Killing Fields director and founding UCC member to attend anniversary event

It was 40 years ago that a group of Cambodians living in Long Beach joined together to establish an organization— the United Cambodian Community (UCC)— to assist in the resettlement of traumatized refugees from Cambodia.
Those refugees had relocated to Long Beach during the Cambodian genocide that occurred from 1975 to 1979 under the Khmer Rouge regime, which killed between 1,700,000 and 3,000,000 people in the country.
Today, Long Beach has the largest Cambodian population outside the Southeast Asian country, and those refugees, their families and their supporters will be honored on Friday, Oct. 6 at 6pm when UCC hosts a 40th-anniversary gala at the Long Beach Arena titled “United Future. Cambodian History. Community Vision.”
In a phone interview this week, Antonio Gaskin, a board member and secretary for UCC who is also serving as a co-chair for this year’s gala, said that, compared to previous years’ events, the next one will be characterized by a change of location and some special individuals who will attend.
“This year will probably be the biggest in the sense of we’re going to downtown Long Beach versus staying in Cambodia Town,” Gaskin said, “and, instead of just three people, we’re honoring 14 to 15 different people, from local activist and community leaders to international— I guess you could say— stars.”

The latter individuals to whom Gaskin is referring are British film director Roland Joffe and British producer Lord David Puttnam, who both made the 1984 Oscar-winning film The Killing Fields, which focused on the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia through the experiences of two journalists: Cambodian Dith Pran and American Sydney Schanberg. Joffe will be in attendance at UCC’s gala, and Puttnam will appear via a video that will be played during the event.
However, the event’s primary honorees will be first-generation Cambodian residents of Long Beach who were former refugees, including Than Pok, one of the founding members of UCC, who will be flying in from his native country.
The gala will also honor supporters of the local Cambodian community. A press release for the event states, “This event will recognize the contributions of Long Beach educators, lawyers, organizations, philanthropists, community builders and Cambodian pioneers who have been steadfast in preserving the traditions, art, music and culture of Cambodia in Long Beach.”
The press release also indicates that the event will celebrate the leadership of Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia, L.A. County Supervisor Janice Hahn and Congressmember Alan Lowenthal.
A year ago, Garcia issued a proclamation at the 4th annual Cambodia Town Film Festival, honoring it as an event that “highlights the diversity of the Cambodian experience through the art of filmmaking.”
Hahn has also been a vocal supporter of the community. On April 11, she proclaimed the then upcoming date of April 17 as Cambodian Genocide Remembrance Day.
“Today is a historic day for the County of Los Angeles, as this is the first time the Board of Supervisors will commemorate April 17 as Cambodian Genocide Remembrance Day,” Hahn said during her remarks that day. “Under the Khmer Rouge regime, genocide and other crimes against humanity were committed against the people of Cambodia, including religious groups and ethnic minorities. The Khmer Rouge regime led to the death of an estimated 2 million people, which equated to 21 percent of the nation’s population. Countless victims have since shared their stories of imprisonment, starvation, slavery, rape and systematic forced marriage. The Khmer Rouge regime also sought to eliminate all aspects of Cambodian culture by killing those with education, separated families and destroyed institutions such as Buddhist temples, schools, libraries, dance and music. And while this community continues to cope with the atrocities they witnessed and experienced, the thriving Cambodian community in Long Beach is a testament to the perseverance and unbreakable spirit of the Cambodian people to re-establish their community and enhance the cultural diversity of our state and nation.”

Lowenthal has been particularly supportive of the Cambodian community. Last week, he joined with eight of his House colleagues in calling on Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to “swiftly and publically condemn” the recent arrest of Cambodian opposition party leader Kem Sokha for treason by the Cambodian government of Prime Minister Hun Sen. Lowenthal said Kem Sokha’s arrest is the latest event in an ongoing escalation of political repression by the authoritarian Hun Sen government, which has ruled Cambodia for more than 30 years, as the nation heads toward national elections next year.
A year ago, the House of Representatives passed a bipartisan resolution that Lowenthal authored to denounce the political repression of the current Cambodian government while calling for free and fair elections in Cambodia.
Two years ago, the congressmember introduced a House Resolution marking the 36th anniversary of the end of the Cambodian genocide and recognizing the contributions of the Cambodian-American community in the United States “in an effort to honor the millions of victims of one of the worst atrocities in modern history and to offer support to efforts pursuing justice for the victims and their families.”
Other honorees at the UCC’s gala will include Edison International, Gene Lentzner, Sara Pol-Lim, Leadership Long Beach, Bonnie Lowenthal, Po Satia, Darith Ung, Randall Pich, Dr. Simon Kim, Lillian Lew and Prany Sananikone.
The event will also feature a Cambodian-American fusion dinner created by Chef T— Cambodia Town’s executive chef— and Cambodian artist performances by Khmer Arts Academy and DJ Hunny.
According to UCC, the gala will raise funds to provide: 10,400 hours of youth workforce training; services to 5,500 unduplicated clients; and
benefits at a value of $1,075,578 to low-income clients.
Tickets range in sponsorship cost beginning at $150 and can be purchased at eventbrite.com/e/uccs-40th-anniversary-gala-tickets-36376832084.
For more information, visit ucclb.org.