Little Saigon Protest
It seems to me that Le Ly Hayslip is the one who doesn’t understand the right to free speech (“Being Free in America Means Letting Other People Speak Out,” Commentary, Feb. 24). She has apparently forgotten that freedom of speech works both ways. Although Truong Van Tran has the right to display symbols representing his view, the rest of the Vietnamese community certainly has the right to protest it. Furthermore, if older Vietnamese do not agree with what Hayslip teaches in her lectures, whether right or wrong, they also have the right to protest.
Freedom of speech does not mean that while someone is allowed to express his view, the rest of us must sit silently by while he does it.
It seems these protests are not a misunderstanding of freedom of speech, but rather a group of people taking full advantage of the rights they came to this country to obtain. Remember, these people are not being forced to demonstrate at gunpoint.
BRIAN SKYLES
Tarzana
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I can’t help but be struck by the irony of protesters in Westminster chanting “freedom” as they attempt to browbeat a store owner into removing a poster in his place of business.
JEFF ALLISON
La Mirada
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