Toward the end of the June 8 Signal Hill City Council meeting, the council voted 3-2 against allowing Mayor Edward Wilson to show a 10-minute video he’d made on May 20 in front of City Hall to mark the Cambodian government’s official National Day of Remembrance for the Cambodian Genocide, designated in 2018.
The video was recorded at 8 a.m. on May 20 and posted on Wilson’s Facebook page. It depicts Wilson speaking about the Cambodian genocide in front of Signal Hill City Hall to a group of nine whom he greeted in Khmer, the native language of Cambodia.
Wilson states in the video that the City would have raised the Cambodian flag outside city hall that day to mark the remembrance day except the council had decided not to, suggesting they’d been misled.
“Unfortunately, purposeful misinformation caused three of my council members discomfort in allowing this to happen on this day,” he states.
The council had voted against raising the flag on May 20—which Wilson had previously requested—during a special meeting on May 17 following an outcry by dozens of Cambodian Americans, both local and national.
Those objecting to raising the flag on May 20 said that, to them, Cambodian Genocide Remembrance Day is April 17, the day in 1975 when the Khmer Rouge regime took power in Cambodia and killed nearly 2 million Cambodians over four years through execution or starvation.
After hearing passionate pleas by email, phone and video teleconference, the council had voted 3-1 against raising the flag on May 20.
“May 20 is an arbitrary date selected by a foreign power, not by the victims of the genocide that live here,” Vice Mayor Keir Jones said during the May 17 meeting. “I stand in support of our local Cambodian community, in solidarity, honoring Cambodian Genocide Remembrance Day on April 17.”
The City had already flown the Cambodian flag during the month of April to honor April 17 as Cambodian Genocide Remembrance Day. Only Wilson had voted in favor of flying it again on May 20.
See related story: New flag date doesn’t fly: Cambodians rise in opposition to May 20 genocide remembrance
“Shutting down another council member:” the June 8 vote
The June 8 council agenda featured an item under New Business indicating Wilson would lead a discussion on May 20 activities.
New Business generally consists of council members reporting for three to five minutes on council business conducted since the last meeting, according to the interim city attorney.
However, before Wilson could commence, Councilmember Tina Hansen asked if he was planning to show the full 10-minute video he’d posted, to which he answered yes but he’d try to keep it short. Hansen then asked the interim city attorney whether showing a 10-minute video was appropriate as New Business.
“Is there any issue about the fact that it’s something specifically voted on by the council at a special meeting, and the council chose not to recognize the day?” Hansen asked.
Jones and Councilmember Lori Woods said they had seen the video and believe showing it during the meeting would give residents the impression that the council supports the May 20 remembrance date, contrary to its May 17 decision.
Wilson clarified the council had only voted not to raise the flag on May 20.
Nevertheless, Hansen made a motion to table Wilson’s agenda item, which Woods seconded.
In a later phone call to the Signal Tribune, Wilson said the event marked the first time the council had ever rejected hearing a member’s new business.
Before the vote, Councilmember Robert Copeland expressed concern that the council would be precluding Wilson’s right to speak freely.
“I understand what my fellow council members are concerned with,” Copeland said. “It does make it look like the City is now celebrating May 20, which is something we voted against. But I’m a little bit concerned about us shutting down another council member in presenting new business.”
Hansen stated that since the video mentions other council members and refers to their “confusion” about not raising the flag, it is less like Wilson’s “private opinion” and more like his official council position.
Woods agreed that showing the video would be seen as a contradictory official presentation, even if Wilson said it was not his intent.
“It can still be confusing to the community,” she said.
Hansen, Jones and Woods voted in favor of tabling the agenda item to prevent Wilson from showing the video. Wilson and Copeland voted against.
“No matter the inaccuracy that may or may not be in the video, I still feel I need to vote no,” Copeland said.
Following the vote, Wilson expressed displeasure at the majority decision.
“I’m extremely disappointed that our council members are afraid to see a video on this atrocity,” he said. “It is clear that you are afraid to do that.”
Wilson said the video has been positively received by the Cambodian community locally and globally. He read a June 2 letter from the Cambodian ambassador to the U.S. thanking Wilson for remembering the genocide in the May 20 video, even if Wilson couldn’t proceed with what he thought was the “right thing to do” in also flying the flag.
While Wilson acknowledges in the video that April 17 is the remembrance date observed by Cambodian Americans, he learned May 20 is the official government date in Cambodia.
Wilson also observed that the Auschwitz Institute for the Prevention of Genocide and Mass Atrocities recognizes May 20 as the remembrance day.
“I stand with the people in Cambodia who say, today, ‘Never again,’” Wilson states in the video.
He expressed similar sentiments at the close of the June 8 council meeting.
“The genocide should never be forgotten,” Wilson said. “It’s about people and not about politics.”
