From all accounts, Charlie Ly sounds like the kind of guy that helps to make the South Philly diaspora — that awesome seven-layer burrito of race and culture down there — work, when there is much about the system that doesn’t. Ly is a civic leader in South Philly, and according to fellow traveller Vern Anastasio, over the years, “He helped create the Bella Vista United Civic Association, [and] he’s also helped thousands of Vietnamese people come to Philadelphia, stay here legally and grow businesses and families here. Throughout this time, Charlie became a civic leader beyond the immigrant community. He is one of many quiet and humble civic leaders in Philadelphia who toil in the fields of community service looking for no recognition, credit or accolades.” But on the way home from a trip to his native Vietnam in July, Charlie was detained by the Vietnames government, and he’s been there ever since. Many in his community only learned of it when a U.S. paper for Vietnamese picked up the story from the national Vietnamese news story. Since then, this release says, “the government of Vietnam [has] confiscated his passport, placed him under house arrest in his hotel, and has interrogated him for many hours daily during these last 18 days.” At present, they’re willing to let him go, but only under the following conditions:

1. He must admit that he went to Vietnam for the specific purpose of visiting a member of the Democratic Party of Vietnam who was just released from a Vietnamese jail. (The primary Mission of the Democratic Party of Vietnam is to persuade the Communist Party in Vietnam, through peaceful means, to recognize the freedoms of the UN Charter and allow multi-political parties, freedom of the press, religion, beliefs, the right to produce private publications, private proprietorship, and the opportunity for the people of Vietnam to live in a free enterprise economy with free entry, exit and travel.)

and

2. Upon arrival back in the United States, that he would not engage in political activities against the government of Vietnam.

Naturally, Ly has refused to do either of these things. He’s an American citizen. And he absolutely must be allowed to come back to the United States, free of the taint that the Vietnamese government is presently trying to force upon him. “Charlie’s life was/is Bella Vista United Civic,” says Anastasio. “He could be seen walking through BV on a daily basis, with the BVUVA Immigrant Outreach Committee office on the 900 Block of Washington Avenue. He worked out of there as much as possible and attended every bv community event, whether it was immigrant outreach related or not. Charlie is a great guy and we need him back in BV. Philly needs him. He’s the anti-Joey Vento here in South Philly.”
We’re going to be following this one as it plays out, but in the meantime, if you’d like to help Charlie, says Alison Sprague of Victim/Witness Services of South Philadelphia, “I would encourage you to contact your elected officials as well as the US Consulate in Viet Nam (84-822-9433 ext: 2159 country code 011) to let them know that we want Charlie to have a fair process and that we are watching how he is treated.”

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 13th, 2008 at 12:00 pm.