|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Tradition & Change 
The Cambodian-American community in Greensboro is one generation—20 years—old.
Learning to live in a new country changes families. Tensions arise between the culture of the old country and the new American environment.
Cambodian parents and grandparents worry that their children will forget their heritage, their religion, their language and their traditions. But they also want their children to succeed, to get an education, to have good jobs, to live safe and healthy lives.
Cambodian-American youth have created identities that combine aspects of their parent’s values with ideas they have gleaned from their experience in American schools, and with American friends and the media. Some are able to blend their American and Khmer experiences but others lose their way. The Cambodian American struggle with these issues will shape their community in the future.
|
|
|
|
|
|
| © © Greensboro Historical Museum |
|
|
It’s like you are riding on a boat, two different boats. One leg is on the Cambodian one, one leg is on the American boat. One is going east, one’s going west, you going to fall in the middle. That’s when you’re trapped, because you don’t know what to decide. Why don’t you buy a third boat, which you could blend it all in together, and you’ll be safe.
