Living in a Khmer Krom Community

By Lam Te

            I am a Khmer Krom-American, but I never really knew what it meant and what to make of it. My parents exposed me to culture and what it was like to be Khmer Krom starting from when I was very young. When I was young, both my parents were very involved within the Khmer Krom community and I took in the experiences as a young child, as I had to follow them wherever they went. I never really understood the fight for this land that was lost to South Vietnam and the determination that settled into the hearts of the Khmer people who wished for Khmer Kampuchea Krom to return to Cambodia. My parents were both members of the Khmer Krom Federation (KKF) and attended meetings in Lowell, MA, New Jersey, as well as Washington, D.C. They greatly supported the movement and took part in any way that they could. They showed me what hard work and dedication was, despite hardships along the way.

            When I was 7, my parents started participating in the dragon boat racing that was held in Lowell, MA at the Asian Water Festival every August. Their team was the Khmer Krom team and all the Khmer Krom people within the community helped to support them with money for food, team shirts, as well as flags. The team started from the ground up and eventually was very successful. To practice, they practiced on a wooden log, and over time with fundraising and the success that they had with winning, they eventually could afford their own oars and their own fiberglass boats to practice with. After many wins, the team was able to go to places like Philadelphia, Florida, Washington, as well as Rome, Italy. I was always happy to go along for the trips, and it is always nice knowing that we had a very supportive community.

            I was 12 when I attended my first protest in Washington, D.C. The protest was to demand back land that was rightfully Cambodia’s. I still was unaware of what happened in history and what we were fighting for. I just did as everyone else did, held up signs and demanded freedom like everyone else. Now it made me realize how fortunate I am to be in this country, to be able to freely protest for what I believe in without being harmed or jailed. We should take advantage of being Americans and do whatever we can for our fellow Khmer people in other places that may not have as many freedoms or can be in grave danger for speaking out against their government.

            I am 21 now, and I have yet to figure out what I should do to give back to my community someday. My parents always told me that we need more educated Khmer Krom people to help and to make a difference. They have great faith that I could be one of them. After graduating from my 4-year university, I plan on pursing a career in the United States Air Force. After my service is over, I plan on using the connections that I obtain to give back to my community that took care of me somehow. With my experience, I can help to educate and liberate future generations.

            

The Misconception of Cambodian Americans

By Solomon Say 

​Throughout the many decades that Cambodians have been living on American soil, I feel like we have some sort of stigma that has the general population look at us like we’re on the low end of the Asian-race scale. I mean, how can we not? Throughout the brief history of gang violence in cities such as Lowell, Massachusetts and Long Beach, California, Cambodian involvement in gang culture has been rampant throughout most of the late 80s and 90s. The graduation rate for Cambodians isn’t all that high neither, with about 35 percent of Cambodian Americans dropping out of highschooland another 29 percent of Cambodians living under poverty.These statistics are staggering, making us the highest Asian ethnic group to live under such conditions. Why is this thecase? What is this type of stigma that we have created for our own people? The main cause of this problem is surely unheard of, but many would believe that our plight from the homeland has caused the older generation of Cambodian people to live under such psychological conditions as PTSD. With this type of condition haunting the minds of our most beloved family members, it can surely create a toll on the younger generation as well. However, the younger generation hasn’t even been able to erase this type of stigma that we have been living under for the past decade. Our young ones are busy running around the streets, creating more statistics for the Cambodian people as a whole. Many of times, people may even look at Cambodians as either “dirty” or “violent”. The history of Cambodia did not work for us to have these types of characteristics to our name. Cambodian history is filled with a vast line of a culture that is so rich, Cambodia was once considered the “Pearl of Southeast Asia”. However, it seems that Cambodian Americans of the younger generation are forgetting that aspect. I really don’t understand how a stigma can be implemented to a certain group of people,however I feel that with such a strong sense of ethnic pride, the stigma can be erased. 

​There is a lot that needs to be done in order for the Cambodian culture to instill itself as one of the most prominent Asian races. However, with the corruption that goes on within the country itself, any type of Western influences can potentially be alarming to government officials in Cambodia. Real fixings come from within the heart of an entity, and that particular entity is the country of Cambodia. In my personal opinion, I still believe that Cambodia is still in a healing process from the Khmer Rouge. So much happened within that particular time frame that, to this day the country of Cambodia is still trying to make amends for the people who were apart of it. However, the country of Cambodia is going through vast metropolis changes within its cities. Everything is becoming more modernized and people capturing the essence of its change. However, in the United States of America, people still look at the Cambodian population as a group of people who are lower than most. 

What does it mean to be Cambodian American? This has been a question that has been daunting within my mental for the past 10 years. What I think a Cambodian American is, is a person who was raised by Cambodian values and traditions and lives on American soil. If that’s the case, then I am a Cambodian American. However, I’ve meet some younger people who are Cambodian that have a hard time defining themselves as one. Sometimes, they just plainly define themselves as being Asian. This type of ignorance that exists within people of their own race has me growing tired. There has been times within the past that made me look at the younger generation of Cambodian Americans and I have not been fond of it. However, I feel like it’s up to the current generation and older ones to instill a greater knowledge of what it actually means to be Cambodian. To keep traditional values and be more educated on the current events that happen within the Motherland. Without that particular knowledge, how can Cambodians be apart of this “melting pot” that is the USA?