Victory For Free Speech

A Vietnamese man who was attacked, picketed and given an eviction notice for displaying a portrait of Ho Chi Minh in his video store in the Little Saigon section of Westminster, Calif., won the right to put the poster back up Wednesday. But that decision immediately triggered more protests, and the shopkeeper, Truong Van Tran, 37, was met by a crowd of 150 people and hit in the face as he returned to put the poster back in his store window. Tran’s wall-sized poster of the late communist leader is seen as being especially offensive in Little Saigon, which is home to 200,000 Vietnamese Americans. But Santa Ana Judge Barbara Tam Nomoto Schumann, reversing an earlier decision, allowed Tran to display the poster and a Vietnamese flag in his video store, ruling that Tran has a right to express political speech even if it is offensive.