Why did cambodians come to america

The process of cultural reproduction and preservation has been made easier since the early s with increased communication and exchange between overseas Cambodian communities and Cambodia. Access to resources and expertise is now quite readily available through sustained, bi-directional exchanges.

Artists and performers from Cambodia have become regular features of popular Cambodian restaurants in the US and are even becoming a main attraction in some non-Cambodianvenues, such as local casinos. With increased visibility, hence interest, community initiatives for the preservation of the arts have also received greater support from funding institutions. While attention continues largely to be directed towards development in Cambodia, this momentum has also cast a new focus on Cambodian-American initiatives to preserve the arts in diaspora.

With enhanced possibilities, various community programs have now acquired a transnational dimension. Where previously confined to resources available to the Cambodian American community, many now include some form of exchange with Cambodia.

Various communities have been successful in recruiting dance and music teachers from Cambodia,and have, in turn, organized return visits for newly trained Cambodian American artists for short-term training in Phnom-Penh. On any given weekend, in places such as Long Beach and Lowell, it is not uncommon to see students seated in make-shift classrooms in the local temples or community centers, assiduously taking Khmer language lessons or practicing traditional dance and music.

Elsewhere, in neighborhood markets, young Cambodian-Americans, peruse the stock of cross-border productions of videos and CDs, drawn to them by a certainin tangible but undeniable force. But there is something about the music, the sound. Outside I am American, but the music, it speaks to my Khmersoul. No one understands in America The stories my grandmother told me when I was very, very young. Nobody cares about the spirits of soil and water Or even the Khmer, Laos, sacred dances.

The king of Angkor, Preah Kit Mealea, sees me dance Between the pain of my world and the pleasure of the spiritual world. I am white, very white. I am invisible. Now I am serene. See me dance and hear the spirits as they call.

Feel the tranquility inside the community life we called neighborhood, they call ghetto. Through this program, voluntary agencies helped find sponsors to help support the new immigrants and help them adjust to American society for a limited time. The Cambodian immigrants who arrived a few years later were put through the same program. Between and , approximately 75, Cambodians arrived in the United States. After arriving in the United States, the difficulties confronting the Cambodian immigrants did not end.

They faced strong opposition from many Americans. Much of the opposition was due to the economic problems in the United States at the time. Another aspect of the opposition seemed to be racial. The large numbers of refugees coming from Southeast Asia led to additional legislation by the federal government.

Congress passed the Refugee Act of to limit the number of refugees who could enter the United States on an annual basis. Although elected officials argued that it was necessary to act in order to put the United States in line with international standards for the treatment of refugees, the numerical cap suggested it had more to do with opposition to immigration primarily linked to the economic problems confronting the United States.

Like many other immigrants from Southeast Asia, Cambodian immigrants have tended to work mostly in low-wage jobs, most notably in the seafood processing industry. Many have looked for work similar to what they did in Cambodia, but some who had professional training have been unable to find corresponding employment in the United States. A relatively large number have opened grocery stores.

Cambodian Americans have generally had a difficult time economically in the United States. Read: The eccentricity of evil: a Khmer Rouge leader goes on trial. The U. Many deportees also told me that their parents remained fearful of government and, citing their Khmer Rouge experience, avoided official interactions, even in the U. As of September, 1, Cambodians , 1, of whom have been convicted of a crime, are subject to orders of removal from the United States though not all are refugees.

Deportations have largely continued unabated under Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump, though they have accelerated since An ICE spokesman, Brendan Raedy, did not respond to requests for comment, ostensibly due to the government shutdown.

Spokespeople from the U. Embassy in Phnom Penh also told me they could not comment because of the shutdown. For his part, Sek has yet to adopt Cambodian camouflage and instead plans on weaving more tattooed threads into his somatic tapestry: a phoenix symbolizing rebirth and a correction of the misspelled Khemer emblazoned across his back.

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