Want to Dance My Way around the Globe for World Peace and Equality for Our Khmer-Krom

By Dani Thach

I felt very fortunate to have had the opportunity to attend both the 3rd World Youth Conference in Philadelphia (May 23, 2009) and the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) in New York City (May 26-29, 2009). This trip had a deep personal impact on my outlook in life. The two events dramatically changed my perspective of my Khmer-Krom culture. It was an eye opening experience for me, as an individual and as a young Khmer-Krom woman. As I sat and listened to various speakers, it made me reflect on many significant events in my childhood back home, in Kampuchea-Krom. I was thinking to myself, how can I let these memories go?

Maybe in some points in my life, I have forgotten all about them. I was so busy living in the “American Dream,” that I have forgotten who I am and where I came from. Being overwhelmed by many different cultures, languages, and traveling around the world that I have forgotten my own identity. Here I am, thinking "where is my next vacation destination?" or "what is the latest trend?” when my Khmer people back home, are fighting for basic freedoms. Please don't take me the wrong way. I love culture, travel, fashion and I always will, but there is more to life than fancy vacation destinations, Prada glasses, and Gucci bags. As a society, we must project our voice and create awareness around the world about the suffering of the Khmer-Krom that also consist of the lack of freedom of speech, religion, wants and from fear.

It is interesting that in the past, while I was sipping Turkish coffee, overlooking the amazing Bosphorus Bridge enjoying the good life, our Khmer Krom people were not just starving from lack of food, but the lack of many different aspects of life. Due to this lack of knowledge, I didn't realize that there is such oppression toward Khmer-Krom people by the Vietnamese government. It made me sick to my stomach and gave me a great sense of sadness for our Khmer-Krom people when I heard the numerous cases of Human Rights violation that are still happening in my birth place. Seeing our Khmer Youths working really hard to create local and international awareness about the suffering that our people endured was very inspiring and has given me the motivation to do the same.

After listening to the speech given by Ms. Somalin Thach at the UNPFII, it almost brought tears to my eyes. I realized that our Khmer people are very brave individuals that still fight so hard to “safeguard our identity,” despite the oppression of the Vietnamese government. All we ever want is to be able to continue our tradition and practice our culture that our ancestors have been preserving for centuries in our native land. In this day and age of the World Wide Web, there are so many ways to get information regarding about Khmer-Krom. The resources are not the problem, but it is the lack of desire or interest that is the big issue. This experience really taught me to appreciate the simple things in life. Here we are in “the land of the free,” the United States of America, where we have all the freedom in the world to practice our belief and culture, but yet there are plenty of young Khmer people that are not utilizing their basic constitutional rights to the fullest potential. I encourage all of our Khmer youths to stand up and speak out on behalf of all our voiceless men, women, and children back in Kampuchea-Krom. Believe me, I am not putting up my dancing shoes anytime soon, but I want to dance my way around the globe for World Peace and Equality for our Khmer-Krom.