Inquirer article about Philly's Cambodian community

[Dave]

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/n...a/10395185.htm

Although Cambodia's barbaric Khmer Rouge leader is dead, the horrors of Pol Pot's 1970s regime, which wiped out nearly a quarter of the population, continue to plague the survivors. Many of them now live in Philadelphia, which has the fourth-largest settlement of these refugees in the country.

The effects of that bloody era have deepened the normal troubles immigrants experience in assimilating. For many, their lives have improved little if at all.

[sycamore]

A sad, yet interesting article...I didn't realize that so many Cambodians live here.

[SwiftLyons]

syc, many Cambodians in so.philly 7th,6th,5th st. and 15, 16, 17th st also.

[sycamore]

I've only been here 4 years, and I'm not down in South Philadelphia all that often.

[seand]

There are a fair amount in West Philly and SouthWest as well.

I am sure everyone read about the recent troubles in SouthWest between the Cambodian community and their African American neighbors. Basically, a not incredibly bright Cambodian young man in his 20's decided the appropriate vigilante response to his belief that two young AfAm teen twin brothers had messed with his car and taken his car stereo was to try gun them down in broad daylight, killing one and seriously injuring the other. Equally unfortunately, many members the local AfAm community felt the appropriate place to lay the blame was on the Cambodian young man's girlfriend's entire extended family and what the heck all Cambodians living in SouthWest Philadelphia causing many local Cambodian families to pull their kids from public school for several weeks. The school district and various community leaders had to intervene and eventually convinced local Cambodian community leaders to return their kids to school, once the shooter had finally truned himself in to police and tensions had somewhat cooled.

Ah, race relations in Philadelphia - they don't call us the "The City of Brotherly Shoves" for nothing, I guess.

[seand]

I have to say what an absolute @ss Korean businessman Mahn Suh Park, the mayor's liason to all Asian communities comes across as in the article - another winning Street appointee. I'm sure Mr. Park would greatly appreciate if I went around saying all the lovely actions of the Great Leaders Kim Jong-Il I and II and on the other end of the ideological spectrum Revered Sun Young Moon and his followers were personally his "fault".

Several Cambodian leaders complain that Park neither understands them nor represents their interests. Park disputes that.


"Killing Fields or whatever. Does that mean that they have to have the special treatment?... Whether the Killing Fields or not, that's their fault."


He added: "If they say I'm not their leader, if they say I'm not representing their community, it's fine. If they do that, I have less work."

[sycamore]

If the Cambodian community were more "significant," the guy would be apologizing profusely...what a jerk.