Week9_Raylph Evangelista_ASA150E

I always knew about the Khmer Rogue and I did learn about it in my history classes, but just like the war in Viet Nam, I never really got the chance to delve into it. We never really learned about the after effects and what happened to all the people who lived through it and are still alive today. That's why when I went through the given chapters of War, Genocide, and Justice: Cambodian Memory Work by Cathy Schlund-Vials, I was very surprised by how the genocide affected the Cambodian community. I honestly had no idea that there was such a large community of Cambodian people in Southern California until we went over it in class a couple weeks ago. It was interesting to get a closer look at the current culture of Cambodian Americans as they continue to create and show their culture. I think it is good that they don't act like nothing happened, but they also do not let what happened to their people in the past define them.

Chapter 4, Lost Chapters and Invisible Wars – Hip-Hop and Cambodian American Critique, was particularly interesting to me because it was cool that there was a Cambodian rapper who would rap about the struggles of the Cambodian people during the Khmer Rogue and include how the Cambodian Americans were still going through some shit in the US. I found it admirable that PraCh Ly found comfort in being able to spread the truth through his lyrics and that he was able to help the Cambodian community come together through his music. I think music and lyrics is a good way to get your message out there and help others understand the struggles that the artist went through/are going through at the moment.

Sources

Image: http://khmerization.blogspot.com/2010/04/for-cambodian-rapper-words-are-weapons.html

Schlund-Vials, Cathy. “Chapter 4: Lost Chapters and Invisible Wars – Hip-Hop and Cambodian American Critique.” War, Genocide, and Justice: Cambodian American Memory Work, 2012.