Invitation to "Champions of Change, too"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQxtfCz4B1o

On behalf of the Phnom Penh arts community and Khmer Exiled Americans we request the pleasure of your company at

Champions of Change, too

a V.I.P. dinner and award ceremony in honor of

“My Asian Americana” by Studio Revolt

2012 Winner of the Public Vote

For The White House “What’s Your Story” Video Challenge Contest

**Award presented by H.R.H. Soma Norodom

Monday April 2, 2012

VIP: 6pm- 7:30pm

Public: 7:30pm-9pm

Java Café & Gallery

56 Sihanouk Blvd

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

(Dress code: formal)

Event sponsored by

Initiative on Asian American Deportations

and U.S. Department of Homeland inSecurity

***

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Anida Yoeu Ali

studiorevoltmedia@gmail.com

www.studio-revolt.com

tel: +855-089-751-896 (Phnom Penh,Cambodia)

or tel +011-312-650-9638 (Chicago, IL USA)

March 28,2012

Award Ceremony in Phnom Penh Will Honor Video Win in White House Contest

White House officials have refused to acknowledge “My Asian Americana” as the official contest winners despite the video winning the highest public vote.

On Monday April 2, 2012 the Phnom Penh arts community in collaboration with Khmer Exiled Americans will host “Champions of Change, too” award ceremony at Java Café & Gallery. The event honors “My Asian Americana” a video created by Studio Revolt as the 2012 Winner of the Public Vote for the White House “What’s Your Story” Video Challenge Contest.

The event is a dinner and award ceremony with guests that include contest winners, local artists, dignitaries, and concerned citizens. H.R.H. Soma Norodom will preside over the ceremony, presenting awards to the recipients.

During the event, the filmmakers of Studio Revolt will disclose details regarding the White House’s mishandling of the contest and the administration’s attempt to silence the issue of deportations.

“My Asian Americana” video: http://studio-revolt.com/?p=305

Statement by the Studio Revolt filmmakers: http://studio-revolt.com/?cat=5

Detailed information will be provided to the press at the event.

“Champions of Change, too”

Monday April 2, 2012

6pm-9pm

Java Café & Gallery

56 Sihanouk Blvd

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

(Dress code: formal)

RSVP to info@studio-revolt.com

###

For additional information please contact Anida Yoeu Ali at studiorevoltmedia@gmail.com or by phone in Phnom Penh at +855-089-751-896 or in Chicago +011-312-650-9638. More info about our studio and other works can be found www.studio-revolt.com

What is wrong with this picture?

May 24, 2011
Guy Brown, Marshalltown
Times-Republican (Central Iowa's Daily Newspaper)

I am currently in the Marshall County Jail. As I sit here thinking I have all these problems I realize I can resolve my own problems. The reason I'm writing is the illegal immigrants. Most of these guys in Marshall County are young. Most of them have started a family and have been working to support them. Now our country is in economic debt - why is our government paying to house all these inmates that could be out working and helping America?

I have gotten close to a couple of these inmates. One was born in Cambodia. He came to the United States at the age of 7. His whole family is in Des Moines. He graduated from high school and started a family. He has a girlfriend and an 8-year-old daughter and was working in Des Moines.

Our government is going to send him back to Cambodia without his family. He doesn't know anybody over there. I thought my problems were bad.

Another inmate is from Vietnam, a country that won't take people back. Why is our government holding him and paying for his expenses? His country won't take him - what does our government plan on doing with him? What is wrong with this picture?

Inability to deport 'undesirable' illegals frustrates U.S.

Unwanted
Annual number of illegal immigrants who could not be deported because home countries refused:

• 2008: 702
• 2009: 621
• 2010: 377
• 2011: 41

Source: U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement

Sunday, March 27, 2011
By Rich Cholodofsky
Pittsburgh TRIBUNE-REVIEW

Convicted killer Loeun Heng walked out of a Massachusetts detention center a free man last fall.

The illegal alien from Cambodia was supposed to be deported after serving almost a decade in prison for killing a 16-year-old boy in a Boston suburb.

But Cambodia is among several countries that won't take their citizens back when the United States wants to jettison them.

Officials from Immigration and Custom Enforcement, or ICE, detained Heng for six months as they tried to ship him out.

They failed.

[US] Deportees Looked Down Upon

Tuesday, August 18, 2009
AFP

Many Cambodians fear or find it hard to accept deportees like Kay Kay, who were initially expected to bring a crime wave with them to the country.

'Depending on their jobs, some of them (deportees) still face stigma,' says Ong Klung, head of the Returnee Integration Support Programme. 'Some find it hard to function.' Taing Phoeuk, director of Korsang, an HIV education organisation which is staffed by many deportees, says the vast majority are not involved in any criminal behaviour.

For his part, Kay Kay says his students inspire him to live well, although there is also irony in the attention he has had from founding Tiny Toones.

When he gave a performance at a Clinton Global Initiative meeting in Hong Kong last year, Kay Kay danced in front of former US president Bill Clinton - the man who passed the law which banished him. He also could not accompany his students as they went on a performance tour of the US early this year.

Kay Kay says he is slowly being accepted into Cambodian society now and hopes he will be completely welcome someday.

As he and his fellow deportees integrate in the country, they have helped entrench hip hop culture in Cambodia. Videos, advertisements and club performances are now taking on an increasingly American urban style.

Saray Sarom, 23, a former street kid who now teaches breakdancing at Tiny Toones, believes it can further help the impoverished country.

'It has completely changed my perspective about life,' he says. 'I feel hopeful when I see that I can teach other disadvantaged kids something valuable and see that they progress like me.'