From the north and south and east

"... Whoa, mercy mercy me, things ain't what they used to be"

I remember first learning about Many Chout Uch when we watched the documentary Sentenced Home for SASC SI. And then we watched it again, for the SASC retreat. And then we watched it for Asian American Studies 125. And then Boalt Hall had an event and we watched it there too. But this time, Many was there and we got to hear him speak. And even though the producer and his pd spoke the most during the panel, it was amazing to finally meet this man whose story had had such a big impact on my personal development as a Southeast Asian American male.

Many is up for a clemency hearing next Thursday, June 11th. I hope the best for Many and his family. For more details about what you can actively do to help, please check out his posting at the API Community Leadership Foundation. I'm planning on writing something to send to the clemency pardon board, hopefully you can too.

On a related note, I recently finished reading Other: an Asian & Pacific Islander Prisoners' Anthology (be like Monica and try to get it from an independent bookseller). It's API, but is predominantly SEA and male (there's one female and one transgender submission). As I was reading it, the personal narratives got me all sorts of angry and sad and feeling hopeless, but after some having some time to think about it, I see the power that the experiences of each person have. Because we read the vignettes and come to know what they've shared with us, they are less alone, we are more together; there is a cathartic release in that. It's bridging gaps in our communities.

And our folks in the prison system need support; they sure as hell aren't getting that from the system, they fucking aren't even counted (hence the title, Other). So we can't even know how messed up the whole situation is. And yes, it's some messed up Orwellian shit (Department of Corrections?? GTFO!). For more information, you can check out the blog of the guy who compiled it, Eddy Zheng (he's also facing deportation).

That's all for now, can you lead us out Marvin?

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.