Stanislaus State’s presentation series Next Up: Forward Thinking continues this fall with a watch party and interactive live discussion of the documentary film “exiled,” which is based on the personal experiences and 25 years of research on trauma and refugees by Pollie Bith-Melander, an assistant professor of social work at Stan State.
The event is scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 12, from 4 to 6 p.m. on Zoom. Introductions and the watch party are set for the first hour, while the live discussion will take place in the second hour. Register to participate and receive the Zoom link.
The 40-minute film raises questions about laws that lead to deportation and American attitudes toward immigrants by shining a spotlight on the Trump administration’s escalated efforts to revoke green cards and deport Southeast Asian refugees convicted of crimes listed as “aggravated felonies,” regardless of circumstances.
“The film makes us think about what it means to be human, who we want to be as Americans, and what it means to be perpetually labeled as a foreigner — the idea that if you don’t have a certain skin color or hair or facial feature you can never be fully American,” said Bith-Melander. “By presenting it as a watch party and offering a live Q&A, we offer a unique opportunity to enhance viewers’ understanding and provide specific information they may not get if they watched it alone.”
For historical perspective and insight, “exiled” features expert commentary by anthropologist Eric Crystal and Anoop Prasad of the Asian Law Caucus. The film also focuses on the divergent personal stories of two Cambodian refugees, both of whom came to the United States as children, making them part of what is called the 1.5 Generation. One refugee (Bith-Melander) found her way to the American dream while the other got caught up in the criminal justice system and faced deportation years after serving his sentence.
“The film makes us think about what it means to be human, who we want to be as Americans, and what it means to be perpetually labeled as a foreigner."
Assistant Professor Pollie Bith-Melander
In the film, Bith-Melander tells her personal story to explain how the Cambodian people were traumatized by the Vietnam War and America’s withdrawal. She details how her family endured the war, the Khmer Rouge, Vietnam’s invasion, years of separation, hard labor in rice fields and a nearly two-year journey to a refugee camp in Thailand. Ultimately, Bith-Melander’s family were granted asylum and sent to the United States, where they hoped to find a safe and peaceful future.
“That was a false hope, because after we landed at the San Francisco airport and were dumped in West Oakland, that sense of feeling safe disappeared quite quickly,” she says in the film.
The family’s new neighborhood in Oakland was poverty-stricken and crime ridden. Gunshots were common, reminding them regularly of the violence they fled in war-torn Cambodia. Like many other Cambodian refugees, they experienced racism and violence. At the urging of her mother, Bith-Melander pursued education and used it to become a successful professional and build the better life her family was seeking. The other refugee featured in the film — Sophanga “Soup” Chheang — grew up in roughly the same part of Oakland but did not fare as well. He dropped out of high school during his junior year. He eventually had a fateful encounter with law enforcement and the judicial system, which led to deportation proceedings and his fight to stay in the United States.
“I’m hoping that the film will allow us to shed light on the fact that, at the end of the day, we are all human beings,” Bith-Melander said. “Part of our humanity is the understanding that second chances are important. Also, we need to look critically at our justice system. It doesn’t work for everyone. And we need to look critically at and understand our own history.”
