnamese culture shows us that it is necessary to show respect to all people, especially older people. The protesters I could see were all older people and if they don't show respect to others, why should we respect what they say or why should a young person like me respect them or why should the community listen to them? They have SHOCKING, illegal actions. My Vietnamese friends in high school are ashamed that there are older people like them acting like bullies in our community. I wonder if the protesters have a lot of children, and how would they feel if their children got harassed like me and my mom and if their kids or grandkids see them behave like that they would be ashamed of them too.

Thank you,
Jenny Nguyen

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March 10, 2008
Hi Nguoi Viet:

This is Mike, I'm writing to support my friend Jennifer. I am worried about the outside image the other communities, the Chinese community, Korean community, Hispanic community and especially the American community, have of the Vietnamese community. 'Why do they always protest?' is a question we hear often. These people in the mainstream ask this question because they don't see Vietnamese having positive dialogue. My Chinese neighbor said that a lot of Chinese are upset that China is hosting the Olympics because China is communist but they don't protest and threaten their friends or other people who choose to go to the Olympics. As Americans we respect freedom of speech. But everything has limits. What happened to my friend Jennifer happened to a lot of innocent people, according to Jennifer's mom who read the newspaper and from talking to her friends. I don't accept that the protesters can represent our community and I hope the community fights back and do not let a small group of fanatics promote a negative image of the Vietnamese community. The protesters have forever tainted themselves. It is like a tattoo, they keep it all their life. An ugly tattoo. I am ashamed of grown men and women behaving like them and I hope their children do not follow their ugly example and break the law.

Mike Lê