{"id":10,"date":"2020-08-31T20:20:46","date_gmt":"2020-08-31T20:20:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/voices\/2020\/08\/31\/opinion-this-is-your-home-you-deserve-to-be-counted"},"modified":"2020-08-31T20:20:46","modified_gmt":"2020-08-31T20:20:46","slug":"opinion-this-is-your-home-you-deserve-to-be-counted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/voices\/news\/commentary\/opinion-this-is-your-home-you-deserve-to-be-counted","title":{"rendered":"Opinion: ‘This is your home,’ you deserve to be counted"},"content":{"rendered":"

People Post is a space for opinion pieces, letters to the editor and guest submissions from members of the Long Beach community. The following is an op-ed submitted by Sara Pol-Lim, program manager for the California Complete Count\u2014Census 2020,<\/em>\u00a0and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Long Beach Post.<\/i><\/p>\n

I know what it\u2019s like to live in silence\u2014to be persecuted in my own country and then live in the shadows in my new country. And to simply not count.<\/p>\n

I am originally from Cambodia\u2014a refugee that survived the Khmer Rouge.<\/p>\n

The Khmer Rouge\u2014an extremist political party\u2014captured the Cambodian capital and overthrew the Khmer Republic in 1975 and won the Cambodian Civil War. Following their victory, the Khmer Rouge forcibly made drastic changes to the country and its people.<\/p>\n

Due to the regime\u2019s xenophobic, paranoid and repressive views, they viewed fellow Cambodian minorities as political opponents. Ultimately, between 1975 and 1978, the Cambodian genocide<\/em> led to the death of an estimated 25% of Cambodia’s population\u20141.5 to 2\u00a0million people.<\/p>\n

My family and I were part of this history<\/a>. They were murdered \u2013 forever being a part of the Cambodian genocide.<\/p>\n

I recalled vividly the horrors we faced during that time, and the struggle to find freedom and safety. Fortunately, I was given a home in the United States\u2014like so many other immigrants and refugees before me.<\/p>\n

Congress passed and President Jimmy Carter signed into law the Refugee Act of 1980<\/a>. This Act raised the annual ceiling for refugee\u2019s admission into United States and redefined \u201crefugee\u201d as a person with a \u201cwell-founded fear of persecution.\u201d This Act brought an influx of refugees from Southeast Asia, including Vietnamese, Cambodian, Laotian and Hmong people.<\/p>\n

For many years, I lived in silence\u2014ashamed of who I was. I was often mistaken for another Asian ethnicity, and I was glad because it was my disguise. I did not want people to know who I was because of the guilt I felt being one of four children to survive.<\/p>\n

I tell you my story because it is one that should not be repeated, we should not live in the shadows in our own countries. We should not give government the power to erase us, to erase our history, lineage and culture.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why I implore you to take the Census. The 2020 Census is the most inclusive civic engagement activity we can participate in. You have the absolute right to be counted regardless of your age, sex, race, background or country of origin.<\/p>\n

For some, you may think, why does it matter for me to be counted here? I don\u2019t feel I can make a difference.<\/p>\n

I am telling you, this is your home, whether you are a citizen or not. Not being counted means you don\u2019t exist here. If you want to ensure your family and community has the resources, they deserve\u2014to demand those resources\u2014our nation needs to know how many of you are here.<\/p>\n

For me, it\u2019s been a life-long journey of understanding the traumas I faced and how to attempt to overcome them. Since then, I took ownership of my historical trauma by accepting who I am and appreciate that I live in a country and a state that counted me in regardless of my background.<\/p>\n

I am now a Regional Program Manager for the California Complete Count\u2014Census 2020 Office\u2014trying to make a difference in Southern California within my own refugee community.<\/p>\n

You have until September 30 to respond to the Census\u2014but don\u2019t wait\u2014just take it now. It\u2019s an easy thing to do:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Online at\u00a0my2020census.gov<\/a><\/li>\n
  2. By phone at 844-330-2020 (a list of in-language options is available\u00a0here<\/a>)<\/li>\n
  3. By mail if you received a paper form<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Don\u2019t let yourself be excluded from this country, you have a right to be seen and counted.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    If you want to ensure your family and community has the resources, they deserve\u2014to demand those resources\u2014our nation needs to know how many of you are here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":1031,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[27],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[28],"class_list":["post-10","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary","tag-people-post","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=10"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=10"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}