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CAMBODIANS IN CRISIS
A Study of the Cambodian Population
In Long Beach, CA
2. BACKGROUND
By way of a brief background, Cambodia is a country located in South-East Asia. It is bordered by Thailand and Vietnam and currently has a population of 12.8 million. Since the 12th Century, Buddhism has been the main- and sometimes official - religion. It has a rich history of arts and culture but has the dubious distinction of being most famous for the immense and brutal suffering inflicted on the country by Pol Pot, leader of the Khmer Rouge party. From approx 1975-79, millions of Cambodians (estimates are typically one to three million but run as high as four million) were savagely and systematically exterminated by the Khmer Rouge regime. Given their agrarian and Maoist philosophies, the educated were particularly targeted. Successive governments have been a complex amalgam of forces, often still including ex- Khmer Rouge leaders and traditional monarchists. The economic ruin visited on the country by the virulently anti-intellectual Khmer Rouge has caused on-going developmental problems, as has the unwillingness to face an ugly past and allow the growth of strong and independent government institutions. For these reasons and many more, there has been a flight of Cambodians from their country. Many were initially escapees and refugees; more recently, the disenchanted or discriminated against have chosen a different life for themselves or their children.
The most recent demographics available from the 2000 Census indicate that the national Cambodian population (including those of mixed race) is 206,052, with 84,559 of those people living in California and, of those, some 43,877 in Los Angeles. However, our study of the available literature and conversations with local leaders would indicate that there may be significant under-reporting leading to the actual number of Cambodians in Long Beach alone to be between 60-80,000 (Cambodian Gospel Resources website). The prime reasons for under-reporting are that many members of the community are semi-literate and many harbor deep suspicion of any government activities, leading them to avoid disclosure of their existence. With more than 127,000 Cambodians in the country, that makes the Khmer language number twenty five in the top fifty languages spoken in the US today.
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