Public Informational Hearing on the State of Cambodian American Youth

Public Informational Hearing on
THE STATE OF CAMBODIAN AMERICAN YOUTH
By the California Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander American Affairs
Sponsored by the Asian and Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus
And the White House Initiative on Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders
Co-Sponsored by Khmer Girls in Action (KGA) and
The Southeast Asian Resource Action Center (SEARAC)

Date:              Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Time:              3:30 – 6:00 p.m.
Location:        Martin Luther King Jr. Park, 1950 Lemon Ave., Long Beach, CA 90806

Khmer Girls in Action in partnership with the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) conducted a community-initiated study on Cambodian American youth, which will be released at this hearing. Community-based organizations, non-profits, academics, and elected officials will explore policy solutions to the challenges outlined in the report. Please RSVP here or by e-mailing sondra.morishima@asm.ca.gov.  For more information, please call (916) 319-3686.

Youth in Action: Sophya Chum, Immigrant Rights Activist Youth

Sophya Chum (far right) and friends.

December 31, 2008
By Jamilah King
The Nation (New York, USA)

Sophya Chum is only 24, but already she jokes about going through a mid-twenties crisis. With the recent national debate over immigration picking up fervor, her fatigue is understandable. While most people in their early twenties are just be beginning to chart career paths, Sophya has been involved in immigrant rights and refugee work for nearly ten years with countless hours devoted to empowering young Southeast Asian women and helping make sure that the issue of Cambodian deportation is on the local and national agendas.

Currently, Sophya is a program coordinator with Khmer Girls in Action (KGA), a Long Beach-based community organization for young Southeast Asian women. Her daily work revolves around conducting workshops with a group of twenty-one young women between the ages of 14 and 17, whom she affectionately calls her "little sisters." One of Sophya's most tangible accomplishments is the Learning to Impact for Empowerment (LIFE) program, which works to build the leadership skills of young women through political trainings and after-school tutoring. And she juggles her intense, full-time work with classes at Long Beach City College.

Her work began, ironically, with ice cream. Sophya was a sophomore at Long Beach Poly High School when the organization, then known as a Southern Californian branch of Bay Area-based Asian Pacific Islanders for Reproductive Health (APIRH), came to her school to recruit new members. "My friends were like 'Hey! Fill out this form and they give you ice cream!'" she remembers. "I'm like 'cool, let's do it!'".

Soon, Sophya began to accompany her best friend to meetings. The gatherings were mainly social--a safe space away from home and school to talk about relationships and teenage anxieties. They also worked to educate and organize young women around immigrant and refugee rights and reproductive justice. Organizers used popular education and digital video-making to discuss the often taboo issue of teenage reproductive justice in a community whose elders tend to be more conservative about any talk of sexuality.

As the group transitioned to become Khmer Girls in Action (KGA), its own independent organization focused specifically on Long Beach's Southeast Asian community, Sophya remained as one of only eight original members.

In 2002, the organization's work on reproductive justice collided with a political moment that saw Cambodian American youth come under siege. In March of that year, the United States and the Cambodian governments signed the US-Cambodia repatriation agreement, which opened the door for hundreds of Cambodian permanent citizens with criminal convictions to be deported. The treaty worked in tandem with the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, which broadened the list of potential deportees to include felony convicts. It also stripped convicted felons of their previous right to legal hearings to assess whether they still had family in Cambodia, or a firm grasp of the language.

Southeast Asian community organizations, such as KGA, began to mobilize against the repatriation agreement. They argued that deportation was an unfair punishment, especially against young people. Indeed, most of those facing deportation were known as members of the "1.5 generation," people born in Cambodia and raised in the US. A survey by Washington, DC-based Southeast Asia Resource Center (SEARAC) found that most people being deported had initially come to the US at an average age of nine, and spent over twenty years living with their families in the United States.

Sophya's work took on a decidedly more personal tone when her older sister faced deportation. Like many of the young people being sent back to Cambodia, Sophya's sister (who preferred not to use her name for this story) came to the US with her parents from a refugee camp after fleeing the Vietnam War and deadly Khmer Rouge regime. In total, the Khmer Rouge claimed nearly two million lives and refugees still held the trauma of forced work camps, torture and seeing loved ones brutally murdered.

Like many people in the 1.5 generation, Sophya's sister was the oldest of her five siblings, and the only one born in Cambodia. She came with her family to the US when she was five, didn't know any English, and settled with her parents in Long Beach, which has the largest Cambodian population in the US, according to 2000 Census data. Unlike her younger siblings who were born in the US and have the privilege of American citizenship, 1.5 generationers' green card status makes any encounters with the the law potentially disastrous.

During KGA's writing workshops, where participants are encouraged to write from another person's perspective, Sophya began writing about her sister. After she shared her story, the organization took up her case as a primary cause. She was encouraged to share her painful family story with others to show that the issue was a larger community problem, not one that needed to be faced alone by individuals. "I was really proud...talking about my family.... And just telling [the community] that this is normal and connecting it with other people," she says.

The organization held protests and rallies against the rising numbers of deportations. Ultimately, they were able to stop Sophya's sister from being sent back to Cambodia, but there are still hundreds of young Cambodians who face forcible deportation on questionable charges at any time. The experience left a lasting impression on Sophya. "I always preach that you can't just keep things to yourself," she says. "Your story is not just your story. It could be someone else's story."

Moreover, Sophya's work highlights the importance of checking your own backyard for potential avenues for civic engagement. Most recently, she helped train a group of young women to protest in opposition of California's Proposition 4, a recently defeated ballot initiative that would have required parental consent for abortions by underage women.

For people interested in advocating for the rights of immigrants and refugees, Sophya suggests starting simple. "Find a community [you're] interested in learning about and creating change in," she says. "And begin to volunteer."

Sophya hopes to build the leadership skill of the young women around her, so they can one day take on her leadership role. "I feel like I was given this opportunity to be part of this organization, and I want to be able to expand KGA in that way where it is still a resource and young women and men can get access to it through the work that we do."

California Khmer

Dianna Brang, Suely Ngouy, executive director of the Khmer Girls, Linda Moy, Mary Savady, Sovanduongchan So, Jennefer Heng, Joy Yanga, group coordinator, and Samantha Chhim worked on the film "Coming Together," which looks at how the Khmer Rouge still touches the lives of Cambodian immigrants and their American-born children. The film will be shown at LBCC's Pacific Campus today at 3:30 p.m. (Steven Georges/Staff Photographer)

Long Beach girls create film about being Cambodian and American

06/20/2008
By Greg Mellen, Staff writer
Long Beach Press Telegram

LONG BEACH - One talked to her father about his memories of the genocide. Another looked within herself. Another talked to a newly arrived immigrant. And gradually their six individual stories were melded into one.

The aptly named "Coming Together" is the result.

The 30-minute documentary filmed by six teenagers from Long Beach-based Khmer Girls in Action provides an episodic series of glimpses into what it means to be a first-generation Cambodian-American teen in California.

The filmmakers, Jennefer Heng, 17; Dianna Brang, 15; Sovanduongchan So, 16; Samantha Chhim, 17; Linda Moy, 17; and Mary Savady, 16, each took a piece of the Cambodian-American teen puzzle. With the help of Khmer Girls in Action coordinator Joy Yanga and USC film instructor Mariano Elepano, "Coming Together" did just that.

It came together so well, in fact, that it was chosen for inclusion in the Los Angeles Film Festival where it will officially debut next weekend. Those who would like an early glimpse can attend a free prescreening today at Long Beach City College.

Using perspectives from survivors of the Khmer Rouge atrocities, youngsters who struggle to understand their elders, and immigrants who move to the United States and embrace the country, the movie touches on connections and disconnections young Cambodians feel both toward America and the culture and homeland of their elders.

"I think the title tells it all," said Moy, a Poly student, about how the different perspective eventually dovetail.

"We were working on ideas and concept, and we needed a jumping point," Yanga said. "We realized we have more in common even though we have very different stories."

Savady, a Wilson High student, said she hoped the film would help other teens understand they're not alone in the feelings of isolation from their parents.

Heng, who just graduated from Poly, said talking to her father about his experiences with the genocide gave her a new appreciation and respect for him.

"He was emotional, and it was very personal," Heng said. "So when I heard my dad talk about it, I was able to connect. Some of the details were very scary."

Suely Ngouy, the executive director of Khmer Girls, said the film clears up misunderstandings

"I think there's a perception that the youth know what happened," Ngouy said. "They really don't."

While youngsters may understand in general terms that they are the children of refugees from a terrible war, often they have no idea about their own parents' stories.

The film grew from a $30,000 grant from the California Council for the Humanities as part of a campaign called "How I See It," which encouraged teens to explore their lives and cultures through film.

The six teens worked on the film for nearly a year interviewing both survivors of the Khmer Rouge genocide and peers to gauge the effects of the war 33 years after the rise of Pol Pot.

The Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia in 1975. By the time they were ousted by the Vietnamese army in 1979, about 1.7$ 5 $7Cambodians had died from executions, disease and malnutrition.

Beginning in 1979, Cambodian refugees began pouring into the United States, many arriving in Long Beach, which boasts the largest Cambodian population in the United States.

The Khmer Girls in Action was founded in 1997 as a project of the Asians & Pacific Islanders for Reproductive Health to deal with teen pregnancy issues.

It was reconfigured in 2002 to teach young Southeast Asian women how to become leaders in the community and help shape the future for Cambodian-American community.

The group meets weekly during the school year and twice weekly in the summer. Membership is free and usually there are about 25 girls in the program at any given time.

In addition to attending public events, the group engages in various advocacy and academic projects. In 2009, for example, the group will work with UCLA on a project to study the transmission of trauma between generations.

The Khmer Girls movie is one of eight Youth Digital Filmmaker films that grew from the Humanities fund, three of which will play in Los Angeles.

Today's prescreening will be held at 3:30 p.m. in Room 107 Dyer Hall on the Long Beach City College Pacific Coast Campus, 1305 East Pacific Coast Highway in Long Beach.

The free L.A. Film Festival presentation will be June 29, at noon, at the Italian Cultural Institute, 1023 Hilgard Ave., Los Angeles.

greg.mellen@presstelegram.com, 562-499-1291

Cambodian Youth “Coming Together” To Make Movie, Learn Heritage

Khmer Girls in Action (http://www.kgalb.org/)

June 19, 2008
By Carla M. Collado
Staff Writer
Downtown Gazette (Long Beach, California, USA)

When six local Cambodian teenage girls pre-screen their film, “Coming Together” at Long Beach City College on Saturday, they’ll make public the fruits of an almost yearlong journey to learn about their parents’ experiences as refugees of war and to explore their own identities as first-generation Cambodian-Americans.

“I feel more complete in a way,” Jennefer Heng, 17, said of working on the film. “It helped me understand my identity, where I came from.”

The girls — ages 14-18 — from Long Beach’s Khmer Girls in Action (KGA) started working on the film in October 2007 as part of the How I See It: Youth Digital Filmmakers project. The project was sponsored by the California Council for the Humanities, which gave KGA a $30,000 grant to put together its film.

For months, the teens explored the disconnections of life in America (particularly culture, language, socio-economic status and education) to find connections they have with refugees of the Khmer Rouge war, KGA Executive Director Suely Ngouy explained.

They interviewed their parents, relatives and other members of the community, such as the founders of Cambodia Town. They worked closely with Karen Quintiliani, anthropology professor at California State University, Long Beach, to learn about the history of Cambodians in Long Beach and to place the film’s stories into a historical context.

The group also worked with Mar Elepano of Visual Communications (and faculty member at the University of Southern California) to develop their story-telling skills and learn about camera techniques. Each girl had her own video camera, developed her own story line, wrote her own interview questions and produced, directed and edited her piece of the film, Ngouy said.

She explained that one of the biggest challenges for the girls was finding people who were willing to open up about their traumatic experiences escaping the Khmer Rouge and witnessing genocide, and about the hopes and dreams they have for their children.

Heng’s main interview source was her father, who was a victim of the war.

“He never talked about it at all with me,” Heng said. “I actually had to interview him several times…. It was really emotional for me to hear about my dad’s story. It made me respect him more, understand him more.”

One of the reasons she decided to participate in the film project was to discover more about her culture and her people’s history, she said.

“It was a personal experience for me,” Heng said. “It wasn’t just about making a film.”

Ngouy said that one of the most common “connections” between the teenagers and their war-refugee relatives was a desire to find a “home” or place of belonging in the world.

“They’ve really questioned, explored and discovered an aspect of their identity that they otherwise wouldn’t have discovered if they hadn’t gone through this process,” Ngouy said of the girls.

She said that the film reflects the group’s desire to inspire Long Beach’s Cambodian community — the largest outside of Cambodia — to work together to bridge generational gaps and to improve the community.

“It often takes the children or grandchildren to be able to tell the stories,” Ngouy said. “I hope that this will be a healing process for the community, to be able to begin a dialogue…. Whatever history is passed on is going to have to be passed on through the younger generation.”

The 30-minute film, “Coming Together” will pre-screen at 3 p.m. Saturday, June 21, at LBCC, Dyre Hall Room FF 107 (1305 E. Pacific Coast Hwy.), and will premiere at noon Sunday, June 29, at the Los Angeles Film Festival. The group also hopes to show the film at local schools throughout the year, Ngouy said.

Visit www.californiastories.org or www.kgalb.org.