Written By: Peter Bin
From it's ancient wars with Indonesia and Champa, to the betrayal of their Thai allies, struggles with Vietnam, and the genocide committed by the Khmer Rouge; Cambodians have dealt with bloodshed for centuries.
I can recall a conversation with my father regarding the ancient temple, Preah Vihear, located on the border of Thailand and Cambodia. Gunfire had been exchanged between the two countries, in which caused rumors of the possibility of war. Hearing this, I asked my father, "What do you think if Cambodia went to war with Thailand?". He replied, "We have nothing to worry about, Cambodia has years of experience in combat in which Thailand lacks". I look back at my father's reply and think of our history. I come to ask myself this question: "When will violence end for Cambodians and when will we ever see true peace?".
Over forty years ago, 2.5 million Cambodians were killed by Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge regime. The genocide caused a flood of Cambodians to seek refuge in the United States. Refugees populated States such as California and Massachusetts; causing Lowell, Massachusetts to have the second largest Cambodian population in the country, with Lynn, Massachusetts following in third. Similar to most immigrants who come to the United States, Cambodians shared the American dream. Unfortunately, for many the escape from conflict was not over. Children of the refugees had fall victim to another type of war; a war carried in the streets by neighborhood gangs.
While scores of Cambodian parents were dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder or working to make their American dreams come true, their children were left in neighborhoods that were surrounded by drugs and violence. Young men and women were lured by the attraction of gangs. It brought a sense of family, friends, income, and protection from racism. Gangs created a warrior-like lifestyle, in which many Cambodians believed ran in their veins.
As a youth attending grade school, I seen my fair share of the gang culture. These young men and women were convinced they were at war with other Cambodians. Their conversations would consist of planning attacks, scouting for new enemy locations, and creating details on particular rivals. Listening to their conversations you would have believed they were part of a military group. But they were just kids, who wish was to have their rivals completely eliminated. These kids had no idea that they were speaking of genocide. There was no political reasoning for their belief. They had no real answers of why they wanted these other kids dead.
Many of them dedicated their lives to the gangs, which caused a large number of grade school dropouts. According to an American Reframe documentary, Cambodians have the highest highschool dropout rate among Asian minority groups. It is a rate that is hard to believe, stereotypically Asians are considered to prosper well in education.
From the year 2000-2010, gang violence within the Cambodian community of Lynn, Massachusetts was at an all time high. Not one person came in to try to mediate the tensions between the rival gangs. The only answer to the solution was to let the police deal with it. In 2010, the Federal government stepped in with "Operation Melting Pot 1 and 2". Federal agents raided neighborhoods and sent a number of men to prison.
A mother of one of the arrested spoke of how much fear she had felt during the raids. She stated agents wearing mask and wielding guns had kicked in her door during the dark hours of the morning. Family members young and old were ordered to lie on the floor. The ordeal gave her flashbacks of the Khmer Rouge days, triggering her PTSD. It reminded her of how the Khmer Rouge would round up their victims in the middle of the night, ordering them to lie in a ditch as they await to be slaughtered.
It is believed that the Cambodian gang culture is a ripple effect of Pol Pot's killing fields. Similar to what has happen to the youth in America, the Khmer Rouge lured and recruited young men and women from poor rural areas. These kids had no educational background. They were misled to believe a prosperous life and new utopia was in store for the future. To obtain this goal, Pol Pot ordered his followers to eliminate all who were educated, religious, mix ethnicity or thought to be a spy. Pol Pot gave his adolescent followers the power to control another human beings life; a power they had never experienced. This made it easy for the Khmer Rouge to manipulate the young in killing their own people.
In America, young Cambodians are continuing to kill each other, but for what cost?
When a person is murdered, two lives are lost and two mothers mourn. To hear a mother's pain from losing a child, is a sound like no other. You can feel her wounds opening, it penetrates like a sword to the heart. I remember Savorn Prom, who was killed at the age of 17. His mother hugged his casket, begging to be with her son as he entered the crematory furnace. I recall looking at the front page of the Lynn Daily Item Newspaper, where there was a photo of Kevin Keo's mother crying as he was sentenced to life without parole. I once was sitting in a prison cell, as I watched on the TV screen, a Cambodian family mourning the lost of Vannark Chourb, who was murdered only after a year of being freed from prison. I have seen young Cambodian men enter the prison system with pain and sorrow in their eyes, because they believe this is where their life ends.
Our families came to America to escape war and bondage, not to return to it. It is rare in our community to see someone who wants to educate the youth and instill peace. When these kids join a gang, other Cambodians shun and ignore them. The ones who do make it out the gangs, rarely or never come back to educate these kids on why they left.
Along with the lack of help for the youth, our elders receive no assistance with mental health for post traumatic stress disorder that was caused by the killing fields of Pol Pot.
The reason for this absence of education and assistance may stem from the fact that Cambodians live by the belief of forgetting about their painful past and to never speak on it again. But as people who survived war, genocide, gangs, and prison or ones who have experienced success, have a responsibility. We have the responsibility to educate our youth and support our elders. We must share our experience and no longer let our community be ignored. Without education, growth and support from each other, we are stuck in a revolving cycle of bloodshed, imprisonment, and poverty.
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Peter Bin is an advocate for the incarcerated. He is also a prison blogger @ www.PeterBinJusticeForAll.com
Contact him @
Instagram@PeterRock781
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PeterBin781@Gmail.com
Corrslink.com: Peter Bin W105814
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