Long Beach's Cambodians Still Haunted by Killing Fields
New America Media, 
, Mike Siv, Posted: Nov 15, 2009
Thirty years after the Pol Pot regime in Cambodia, during which 1.7 million Cambodians were killed, trials of Khmer Rouge officials for their part in the mass murders began last spring. While the trials have captured western attention, in Long Beach, Calif., with the largest settlement of Cambodians in the United States, the trials are secondary to the ongoing trauma of surviving the killing fields.
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User Comments
Javier on Nov 19, 2009 at 11:14:47 said:
I think it is much easier to tell someone "Get over it" than to actually do it. Just from some of the stories I've heard from some survivors and that the movie brought to light, those acts were nightmarish. These kind of events destroy complete generations of people, and it takes a long time to overcome them. I hope the best for the survivors.
m siv on Nov 16, 2009 at 14:52:46 said:
Suely, one of the person in the video, has a good question: "how can we, the Cambodian community, move on without dwelling over this extremely delicate issue?" She didn't state exactly that way, but it's a very complicated issue where justice and peace are needed, but Cambodia still need to find a way to move forward. I used to think that we need to move forward as a community because it's important, but the more I work on these videos regarding Cambodia I realize a lot of us are still saturated over the Killing Fields, whether is be directly or indirectly. I do believe that the we, the Cambodian community, need to come together to try and figure out a way where there's resolution or some closure. Establishing a museum in Phnom Penh or in Chicago help, but does it really? Please excuse my ignorance because it's a bit easier for me to deal with since I was very young during the Killing Fields, but I think the more stories we put out there that are told with the right intention the better it will be. The more stories the told, the more the community can begin to accept, understand and possibly move forward without forgetting. But like I said this is my theory and idea that have allowed to not dwell and understand the horror and situation, not just within the community, but my family and myself. I'm the one that made these videos, but please to forgive anything I say that don't make sense or make me sound off. I thank you all for you comments, or replying to this thread.
Robert Reilly on Nov 16, 2009 at 07:00:05 said:
In the Prophet by Kahlil Gibran he says "...so the wrong-doer cannot do wrong without the hidden will of you all." Until all of us who live on this small planet rise up as one against evil, evil will continue to rise up against us. How much pain will we endure before this happens?
Javier on Nov 16, 2009 at 00:28:28 said:
I remember watching The Killing Fields during my first year in college, and it made me physically ill. There was no doubt in my mind that it was the UN's responsibility to take part in stopping that annihilation. I could never reconcile those acts. They were just as horrible as anything that had existed on this earth to that point.
H Lee on Nov 15, 2009 at 13:16:49 said:
Every time I try to tell others about how excruciating it was under the terrors of the Khmer Rouge, it seems they (who have never experienced a tragedy at that magnitude) could only feel as far as like watching a horror movie - with me describing the horrible scenes.
Having lost more than 70% of my family and having been inflicted by the Khmer Rouge myself, I have been longing for at least a trial that would publically reveal the names of high ranking officials and the countries responsible for the loss of over 600,000 lives between 1970 and 1975, the 2 million others tortured to deaths by the Khmer Rouge, and millions survivors who are eternally haunted by the crimes they faced under the Khmer Rouge.
It is not too much to ask, isn't it?
We the survivors are not seeking any compensations or any revenges, but we just would like to have some closures for us and for the millions who had no chance to ask the question "WHY ME" before they were savagely executed.
H Lee on Nov 15, 2009 at 10:44:21 said:
Every time I try to tell others about how excruciating it was under the terrors of the Khmer Rouge, it seems they (who have never experienced a tragedy at that magnitude) could only feel as far as like watching a horror movie - with me describing the horrible scenes.
Having lost more than 70% of my family and having been inflicted by the Khmer Rouge myself, I have been longing for at least a trial that would publically reveal the names of high ranking officials and the countries responsible for the loss of over 600,000 lives between 1970 and 1975, the 2 million others tortured to deaths by the Khmer Rouge, and millions survivors who are eternally haunted by the crimes they faced under the Khmer Rouge.
It is not too much to ask, isn't it?
We the survivors are not seeking any compensations or any revenges, but we just would like to have some closures for us and for the millions who had no chance to ask the question "WHY ME" before they were savagely executed.
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