Being Khmerican

“I am a product of war and my family is a product of the killing fields,” said Phatry Derek Pan, referring to the sites where thousands of Cambodians were massacred.

Pan was born in a refugee camp in Thailand shortly after the fall of the Khmer Rouge, the Cambodian political group that ruled the country during the late 1970s and served as forerunners of the Cambodian genocide.

Though his life began in a state of turmoil and tragedy, Pan is tired of the “one-dimensional” American association between Cambodians and the atrocities committed in his home country.

In response, he came up with the idea of a blog. In deciding to make the website an active force in Cambodian American culture, Pan saw two options: either start a nonprofit organization to foster U.S.-Cambodia relations, or develop a news agency. He chose the latter.

With this plan in mind, Pan consulted childhood friend Sophath Oun, who is one of the owners of a web development firm in San Diego, Calif. Together, Pan and Oun co-founded the website, Khmerican.com.

According to Oun and Pan’s website, the term “Khmerican” refers to “a person or organization striving to improve the quality and well-being of Khmer America.”

“To be Khmerican is not defined by race or limited to a geographical space in the U.S.,” said Pan. “It is defined by the characteristics of who you are.”

(Read on at the International Examiner)