"1975" - 2nd Season Preview Trailer

Welcome back everyone! To kick things off in the 2020 year, I decided to devote this second season revolving around the theme, "1975".  It marks the 45 year anniversary of the end of the Vietnam and Laos Civil War, and the end of the US intervention in both countries.  For Cambodia, it marked the beginning of the Khmer Rouge's ascension into power which led to the brutal terror in which over 2 million Cambodians were killed. 1975 represented a seismic shift in Southeast Asia where the first mass wave of refugees fled from these countries and stayed in refugee camps (I.E. Thailand / Malaysia) before they resettled into the US and other Western countries.  

During the 45 years since the 1st wave of refugees arriving to their new homeland, Southeast Asian refugees experienced many hardships during the resettlement period. Many of them were relocated in poor, urban communities where gang violence, lack of educational / financial resources, poverty were prevalent.  Some were located in rural towns where there were little language and cultural access for them. Racism and xenophobia also played a part in the struggles that many refugees and their children faced as they were adapting to their environment.  

The struggles never ended for the survivors. The trauma(s) from the war and refugee resettlement have never left them.  It is also being felt among the 1.5 / 2nd generation who either were too young to remember, or were not born during the time of the conflict. 

For this 2nd season, I talked with fellow 1.5 / 2nd generation Southeast Asian folks from Chicago to places across the US to hear their experience of their upbringing, their struggles with assimilating to US culture and acceptance, the challenges they faced with their own communities and their families, their hopes and desires to write their own history so that they could pass it down to younger generations. 

Hope you enjoy this new season!

Also special thank you to Lawrence and Argyle for being a sponsor for the 2nd season!  Lawrence and Argyle is a Viet American owned merchandise line promoting immigrant and refugee empowerment.  Don't forget to check out their website www.lawrenceandargyle.com, or their Instagram @LawrenceandArgyle or their Facebook page and get yourself a t-shirt, hoodie, or pin