Cambodian New Year with APSC4

To celebrate Cambodian New Year, 18MR collaborated with the Asian Prisoner Support Committee and artist Tevy Khou to release a new Keeping Our Community Together illustration featuring Peejay and Bun, two Cambodian members of APSC4.

ABOUT APSC4:
As people gather with good food and love to celebrate Cambodian new year, this year may be the last for Peejay and Bun. Peejay and Bun are at risk of re-detention and deportation.

Their families fled war and economic hardships in Southeast Asia and resettled in the U.S. But they struggled with poverty, domestic abuse, and racism. These hardships funneled them into the criminal legal system.

While inside, Peejay, Ke, Bun, and Maria (APSC4) transformed their lives, becoming advocates and leaders. As APSC staff, they draw from their experiences to help other API folks in the prison system. They have served over five hundred individuals and families in the Bay Area since they’ve returned home from prison.

They face the threat of deportation within a immigration system, punitively designed to target immigrants and refugees. Tell Goveror Newsom to #PardonAPSC4 at bit.ly/PARDONAPSC4 . Visit our site to sign the petition, send letters and more!

FROM THE ARTIST, TEVY KHOU:
"Like many holidays, we celebrate Khmer New Year with food! Cambodians love a good bbq. Usually I get together with my family and a lot of my cousins to eat Khmer food prepared by little old ladies. Nothing tastes better!

In the illustration I did for the Asian Prisoner Support Committee, I drew my favorite Khmer food – foods I love to eat during new years and in the summertime. It's like one big family reunion except with way more cousins you don't remember. There's corn with coconut sauce and chives, and papaya salad with meat on a stick – which are staples in any Cambodian bbq. 

It’s also a time when I reflect on my family’s histories and journeys. My parents really inspire me: they’re Khmer Rouge survivors, a genocide that killed nearly 25% of the Cambodian population. They have a thousand stories of bravery. I don’t think I’ll ever go through a tenth of what they did and what they had to sacrifice. Their strength and endurance inspire me so much"