The artist being targeted by protestors against VAALA’s F.O.B. II exhibit, is having his own solo exhibit at Cypress College. The OC Register’s Richard Chang had an in-depth look at Brian Doan and his work on a “Morning Read” column last Friday here.
Last night was the reception and opening lecture. The Bolsavik got there in the middle of the standing-room-only lecture, so did not stay to listen but went around looking at the photos.
Bog. 2002. Chromogenic print. 10″x20″.
Doan’s exhibition is actually two exhibits. One is called “Echoes of the Land” and consists of a series of panoramic shots of landscape that thoughtfully reflect Doan’s impression of how industrialization and urbanization have affected the land.
The other is the controversial one, called “The Vietnamese” and consists of a series of posed pictures of Vietnamese in Vietnam and in the U.S. Several of the pictures can be seen in the slide show on the Reg’s web site here. The photograph that was defaced by Ly Tong is part of this series.
Next to one of the entrances is a case holding the photograph as defaced (pictured right).
Above the photo is a reprint of Richard Chang’s Register story. At the bottom of the case is a sign that says “Some of the photographs in this exhibit contain nudity and other images may be politically controversial.”
Also in the case are copies of two books. One is the catalog for Touch: Contemporary Vietnamese photography – a 2000 exhibit co-curated by Doan and Jerry Burchfield that was one of the first in the United States that showed work by Vietnamese artists living both inside and outside of Vietnam.
The other is The Forgotten Ones published by VAALA in 2005, a book of photographs Brian Doan took of Vietnamese stateless refugees stranded in the Philippines.
Just as the lecture ended, the Bolsavik spotted Michael Burr, a Vietnam veteran and photographer who had had his photos from Vietnam in the late 60s exhibited at Michelle Phuong Thao‘s gallery. And he’s wearing a T-shirt in the colors of the current flag of communist Vietnam. He said he bought the shirt in Saigon in 2006.
. 
Burr, who proudly wears his Vietnam Service pin everywhere he goes, served in in the U.S. Air Force in Vietnam. Among other things, his duties included teaching English to the Vietnamese air force as part of Nixon’s Vietnamization program.
He proclaims, “I’m an American citizen, I have the right to freely express myself.”
Anyway, back to The Forgotten Ones and Vietnamese stateless refugees in the Philippines.
One activist who’s been working tirelessly to get Western countries to admit these refugees is Hoi Trinh. USA Today once wrote up about Trinh here. In 2006, he successfully fought for the U.S. to admit a thousand of the refugees, earning accolades from Vietnamese world wide.
And then something happened: The Viet Weekly protests.
Trinh wrote an op-ed in support of Viet Weekly’s free speech rights. Protestors then turned on him. It didn’t help that Trinh was, at the time, married to the daughter of former RVN’s Vice-President Nguyen Cao Ky, whom many (like this potty mouth) consider a turncoat.
So, let’s recount this:
Hoi Trinh the accused commie helped bring thousands of stranded Viet refugees to the United States.
The sale of The Forgotten Ones by Brian Doan the accused commie netted over $20,000 to help settle these refugees.
Does it seem like the people helping refugees are all accused commies?
.
The protesters need to protest the hell out the American commie Michael Burr and force him to go Vietnam to live with Vietnam communist. And since he has exhibited at Michelle Phuong Thao’s gallery, the protesters need to do the same to Phuong Thao, even though she just recently sent out a letter criticizing VAALA’s FOB2 controversial show.
Or maybe nothing will be happening at all, since the exhibition (with Brian Doan’s photo) this time organized by an AMERICAN institution, and the guy who dares to wear such an “offensive and insulting” image is an AMERICAN man. The Bolsa jungle law is applied only to Vietnamese (naturalized or not doesn’t matter), not to AMERICAN AMERICAN.
People now wonder if those Vietnamese elected officials (including Van Tran, Tri Ta, Truong Diep…) will issue a letter to Cypress college asking them to take down the controversial photo (similar to the one they sent to VAALA). If they do, why it takes so long already?
Anyone knows if Cypress college plans to take down the photo if there is a protest? Or if they will keep it no matter what happens, like the USC keeps hanging the commie flag regardless of the requests from the protesters and councilman Andy Quach and councilwoman Dina Nguyen?
Janet and Andrew might visit Cypress College to sell sandwich sacks and during the break, spray meat sauces all over the Bastard Brian Doan’s commie pictures.
No, Cypress college won’t take down idiot’s pictures until this weekend…….pictures will be sold at this weekend’s college outdoor swap meet.
what the hell is wrong with you idiots?! if you commie pigs dont like the freedoms we have here in america just leave. and take tan nguyen with you.
jose licka soloriobutt, who said you can stay? Get your sorry red rear packed up in a cardboard box and head to the south! Go licky, licky…..
The Bastard Brian would not listen to his dad Mr. Han Vi Doan.
A 40 year old peon brain will regret this later…… When will he grow up?
Jung Truong Tyler Kim Diep,
Can you tell me why your boss Van Tran never say anything about the fact that Nguoi Viet News publishing the image of South Vietnam flag in the pedicure spa, and then he acted so quickly on writing a letter against VAALA’s FOB2 show, and then never say anything about the art show at Cypress college which features the same image as seen at VAALA’s show? Similar incidents, completely different reactions. Why?
If you can’t give us a reasonable answer, Jung Truong Tyler Kim Diep, you better shut up or give up your self-proclaimed Viet guru title. Is that fair?
Jung Truong Tyler Kim Diep,
I got another question for you. Why your boss haven’t honored the lunatic freedom-dirty-underwear-fighter Ly Tong with a state assembly certificate (the same one as you’ve been always giving out on behalf of your boss Van Tran whenever you come to a community activity) for Ly Tong’s “heroic” action of spraying the commie photographer Brian Doan’s picture and for his demonstration of how to use dirty underwear to overthrow the Vietnam communist regime?
Why haven’t he?
Don’t even try to tell me your boss and his career has nothing to do with this lunatic freedom-dirty-underwear-fighter Ly Tong. Don’t tell me you don’t remember that your boss was a strong supporter of Ly Tong, that he used to flight all the way to Thailand (using our tax money) to visit and and show his support to Ly Tong, and to talk to Thailand officials for Ly Tong’s interests.
With all that facts, Ly Tong deserves a California State Assembly Certificate from your boss Van Tran’s office for his recent “heroic” actions, including the illegal act of sandwiching a commie flag with two South Vietnam flags at USC a few weeks ago.
You tell me why, Jung Truong Tyler Kim Diep.
One left over psycho luna-moona red wet undie thinks I am Truong Diep.
Again I am the official Guru of viet town and if you have any regurgitated trash…then take it to him like a man instead of farting through your nostril sized mouth. What a retard gutter grade idiot!
Hey hammer face, if you feel anyone deserves a medal/certificate for his/her conduct, contact the state assembly office in the district and you will get one…..isn’t this a common sense?
Again, belly button nose, I do not work for anyone …and I don’t have boss.
You must be low life county staffer with hungry stomach.
If the county office is so proud of Bastard Brian Doan’s sprayed painted commie photos……….then why don’t you hang them inside of your Fifth Floor office? instead of Lee’s Sandwich logos?
When are you under achievers start telling Bastard Brian Doan to listen to the wishes of his dad Mr. Han Vi Doan? Is it worth to hurt your own father? Is this a “american way” of life?…….. I don’t think so!
Brave Janet’s blackberry scanned by the deputy showed Ly Tong’s message to Janet… “Do you have more red paint spray cans? please send them asap!”
Dad (Son),
Janet Nguyen needs to give Ly Tong a County of Orange (noi orangesthough) certificate. She gives them out like monopoly money. Andrew Do can do the presentation and smile with his constipated face. What a joke!!
I did not raise you to be stupid, but you turn out to be one.
Andrew Do hasn’t done anything for our community…. but he is out there yapping against our other elected viet officials.
Andrew Do is not only dumb but he is anti -viet.
Get it right. My name is now Tyler. I’m a new man…but haven’t left the closet.
Just to set the record straight:
I am not now, nor have I ever been, a Communist. I do not support Communism or the Communist system of government. Somehow my support for freedom of speech & expression as guaranteed by the US Constitution has been twisted by the ignorance of the protestors, in particular, protesteverything, into me being a Communist sympathizer. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is unfortunate that the protestors are stuck in the past and blinded by their bitterness & hatred of all things that do not agree with their point of view. They want to do here what the present government of VN does, ban anything that does not conform to their way of thinking. That is not the American way. What would happen to one of them if they went to VN & wore a t-shirt representative of the Republic of VN flag (yellow w/ red stripes)!?! They would most likely be arrested & deported. Is that what they, the protestors, want here in the USA? If so they are not subscribing to the ideals upon which this country was built & they should leave.
As for the exhibition at Viet Art Center it was not solely an exhibition of my work. The exhibition was entitled, Memories of Viet Nam, 1959 – 1975 and consisted of photos from over 20 Viet Nam veterans, who presented their views of Viet Nam during the war years. Each person, including myself, had five photos in the show. I assisted Ms. Phuong Thao in making the exhibition possible. From all accounts it was very well received by the Vietnamese community – probably even the protestors, had they bothered to show up.
By contributing to the Viet community, you, Michael Burr, are as Viet as Viet can be. The hell with the big talkers!
RED Jung Kim,
Stop pretending to be anti-communist. I know who are, and know you are making business deals with people in Vietnam. you are just another communist rat,
Red nose de Idiot….. all you know is you can wrap your Lee’s 6 inch sandwich in long 45 minutes. Retard, go back to your kitchen for more practice!
Andrew Do is an A Hole. I saw him on SA Cable TV. Janet Nguyen is one ugly dame. Does she have a pet that she can call friend?!!! That’s funny.
Dina’s boyfriend is a jerk & one ugly dude. Dina is such a slut. Does she have a pet name for all the A hole that she ever dated ?!!! ha ha ha .
Michael Burr, good points. Thank you for your comments. Unfortunately, nearly everything else on this blog is not understandable. It’s full of innuendos and unsubstantiated accusations, usually that of being a “commie”, despite that the opposing parties disagree. Can both parties be “commies”? What both sides love is their hatred of each other. In other words, they love to hate. There is no such thing as communism in Vietnam as it existed from 1945-1975. It has been replaced by something else, largely free enterprise. The haters hate something which no longer exists, which results in a never ending negative return on their energy. Too bad.
Michael, you probably think you’re exercising your right of ” freedom of speech” by wearing that shirt and trying to send a message to everybody what a great country this is with all the freedom that we have in this great land but in fact you’re just a inconsiderate SOB without any respect for our Vietnamese community who many have been suffered by the communist in our own country. Just like I wouldn’t walk into a Jew’s community wearing a Hitler face t-shirt even though I have a right, because of the respect I have for them knowing what pains & suffering they must have endured during WWII. Remember, just because you have the right , that doesn’t make it right !
Please stop using the Jew_Hitler analogy, which is more wrong than right.
* in the 60s and 70s Hollywood Jews, particularly Mel Brooke, financed and produced most of the movies, broadway shows, TV shows, art exhibits about Hitler.
Where is the proof ? The current PBS documentary ” Make ‘em Laugh: The Funny Business of America” being shown on your local PBS channel.
Youtube has plenty of Mel Brooks’ video clips on Hitler
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGp0hCxSg98
Springtime for Hitler
To be or not to be Hitler
Hitler Rap
Yeh..The Jew-Hitler comparision doesn t cut it anymore.
May i recommend Fidel Castro shirts in Miami?…Or maybe Polpot shirts in Cambodia?…I heard they don t do protests in Miami?..
Please stop being an IDIOT Country First and take all your mumbo jumbo with you !
I seriously wish someday people defending Communism experienced Communists themself see if they will ever forgive and forget?…
right on Sonny !
Oh…And i forget about those Chinese folks in Nanking getting along just fine with them Japanese now too, all hugging and French kiss stuffs…Just like LA cops and Rodney King.
And bad thing did happened to them, no?…
Do Jews get offended when they see a Swatika on a Buddhist temple? A yellow star on a red field is just an image. It is not the actual person who took your land away, assuming you were a landowner. In the USA, the hammer and sickle was a popular fashion accessory in the 60s and 70s at the height of the Cold War. We like our 1st Ammendment. Get used to it.
Country First is fine person….
David, quit being naive about this whole issue !!! YAH, it’s our 1st Amendment so exercising it & EXERCISING IT IN A RIGHT WAY !
Tell me what the right way is to speak, to write, to wear, to film. Almost everything is offensive to someone. Your feelings may be hurt by what someone does. If that’s the case, you are not controlling your feelings. Someone else is. Get a grip. Your community is not a sovereign nation. It is a public place and the actions of the public, including wearing a certain shirt or staging an embarrassing and offensive protest, are protected by American law. You can’t have it both ways.
You’re a MORON if you don’t know what’s the right way. You should go home & ask your parents that question !!!
OK, 1st A, that was nonreponsive and illogical. On that basis, you have conceeded my points, including the fact that your protests of certain pictures, statues, shirts and artwork are embarrassing and offensive.
David, no one in this blog agreed with what protesters did ok . They do have a right to protest, however the right way to do it is to do it peacefully and not destroying anybody’s properties. Just like Micheal Burr has every right to wear that shirt if he’s favoring Communism but to wear it and saying that he’s not support communism is like wearing a Angel t-shirt to the Angel game and said I’m not an Angel’s fan and I don’t like them at all. If he’s trying to be funny, nobody is laughing. If he’s trying to send a message to the protesters, that’s not the right way to do it. When it comes to feelings of other people beside yourself , there’s a sensitiveness that you should give some consideration. It’s not always have to be about right or wrong.
1st Amendment, you re making it too complicated for some guys here to understand….
Believe me, i ve tried that be4…waste of time, that dude Jose s. will come in and call you names soon, watch. Make an easy example like..
If you pay the same $5 for a bowl of Vietnamese Pho like other customers, that doesn t give you the right to eat in their restaurant NAKED?..See?….Easier to understand right?..
thanks Sonny, I agreed with you if a person doesn’t get it there’s nothing else you could do.
Like i said awhile back, there re other options outthere these protestors can practice their anger, let me name a fews.
How about rock throwings like Palestines folks?..No?
How about Motowhatever cocktails?…Too dangerous?..
How about arsonist s gas can specials?..Not nice?..
Baseball bats?..Snipers?..Grenades?..AK47s?..AR15s?..Too violent?..
So a clumpsy protest don t look that bad afterall?…
But spray can…? Oh come on..That s bad and shamefull Mr Hero Ly Tong.
OK, First, thank you for your reply. In the limited aspects mentioned, we seem to agree about the protesters. Regarding Michael Burr’s shirt, you have not exhausted all the reasons he may have worn it. You don’t know why he did, and neither do I. But, it is not reasonable to say “he’s favoring Communism”. I see that flawed logic demonstrated by all of the name-calling in this community. The name called is “commie”. Anytime either side says or does something one side disagrees with, the other side calls them a “commie”. The whole process is juvenile, meaningless and false. Worst of all, it trivializes the real pain, loss and casualties suffered by Vietnamese (and Americans, by the way) during and after the War. The epithet “commie” needs to be defined more precisely, and used only when it fits that narrow definition. All else is nonsense.
David, David… we all know why Micheal wore that shirt & he’s no commie. He just wanted to wear that shirt to mock the protesters, trying to send a message saying that : ” Yah, I’m wearing this shirt and I want to see what can you do to do to me . . . which is NOTHING because I’m an American, and I’m exercising my 1st amendment ” . And like I said, if that’s the message he was sending to the protesters then to me it’s not the right way to do it.
Ist, thank you for telling me exactly why he wore it. I assume that if Michael Burr posted here why he did it, and it were otherwise from what you say, you would not believe him. So, what would the protesters have done if a Vietnamese American had worn it, or worse, if a tourist or student from Vietnam had worn it? To put it another way, how does the law protect American Americans differently from Vietnamese? Or are you suggesting that the protesters have some “under the radar” (outlaw) way of damaging a Vietnamese person, but not an American American?
People need to be educated David. If we don’t know something then we need to learn. But the most important thing is we need to learn to respect other people, their feelings, their properties and everything else that might matter to them.
This forum have improved vastly. We can debate on the issue without resorting to demagoguing.
I salute all for being such high minded.
Students wearing Confederate flag on T-shirt : Freedom of expression vs Incitement.
02/02/2009
School officials in Farmington, Mo., were justified in suspending students for wearing Confederate flag clothing because of several racially charged incidents, a federal appeals court panel has ruled.
Three students — known in court papers by their initials B.W.A., R.S. and S.B. — from Farmington High School sued in federal court after being suspended for wearing Confederate flag clothing during the 2006-’07 school year.
The school district had a dress-code policy, adopted in 1995, which provided in part that “dress that materially disrupts the educational environment will be prohibited.” After several racially charged incidents in 2005, school officials specifically barred Confederate flags and symbols. The officials reasoned that Confederate-flag clothing qualified as materially disruptive in a school that had only 15 to 20 black students out of a student population of approximately 1,100.
The racially charged incidents cited by the school officials included a May 2005 episode in which a white student urinated on a black student while allegedly saying “that is what black people deserve.” Another incident occurred that September when several white students from Farmington High showed up at a black student’s home and made racial comments such as “anything that is not white is beneath them.”
Another incident occurred at a December 2005 basketball game between Farmington High and Festus Senior High School. During the game a fight broke out after two Farmington players allegedly used racial slurs against two black players from Festus. That incident was reported to the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Civil Rights, which conducted an investigation.
These incidents and others caused school officials to prohibit the wearing of Confederate flag apparel in the school district. However, B.W.A. — identified in news stories as Bryce Archambo — wore Confederate flag apparel on several occasions. In September 2006, he wore a hat with an image of the Confederate flag and the message “C.S.A., Rebel Pride, 1861.” Another day he wore a belt buckle with the words “Dixie Classic.” After the principal sent him home, his mother withdrew him from school.
Other students, such as R.S. and S.B., wore Confederate clothing in support of Archambo. In January 2007, R.S. wore a shirt with the message “the South was right, our school was wrong.” S.B. wore a shirt with Confederate colors and the message: “Help Support B[.A.] Once a rebel, always and forever a rebel. We love B.[A.].”
The students contended that they had a First Amendment right to wear such clothing and that school officials could not single out Confederate symbols. In August 2007, U.S. District Judge Jean C. Hamilton granted summary judgment in favor of school officials, ruling that they met the standard articulated by the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1969 ruling Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School Dist. when they barred the Confederate symbol from campus.
In Tinker, the Court ruled that public school officials in Iowa violated the First Amendment rights of several students by suspending them for wearing black armbands to protest the war in Vietnam because such symbols were not disruptive. Courts have clarified that under Tinker, school officials can restrict student expression when they reasonably forecast a substantial disruption from that expression.
Hamilton ruled in B.W.A. v. Farmington R-7 School District that “Defendants did not violate the First Amendment because they had reason to believe that students displaying the Confederate flag would cause a substantial and material disruption.”
The students appealed to a three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which on Jan. 30 unanimously affirmed Hamilton’s ruling. Like Hamilton, the 8th Circuit panel focused on the numerous racially charged incidents in the school district.
“Tinker and its progeny allow a school to ‘forecast’ a disruption and take necessary precautions before racial tensions escalate out of hand,” Judge Lavenski R. Smith wrote in B.W.A. v. Farmington R-7 School District. “As a result of race-related incidents both in and out of school, the administration reasonably denied the display of the Confederate flag within the school.”
The 8th Circuit noted that school officials must only reasonably forecast a substantial disruption, that they don’t have to wait for an actual disruption to occur. Smith wrote that “no other circuit [court of appeals] has required the administration to wait for an actual disruption before acting.”
Archambo and the other students had argued that school officials had committed viewpoint discrimination by singling out the Confederate flag. Smith wrote that “viewpoint discrimination by school officials is not violative of the First Amendment if the Tinker standard requiring a reasonable forecast of substantial disruption or material interference is met.”
Smith concluded: “B.W.A., R.S. and S.B. characterize the case as one involving suppression of unpopular speech for its content alone. But this crops the full picture and distorts the situation confronting school officials. Here, in a school of 1,110 students, 15 to 20 minority students were subjected to racial tension from a white majority student and community population sufficient to motivate some to withdraw. This can hardly be considered an environment conducive to educational excellence. Racial tension can devolve to violence quickly.”
Archambo’s attorney, Robert Herman, told the Associated Press that he would appeal the 8th Circuit’s decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.
“It’s a sad day when a court rules someone’s opinion is not protected because it offends other people,” Herman said. “The essence of this ruling is Bryce can be punished because he expressed an opinion others found offensive.”
Farmington Superintendent W.L. Sanders was quoted by the Associated Press as saying, “I just see it as a ruling for school boards and public school educators to be able to take proactive steps in prevention of potential violence.”
Country First, thank you for the exended and overly legalistic post about what might be an analogous comparison of wearing the Confederate flag symbol to wearing the DRVN flag symbol, as it relates to 1st Ammendment issues. The problem is that this is not a purely legal issue. Almost all analogies are flawed, and some fatally. Bringing up the Confederate flag as an analogy to the flag of current Vietnam, opens the door to compare the histories of the US and Vietnam. The territory comprising the USA was settled and colonialized, since 1492, by British, French and Spanish. The Revolutionary War was fought and won by European settlers, not the indigenous people, against colonial Britain. 4 score and 7 (87) years later, there was a Civil War, the origins of which stemmed from the Revolutionary War period. The “Union” forces won. In other words, the united United States of America was forced on the secessionist South bya war of conquest. In Vietnam, there was a revolutionary force against colonial France. In contradistinction to USA, it was fought by the indegenous population, not French settlers, against France. In Vietnam, the analogous Revolutionary and Civil War forcing unification was compressed into one war exending over a period of, at least, 1945-1975. The point is that, like the US, the colonial power was overthrown and the nation was unified by force in Vietnam. Also, like the US, there were minorities in V
Also, like in the US, there were minorities in Vietnam who supported the colonial French and/or resisted independence. Thesewere the Tories and, later, the Confederates. As it relates to Vietnam, you can fill in the blanks as to which groups were analogous to the Tories and Confederates. I suggest that the Confederate flag is more analogous to the flag of RVN than a shirt with yellow star and red background.
David,
Wow ! ! !
I salute you for such enlightening reply. My intent was to explore the limits of freedom of expression, I did not want to draw parallel between these two symbols.
The only clear limit of freedom of expression as I understand the above-stated case is “intent to disrupt”. Since the court allowed the wearing of black band as a symbol of anti-Vietnam War, and yet rejected to wearing of confederate flag on the basis of substantial and material disruption.
To Mr. Michael B:
You say you are not a communist or support Communism, but I think you are totally contradicting yourself. Do you know that the red shirt that you wore is totally opposite from freedom? Do you even know the true meaning of Freedom? I bet you don’t. Freedom of expression is people can do whatever they want provided they do not violate the laws and are not insulting or causing harm to others. The red shirt that you wore symbolizes the bloody communist flag of which has brought back painful memories to millions of Vietnamese refugees around the world. With that said, the communist flag is a piece of trash that is totally OPPOSITE from FREEDOM. Because of this flag, millions of lives were taken away.
You said, “protestors are stuck in the past and blinded by their bitterness & hatred.” I agree that the past is the past. However, the Vietnam war has not yet ended. So how can the pain of millions of Vietnamese be healed? Do you know the current situation of Vietnam today? More than 80 million people are still living under the cruel and unjustice communist government. There is still no freedom, democracy or human rights. With that said, COmmunist officials are enjoying themselves while our people are suffering day after day. The gap between the rich and poor is so high. Poor innocent children and women are being sold off to different countries. Human trafflicking still occurs.
You think Vietnamese people really like to protest? And we do NOT protest everything like you people say. You think we have alot of times on our hands? All of us have busy lives of ourselves. We have school, work, and family to take care of. Nobody wants to protest day after day…but why? Because we have a HEART and love our people in VN. We fight not because we want to gain anything for ourselves. We are truly blessed here in the states with everything the people in VN could ever ask for. We fight because we want a better VN!! Believer it or not, all of our protests does have a big impact to the people in VN. Our protests speak the truth for the world to see of the un-justice communist government of today and to give our people in the homelands the strength to stand up and fight.
So lastly, Mr. B, as a young Vietnamese American growing up in America, I advise you to think before you do any more stupid acts like wearing the red shirt. The Vietnamese refugees has suffered enough. Please do not bring back painful memories to us. The truth is, the Viet community here is nice. Try displaying any form of art of Hitler to the Jewish Community. I don’t think you`ll still be here.