The Associated Press
Published: March 30, 2008
LONG BEACH, California: The Cambodian genocide that claimed 1.7 million lives a generation ago continues to cast a shadow on survivors and their American-born children, said panelists at a university in California.
About 100 people attended a daylong workshop Saturday at California State University, Long Beach, to discuss the effects of the 1975-79 slaughter under the Khmer Rouge. Nearly a quarter of the population died from disease, overwork, starvation and execution in the notorious "killing fields."
The workshop was one of the first U.S. events to target Cambodian-Americans and solicit their participation in an international war crimes tribunal under way in their homeland.
Panels of experts discussed psychological and other aspects of the genocide.
Lakhena Nget, 24, was on a youth panel. A child of Cambodian refugees, she said she only learned of her parents' past in high school, when she interviewed them as part of a history project.
Nget, a student at the university, said she grew up in an American culture and did not understand her parents. Cambodian culture had called for them not to express their emotions over their experiences, she said.
She learned that her grandparents starved to death, several uncles with government ties were executed, and her father was imprisoned on suspicion of being in the despised educated class.
Her mother walked to a refugee camp, carrying her children.
"It broke my heart," Nget said.
Nget said the genocide can affect generations of Cambodian-Americans who know nothing about it, Nget said.
Parents haunted by their experiences may drink or find other ways of dulling their pain, or their perceived coldness may leave their children disaffected.
"I see how the pain and the struggles are still perpetuated in the community," Nget said.
"There's a lot of young people that do not do well in school. They join gangs. ... I believe that a lot of it comes from broken communication in the home."
One of the workshop organizers was Leakhena Nou, a Cambodian-American and sociology professor at the university.
Before the workshop, she said many survivors are still afraid to get involved in the tribunal by sharing their stories. Organizers urged attendees to apply for formal victim and civil party status and volunteer as translators or witnesses.
Nou said afterward that the workshop left her optimistic.
"The stories that were presented today were powerful and gave a varied perspective on how the younger generation was impacted by the history of the Khmer Rouge," she said. "I think today's forum is the beginning of a much needed dialogue among Cambodians with the international community to promote healing, understanding, reconciliation and the pursuit for justice."
Published: March 30, 2008
LONG BEACH, California: The Cambodian genocide that claimed 1.7 million lives a generation ago continues to cast a shadow on survivors and their American-born children, said panelists at a university in California.
About 100 people attended a daylong workshop Saturday at California State University, Long Beach, to discuss the effects of the 1975-79 slaughter under the Khmer Rouge. Nearly a quarter of the population died from disease, overwork, starvation and execution in the notorious "killing fields."
The workshop was one of the first U.S. events to target Cambodian-Americans and solicit their participation in an international war crimes tribunal under way in their homeland.
Panels of experts discussed psychological and other aspects of the genocide.
Lakhena Nget, 24, was on a youth panel. A child of Cambodian refugees, she said she only learned of her parents' past in high school, when she interviewed them as part of a history project.
Nget, a student at the university, said she grew up in an American culture and did not understand her parents. Cambodian culture had called for them not to express their emotions over their experiences, she said.
She learned that her grandparents starved to death, several uncles with government ties were executed, and her father was imprisoned on suspicion of being in the despised educated class.
Her mother walked to a refugee camp, carrying her children.
"It broke my heart," Nget said.
Nget said the genocide can affect generations of Cambodian-Americans who know nothing about it, Nget said.
Parents haunted by their experiences may drink or find other ways of dulling their pain, or their perceived coldness may leave their children disaffected.
"I see how the pain and the struggles are still perpetuated in the community," Nget said.
"There's a lot of young people that do not do well in school. They join gangs. ... I believe that a lot of it comes from broken communication in the home."
One of the workshop organizers was Leakhena Nou, a Cambodian-American and sociology professor at the university.
Before the workshop, she said many survivors are still afraid to get involved in the tribunal by sharing their stories. Organizers urged attendees to apply for formal victim and civil party status and volunteer as translators or witnesses.
Nou said afterward that the workshop left her optimistic.
"The stories that were presented today were powerful and gave a varied perspective on how the younger generation was impacted by the history of the Khmer Rouge," she said. "I think today's forum is the beginning of a much needed dialogue among Cambodians with the international community to promote healing, understanding, reconciliation and the pursuit for justice."
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