Introduction-Journey

Your Generous Gift is the Inheritance of Generations to Come.

Contribute

Journey

Brief History of Southeast Asian-American Immigration

After thirty years of the first wave of Southeast Asian refugees in the United States, the vast majority of Laotians (Lao Hmong, Lao Mien, Lao Khmu, Lao Thai Dam and Lao Lum), Cambodian and Vietnamese are living in Europe and the United States are refugees was once part of the French colony known as Indochina. Many of the people from the Southeast Asian countries constitute largest group of refugees who fled to build new lives in the new world. A new journey from the flight across the Mekong River and Mekong Delta, many of the settlement had spent years in refugee camps in Thailand and the Philippines before finally arriving in their receiving nations, including the United States, Canada, France, Australia, Germany, Poland, and Argentina. Today, many people from the Southeast Asian countries are still experience stress from adjusting to the new way of life and challenge in the complexity society. Many of our first generation are struggled to preserve their traditional culture while assimilating the American culture and way of life.

Thongkhoun Pathana, a Lao American citizen from Woonsocket , wrote of the difficulties of Southeast Asian refugees' adjustment to life in the United States in his 1999 thesis, Syracuse University . In t his study, Pathana, describes how many members of the Lao community in the Northeastern United States and throughout the nation fear that their deep sense of community, connected to their Lao identity may be disappearing, and will gradually erode as they integrate into the global "melting pot."

Many Southeast Asians settled here in the New England area, especially in Rhode Island , Connecticut and Massachusetts . When they first arrived in the United States , there were many uncertainties about whether they could keep their proud heritage like the European immigrants of the early 1900's. They feared what would happen to their children growing up here, how could they maintained their sense of identity while assimilating a new culture.

Xue Khang of the Hmong United Association of Rhode Island says the biggest issue facing Hmong youth is how they are losing a grip on where they come from. "You live in the US , everything fades into American culture."

Current estimates of the Southeast Asian arrived in the United States between 1970 and 1998 are 1.3 million and as the 2000 Census shows the total number of Southeast Asian Americans are over 1.8 million, including 1,223,736 Vietnamese; 186,310 Lao Hmong,; 206,052 Cambodians, and 198,203 Laotian.

The majority of Southeast Asian Americans locate in California, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and the State of Washington have the highest Cambodian populations; California, Minnesota, and Wisconsin have the highest Hmong populations; Lao populations are highest in California, Wisconsin, and Texas; and Vietnamese populations are highest in California and Texas. However, Rhode Islanders have historically prided themselves on their openness and tolerance, and it is not difficult to see various cultural influences-Portuguese, French, and Italian; Cape Verdean , and West African; Caribbean and Latin American; and more recently East and Southeast Asian, which have shaped the way of life here in Rhode Island . "Southeast Asians are still a relatively new addition to the state, with almost all the members of the different communities having arrived within the past 20 years. Their presence in sheer numbers is still dwarfed by that of other minority communities (there are about 10 times as many Latinos statewide than South Asians, for example), but Rhode Island 's Southeast Asians have slowly put down roots". ( Providence Phoenix , Beth Schwartzapfel)

A new challenge facing Southeast Asian Americans, the Laotian Community Center primarily serves the needs of expatriate Southeast Asian populations, most of them refugees. Tragically, Southeast Asian refugees have been involuntarily expelled from their native homelands, and many of them experienced untold hardship in their flight from Cambodian, Laos and Vietnam in the 1970s and 1980s. Since resettlement in America , there has been a shift from traditional values, which have been governing the social structure of Cambodian, Lao-Hmong, Laotians, and Vietnamese Americans towards a new set of values which fit the modern world.

According to NEFEC 2005, "The 25th Annual Association for the Education and Advancement of Cambodian, Laotian, and Vietnamese Americans Conference on understanding the needs of Southeast Asians will offer rare opportunities to exchange ideas, develop resources, build networks, and explore possibilities for new directions in preparation to bridge the connection with a diverse group of educators, parents, students, and social workers who share commitments and priorities."

With this change comes the need for Southeast Asian Americans to develop a Laotian Cultural Center & Museum. It will represent a place where the values of the modern Western Asians community will be understood by their non-Asian neighbors, and will help Asian-Americans retain a sense of culture and heritage as the community continues to adapt to American culture.

Mr. Sananikone went on to say, "To be able to participate productively in, and not be marginalized by the increasingly globalized American economy, Laotian-Americans must find new ways to free themselves from the crippling grip of outdated cold-war issues and mindset, which has divided and paralyzed many Laotian communities in the U.S. and around the world for the past two decades."