O.C. billboard targets Vietnam

For Vietnamese Americans promoting democracy in their homeland, the photo became an instant icon: Father Nguyen Van Ly -- a fierce anti-communist -- being muzzled by the hand of a Vietnamese guard during his government trial in March.

The Roman Catholic priest was found guilty of being a national security threat and sentenced to eight years, but Vietnamese Americans have found a way to continue his message through a billboard campaign featuring the dramatic courtroom photo.

In Little Saigon on Monday, about 35 people chanted anti-communist slogans during the unveiling of a billboard at Brookhurst and Hazard avenues.

“Down with communists! Down, down, down!” they shouted as they pumped their fists in the air. Songs about political struggles in Vietnam blared from the back of a nearby van.

“A picture can say a thousand words,” said Nguyen Tan Lac, president of the Vietnamese Community of Southern California, which helped spearhead the billboard effort. Muzzling “Father Ly by the mouth just because he is speaking out shows the real story about human rights in Vietnam,” Nguyen said.

Community leaders said the billboard, which declares in English “We Have to Speak Up,” was designed to keep Vietnam’s human rights violations at the forefront as the communist country joins the World Trade Organization and looks to the expatriate Vietnamese and international community to help fuel its economy.

A group called the Billboard Committee of Southern California helped put up a similar display last weekend in Los Angeles at South Hill Street and West Olympic Boulevard. A handful of billboards have been posted across the country, including in San Jose and Houston. Others have been mounted in Australia and Germany.

Nguyen said the Southern California billboards were delayed because local activists were busy organizing demonstrations in Little Saigon last summer, including a protest during Vietnam President Nguyen Minh Triet’s July visit and weekly protests against Viet Weekly, a newspaper that some say publishes articles favoring the communist government.

Little Saigon’s display, which costs $2,500 a month, will stay up as long as the groups sponsoring it can raise the money.

So far, they have donations to keep the billboard up for one month.

“The picture of Father Nguyen Van Ly is one image that we feel shows that the communist government doesn’t have human rights for the people in Vietnam,” said Ho Van Sinh, a community activist and vice president of the Billboard Committee of Southern California.

“The photo lets Americans see with their own eyes how much Vietnam needs democracy.”

The group also plans to ask local businesses for wall space to display the photo free of charge, such as the one that can be seen from the eastbound 22 Freeway near Brookhurst Avenue that was put up last month.

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mythuan.tran@latimes.com