" I see Hurricane Katrina, the Iraq War and the Detroit Public School drop out rates as atrocities on the same level. They are all signs that we have to change. I've always felt a philosophical and spiritual connection to Hegel, Martin Luther King Jr. and Gandhi. They all believed that change was not only necessary, but possible."
-- Grace Lee Boggs
Civil Rights Activist From Detroit
I grew up in Detroit, Michigan. My family and I first resettled there as refugees. We came to the United States because my father was recruited by the CIA during the Vietnam War to fight on behalf of the U.S.
As a Hmong American and former refugee, I often thought that impacting systems and structures, such as Congress and Court systems around me was impossible. I'm just one single person, how can I really change anything. I am alone and would be the only one. Since then, I've come to believe differently.
People like Many Uch from the film Sentenced Home, remind me of the will and human spirit to empower change in my own life. Many Uch has become my friend and out of his experience of injustice has become an activists. I work for a national organization called the Southeast Asia Resource Action Center. I first met Many when he attended our leadership training in Washington, DC last year. We hosted a screening of Sentenced Home for about 60 people from the Southeast Asian community. When the lights came on after the film was over, tears filled the room. But beyond that, there wasn't a single person who didn't feel moved to act. And many have done so since. That's what this film has done for people all over the country.
For refugee communities like Cambodians, the film highlights how strong social forces are. When the entire race of your people barely survived genocide, when your parents don't speak English, and when you live in ghetto poor neighborhoods where very few if any ever go to college, the odds are against you to succeed. On top of that the system that brought you to this country looks at you and decides that you have not lived up to an opportunity. Out of all of that though, Many is still fighting.
Starting last year and even now, Many, advocates, and the filmmakers, have traveled throughout the country to talk about how this film has impacted their lives. Many, himself has spoken on how America needs a fair and just criminal and immigration system. And that if we hold true to American values, we must speak out and make change happen.
This weekend Many is coming to Washington, DC to join 500 hundred other Asian Pacific Americans to advocate. So while he is one single person, I hope and think he knows that he is definitely not alone.
