Section A01
In Response to: “I am a man with a heart” by Andrew Thi
Andrew Thi's story, “I am a man with a heart”, tells a tale of a young Cambodian immigrant who arrived to America with his family. The young man, Andrew, speaks of his admiration of his father from a young age; his father, in his eyes, committed his whole life to grant his family happiness as well as create a resolution with the Cambodian tragedy. However, while this young man is an honor roll student, and has achieved many academic goals in his lifetime, he has also turned to crimes such as theft; throughout his conflicted lifestyle, the American government passes more strict anti-immigration laws that could potentially allow immigration services to deport any immigrant that accumulated a felony. While Andrew is not purely innocent of his misdeeds, the political atmosphere at the time marked a difficult period for many immigrant families like his that fled their war-torn homeland for a better life; his struggles is one of many faced by immigrants of that era. The government used the political turmoil, and created these laws under the guise of terrorist prevention, but they fail to realize that their actions have direct, or indirect, effects to those nations. Those subjected to deportation were those who were displaced by U.S. armed intervention from the beginning, yet earned rejection over redress with their presence. My question here is whether our current representatives are capable of reflecting upon their predecessors' mistakes; also, to what extent, has 9/11 lead our nation to carry out better policies, or have the same mistakes being repeated again?
Here is an article regarding a film related to the Cambodian struggle against the strict laws of that era: http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/2007Conference/film.html#home
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