Recommendation to request City Council to receive and file a presentation in recognition of Cambodian New Year.
Thank you. We're going to go back now to items nine and ten. The author of the motion would like to take those together. Can you read those both together? Madam Clerk. Communication from Councilwoman Sorrell. Councilman Super Na recommendation to receive and file a presentation and recognition of Cambodian New Year and a recommendation to recognize April 17th as Cambodian Genocide Remembrance Day. Thank you. With that, I do have a motion by Councilwoman Sara when I have a second by Councilmember Supernormal. Why don't we turn this over to Councilwoman Ciro? Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor. First, I want to thank Council member Slipknot for signing on to both items. As we both represent Cambodia Town, as some people might know, Long Beach is home to the largest Cambodian population in the United States, as well as the second largest outside of south outside of Cambodia. The Cambodian New Year Festival, which is also known as charity, is also celebrated by Lao, Thailand, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and some part of India. It's a three day celebration and this year begins tomorrow, April 14th, and ends on Friday, April 16. So Saturday night, my and happy new year. It's it's a again a three day activity where there are many activities and cultural ceremonies done for Cambodians. The New Year celebration is followed by a very tragic day, April 17th, when the Khmer Rouge seized control of Cambodia and the lives of Cambodians were changed forever that day. The community have commemorated April 17th as Cambodian Genocide Remembrance Day to honor the lives lost and the survivors and to celebrate the resiliency of the spirit. And I ask my colleagues to support on that item and this item. Usually we have many events and festivities to celebrate the New Year, as well as a commemoration event for Cambodian Genocide Remembrance Day. But due to COVID 19 restriction, we're going to honor both special events with a virtual event livestreaming this Friday, April six, 16th, called Remembrance and Renewal, honoring Cambodian New Year and Genocide Remembrance Day by celebrating Cambodian American stories. I want to deeply thank Kaylee. So who is the Long Beach, Cambodian filmmaker for agreeing to work on this project as well as in her hard work, as well as Tal Song of Asian Empowerment Association for your support and assistance with this project. This Remembrance and Renew is an interview series that shares the four spiritual stories of those who had inherited the trauma of war and how they how we continue to hope, dream, to build, thrive and celebrate as Cambodian Americans. You're going to hear this, the virtual event as it follows the story of one Cambodian student that attended Cal State University, Long Beach, in the 1960s to second generation business owners, to those serving our country in the U.S. military and many other. So I want to show a very short opening clip from this Remembrance, Remembrance and Renewal. So if we could please play that clip. Jim saw. Hello. I'm Councilwoman Sue Lee. Sorrow of Lombard City Council District six. I want to welcome you to this special day of remembrance and renewal, a celebration of Cambodian American stories and to wish you a very happy new year. During the annual Cambodian, Thai and Laos New Year, which begins on April 14 and ends on April 16th, Southeast Asian everywhere. Celebrate the arrival of spring for some. April 17th, 1975, marks the day in which the lives of Cambodians everywhere were tragically changed forever. When the Khmer Rouge marched into the capital combined and evacuated the entire population, they forced people into labor camps and murdered government officials, doctors, artists and scholars, among many others. It became known as year zero under the Khmer Rouge regime. It has been estimated that over 2 million lives were lost due to execution and starvation. Several hundred thousand Cambodians later fled their country and became refugees, resettling in countries all over the world in the hopes of rebuilding their lives. Long Beach, California, became a city that still have the largest Cambodian population in the United States of America. As daughters and sons of survivors. It is important that we never forget what happened and that we remember the lives lost during the genocide. But more importantly, we must honor and celebrate the resiliency of the spirit. We will always carry our history as we move forward to rebuild, restore and renew. To look towards a future made stronger by its past. And to take pride in a generation that can now flourish beyond its scars. A generation that now has its own path to forge its own stories to tell. Thank you for joining us and enjoy our program. Jim Lehrer. Thank you so much. So please remember to join us for a remembrance and renewal this Friday, April 16th, at 6 p.m. It will be livestream on my Facebook page and YouTube. I want to make sure we have an opportunity to see if there's any public comment and loved it and then open it up to my council colleagues if they have any comments. This is our flier for the event and the pictures of many of the stories celebrating the Cambodian American stories. Thank you. Let me go to that second of the motion councilmember. I'm sorry. Controversy for now. Oh, yeah. Thank you. Thank you. I'd like to thank Councilwoman Sarah for bringing these two items forward and also for inviting me to sign on to them. It is an absolute honor for me to do so and to our Cambodian community. I'd like to say Happy New Year and Jimmy to a. Thank you. Why don't we go ahead and go to public comment, then we'll come back to the council. Madam Clerk. Our first speaker is Chan Hobson. Hello. Happy Cambodian New Year. My name is Mark Hobson, calling on behalf of Chan Hobson, executive director of my Parent Association. I am calling in support of Council Woman Dr. Susie Cheryl's agenda. Agenda Items nine and ten. April 17, 2021 marks the 46th anniversary of the Khmer Rouge and the beginning of the Cambodian genocide. That is the day that the evacuated people from the entire capital of Phnom Penh at gunpoint, including my family. They killed government officials, doctors, artists, educators and scholars. They disrobed monks and forced them to the labor camps and severely punished the ones that were too old to work. Millions became widows and orphans. My people were severely traumatized by their experiences. We should never forget what happened over 40 years ago under the communist Khmer Rouge regime that seized government. On April 17, 1975, we must remember the over 2 million Cambodian people who perished during the genocide. And we must remind the younger generation and the world what happened during that dark period. So we are not doomed to repeat that tragedy again and again. Therefore, the parents, students, youth and community leaders joined hands together to host the virtual 46th Cambodian Genocide Remembrance Day on Saturday, April 17, from 10 a.m. to 12 noon. And we invite Mayor Robert Garcia, our great city leader, to deliver the opening remarks to open the ceremony. All honorable city council members are invited to attend this Remembrance Day and to recognize the Cambodian Genocide Remembrance Week of April 17. To honor the lives lost. The survivors and their descendants for their courage and resiliency. To strive to thrive. And to build their American dream and to contribute to our city. Thank you. Thank your next speaker is Suzanne singing. She saw a lot about mayor and council members. My name is Susanna Singham, the executive director of United Kim Voting Committee. And I would like to wish you all on this first day of Cambodian New Year, a happy Cambodian New Year. So statement me. I urge you to support Councilwoman Dr. Sorrels recommendation. To recognize Cambodian New Year today and to recognize April 17th as the Cambodian. Genocide Remembrance Day. This week is bittersweet. Bittersweet for the Cambodian community as we celebrate rebirth and future health and prosperity of our community. On New Year's Day and also grieve the loss of loved ones and experienced trauma from the Cambodian genocide. By recognizing both. The city honors the Cambodian community, by valuing our. Vibrant culture, blessing our our future, and joining our. Community in healing from past trauma. We recognize today so that the Cambodian community can be seen and in being seen. The city will continue to advocate, support and ensure resources. Are allocated to the Cambodian. Community and Cambodia town. Thank you. Think that concludes public comment for the sun. Thank you. Let me go to the council councilman in Dallas. Thank you, Mayor. I want to thank Profoundly Councilwoman Sorrell and Councilmember Superdog for bringing both of these items tonight. We cannot have the conversation about the contributions and the significance of immigrants to our city without recognizing and uplifting the voices, heritage and the importance of our Cambodian community. Here in the city of Long Beach, the thousands of families that escaped violence and genocide to build a home here in our city represents what the absolute best of us here in Long Beach and the absolute best of humanity. The sacrifices they made and the bravery it took for them to come to escape from over there were extraordinary. And it fills me with great, great, great pride to be able to represent a city that that helped them, that they helped build, and also said embrace them with open arms. And we continue to do so. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to reflect on the memory of those who who were lost. And I'm hoping them and their loved ones and my thoughts as we observe this day of remembrance and happy Cambodian New Year to you and to us here in the city of Long Beach. Thank you. Next up is Councilman Price. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I, too, want to thank Councilwoman Sorrow and Councilman Superdog for partnering together on this. I love the partnership, and I love how authentically Councilman Supernova takes his responsibility to represent that Cambodian community. And I love the fact that we have now a Cambodian council member who can introduce us and educate us about this culture in her own way. One of the things I love about our city is the diversity of our city, and I think that just makes us so much stronger, especially when we're introducing that diversity with with love and a lot of history, which I learned a lot today from the video and rather than in a divisive way . And I think you do that so well. And I want to thank you for that. So to our Cambodian community, happy new year. When we celebrate days of cultural significance to the very diverse communities in our city, I think we show those residents how much we appreciate them and how much they're a part of our fabric. And I'm really grateful to be part of this council, especially on nights like this, when the diversity is is bringing us together and reminding us of what makes us strong. Thank you very much and happy New Year to you council Dr. Sara and your family specifically. Thank you, Vice Mayor Richardson. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Just wanted to chime in. Offer my my support. Congratulations. And thanks to council members Thoreau and Council member super long on this record name recognition of Cambodian New Year today. You know, when I was a student and, you know, just moving to lobbies is one of the first things I learned was about the proud Cambodian community. I remember know, a long time ago I was introduced to the sixth district and some of the culture and some of the food and. And I learned a lot then. And I've built some, you know, lifelong relationships with members, members of the community. And and certainly, I think having you here on the city council will certainly bring a lot of pride recognition to to the Cambodian population. So I look forward to many more years of recognizing a Cambodian new year and the contributions of Cambodian community to us here in the city of Long Beach. Thanks a lot. Thank you, Councilmember Granger. Thank you. And I know I'm going to sound like a broken record, but one of the proudest moments that I have with the Catholic community is when I served as a representative for the Latino community, when we broke ground to create the UCC. And that was our way of saying, Welcome to Long Beach and welcome to America. And at the same time that we might be having a day of remembrance, we also have a day of celebration. So happy New Year. Good morning, Community. Thank you. Thank you. Council Member Alan. I thank you, Mayor. I also want to thank council member Ciro and Supernova for bringing this forward. I, like Councilwoman Suzy Pryce said, I love the diversity of a city, but I also love the diversity of our city council. So and I also, you know, love. Growing up here. Going to poly and having so many friends. So. Just happy Cambodian New Year. I'm absolutely proud to support this item and. We should never forget what happened to our Cambodian. Community and uplift the heritage and perseverance of this vibrant culture. So thank you so much, both of my friends and council members for bringing this forward. Thank you. Council member Austin. Thank you and thank you councilmember sorrow as well as supernova for bringing this forward. I want to just salute and send my love and respect to my community here in the city of Long Beach. We have a growing community in the eighth District. And I want to recognize that we have a lot of you know, our community continues to diversify and embrace our wonderful diversity, which I think is is what makes you Long Beach so unique. I've been participating in the Cambodian New Year parade for, you know, at least 20 years or so. And I'm looking forward to participating in the Remembrance and New Year and Remembrance on Saturday the 16th, and celebrating with the community, as we always do. But also, I think this year is a special year because we've had our own challenges as a as a country, as a city. And it's very, very important that we embrace and I think exude love right. In our community more than anything right now. And today it's time to do that. And so I look forward to celebrating and happy to support this item. Well, thank you to everyone. Just to conclude, before we go to to the vote, I just want to add and wish, first of all, all my all my Cambodian friends a very, very happy new year. And I think we all look forward to be able to celebrate in person and to be able to just enjoy all the celebrations that we typically all participate in, the great food in person with friends all around each other. And so I know that we're all looking forward to that again. And thank you to both Councilwoman Saro and Councilmember Supernova for great representation for our Cambodian community. I mean, the heart of Cambodia town. I just want to just also just add one more thing, and that is that I've actually talked to you I've actually talked to some some folks from the media and our own city staff. And there's been a lot of conversation about diversity today, I think. And I of course, this is not been confirmed, but I'm pretty sure I did a quick scan of the city council might be the most diverse legislative body of any big city in the United States. When you look at not just the racial diversity, but the ability of people, of different abilities, of gender, of just the whole spectrum, I think I think you'd be hard pressed to find a more diverse body in the in the United States. And that's not confirmed. But I'm pretty sure it's we'll have to confirm it or get that get that looked at. But I just am very grateful to that. And I think with the with the council, in addition, I think that just strengthens that as well. And I want to oh, actually, Councilman Mungo cued up. I may have missed her. So, Councilwoman, go ahead. It's okay. I tried to queue up before. I just wanted to say congratulations. I know that it's going to be an amazing celebration. I know the presentation is fantastic and it is a lot of tribute to you and the hard work that you've already put in to representing your party. So thank you so much for everything that you've already done. Well, thank you. And with that, we will go ahead and take a vote. District one district by district to. By District three. I District four. I. District five. I. District six. I. District seven. I. District eight. I. District nine. All right. Motion carries. Thank you. And then with that, we have our final item on the agenda. Actually, I think we still have open public comment. Do we have open public comment? Madam Kirk, do you want to go through those, please?