Cambodian Voices in the Bay

Cambodian Voices in the Bay is an ARTogether project in San Francisco that tells the history and culture of Cambodian Americans in the Bay Area. Its parts include a documentary film, Nowhere But Here, an account of migration and deportation called "A Legacy of War," a historical timeline and a guide to Khmer cultural heritage. California Humanities supported the project.

Organization details
Type	Arts and culture
Focus areas	oral-history, heritage-programming
City	San Francisco
State / province	California
Country	United States
Website	Website
Operating status	active

Nowhere But Here

Nowhere But Here is a documentary produced by ARTogether and the Center for Empowering Refugees and Immigrants. Brandon Soun directed and edited it, and the immigrant filmmakers Ido Bartana and Nadim Badiee filmed it. It shows the resilience of Cambodian Americans through the hardships of the past 40 years, and the problems in the refugee resettlement system that still affect the community.

The film centers on the family of Kanley Souet-Pich. It follows her organizing after her husband, Roeun, was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). During the COVID-19 pandemic she delivered food and personal protective equipment to elders and taught them to use Zoom for their weekly support groups. The film also follows Moragaut and her part in the Black Lives Matter and anti-ICE movements.

A Legacy of War

"A Legacy of War" (2022) traces the path from the Vietnam War to the Bay Area. Cambodians became refugees in Thai camps or fled across the border to Vietnam, and tens of thousands resettled in the United States, France, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. Most of those who came to the United States settled in California, and many came to the Bay Area to live in places such as Oakland and San Jose. The next generation grew up in the Tenderloin District of San Francisco, East and West Oakland and East Side San Jose. The project ties the 1980s war on drugs to the crime and gang activity that spread in these neighborhoods. It says many of the 1.5 generation were drawn in, and that with little help or programming many young Cambodians were arrested for small crimes.

In 2002 the United States and Cambodia signed a repatriation agreement, which began a wave of deportations. Cambodia ended the agreement in April 2017, and the United States responded with visa sanctions. Cambodia agreed to accept returnees again in February 2018. Deportations to Cambodia rose 279 percent from 2017 to 2018, with 110 people removed. ICE estimated at the time that 1,855 Cambodians in the United States were subject to detention or deportation, 1,362 of them with criminal records. Many of those deported were born in refugee camps in Thailand, have never lived in Cambodia and do not speak Khmer.

The account also follows the legal response. In fall 2017 the San Francisco and Los Angeles chapters of Asian Americans Advancing Justice sued the federal government over the detention of more than 100 Cambodians. In 2018 Nak Kim Chhoeun and Mony Neth filed a habeas petition, a court challenge to detention, for themselves and about 1,900 Cambodians in the same situation, arguing that their right to due process had been violated. In January 2019 Judge Cormac J. Carney issued a temporary injunction that barred ICE raids and required 14 days' notice before a Cambodian immigrant could be detained or deported. Chhoeun was ordered released on the terms he had followed before 2017.

Historical timeline

The timeline gives a short history of Khmer communities in the United States and of relations between the United States and Cambodia from 1975 to the present.

Khmer cultural heritage

The heritage guide opens with Robam Kbach Boran, Khmer traditional dance, performed by Prumsodun Ok & NATYARASA. Most Cambodians practice Theravada Buddhism, alongside ancestor worship that is older than Buddhism and traces of Hindu belief from the Angkor period. Cambodian Buddhist temples, called Wat Khmer, serve as cultural centers for Khmer people from Cambodia and for Cambodian Americans. Each has several Khmer-speaking monks who live at the temple. They give dharma talks, usually in Khmer, teach meditation and perform boun, blessing ceremonies. They also host Khmer holidays such as Chaul Chnam (Cambodian New Year) and Pchum Ben. The guide lists Nagara Dhamma Temple in San Francisco, Oakland Cambodian Temple, Wat Khemararam, Wat Khemara Rangsey and Wat Khmer Kampuchea Krom in San Jose, and Wat Meangkolvorn in Santa Rosa.

Most Cambodians cook their traditional foods and share them together at the temples. The flavors range from sweet to sour, close to those of Thai, Lao and Vietnamese neighbors. The Bay Area had many more Cambodian restaurants in the 1980s and 1990s than in 2021. The restaurants the guide lists as still open are Phnom Penh House in Alameda, Nyum Bai and Battambang in Oakland, Chez Sovan, Angkor Chef in San Jose and Thaibodia Bistro in Santa Clara.

In the past, Khmer people used robam, dance, to communicate with their deities and to tell stories of heroes and heroines, legends and epic poems drawn from Hindu folklore. In the 1960s Queen Sisowath Kossamak had an important role in re-standardizing the Royal Ballet of Cambodia, and she named her granddaughter, Princess Bopha Devi, prima ballerina. Refugees who survived the killing fields and the camps brought with them the hope that Khmer culture would survive too. Amateur dance troupes formed in large American cities, and temples gave them space for practice and lessons. Bay Area troupes teach young people dances such as Robam Apsara, the Reamker and the legend of Preah Thong Neang Neak. The guide names the Cambodian Cultural Dance Troupe of San Jose, the Charya Burt Cambodian Dance Troupe of the North Bay and the Chhayam Dance Group of Oakland as groups teaching Robam Khmer, Khmer dance.

See also

• Nagara Dhamma Temple
• Prumsodun Ok & NATYARASA
• Cambodian Cultural Dance Troupe of San Jose
• All organizations

References