differences due to Diaspora, similarities due to...?

I'm pretty behind in my news stories but when I came across this particular one about Tavaryna in Lowell, MA, I was really compelled to react by writing and reflecting.

So while I grew up in Southeast San Diego and went to school up in the bay… Tavaryna and her story reminds me not only of some my cousins, some of my friends, and some of the amazing youth that I’ve worked with… but it also reminded me why I moved from California and local issues to DC and national issues.

I was always intrigued by not only the differences between our communities (like the differences between Khmer folks and Vietnamese folks) or the differences within our communities (like Lue folks in San Diego and Lue folks in Denver)…

But most importantly, I have always been especially interested in the similarities between our communities (like how my Vietnamese co-blogger and I both grew up in homes where our family used the dishwasher as a dish rack) and the similarities within our communities (like how family parties in San Diego and Denver always have way too much Heinekens).

Since my move, I’ve experienced just a taste of our dispersed communities through on brief meetings and phone calls.

This summer, I’m both excited and extremely nervous to travel to the twin cities and Lowell to see these great differences and similarities that have resulted from our Disapora.

While not exactly the best example a similarity that west coasters may share with east coasters… the story that is told in the news article about Tavaryna highlights some issues that I thought only affected our Southeast Asian community in California but I guess this great American Dream of a system has failed our community in other parts of the country as well.

The generational gap.
Miscommunic(asian) within in the family.
Gang violence.
Poverty.

In no way am I trying to say that this is the fault of us… if anything, I think this just proves that the United States in general has some f-ed up resettlement policies and even more f-ed up anti-poverty, education, and youth development policies and programs.

The more f-ed up thing is that all of us may have personally (or know someone very close to us who may have) experienced something similar to Tavaryna... the media consistently fail to highlight our stories accurately or often enough.