{"id":618,"date":"2018-02-21T16:05:38","date_gmt":"2018-02-21T21:05:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=618"},"modified":"2018-02-28T22:46:07","modified_gmt":"2018-03-01T03:46:07","slug":"what-is-a-fucking-immigrant-the-story-of-pason-as-i-understand-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=618","title":{"rendered":"What is a F—-ng immigrant? The Story of Pason (as I understand it)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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MR \u00a0SKEOCH WHAT IS A FUCKING IMMIGRANT?\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
ALAN \u00a0SKEOCH<\/div>\n
feb. 2018<\/div>\n
Telling the story as it unfolded<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cMr. Skeoch, what is a \u00a0\u2018fucking immigrant?\u2019<\/div>\n
\u201c Who said that to you?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201c School\u201d<\/div>\n
And Pason Banjongpanith pointed to Queen Elizabeth Public School in Mississauga.<\/div>\n
\n

<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\n
\u201cOver there.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cWell, Pason, I think you have a fight on your hands. Calling you a \u2018fucking immigrant\u2019 may lead to that.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cNo!\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cAfraid? I understand that.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cNo!\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhat if he hits you?\u201d, I assumed that it must be a male, girls do not use \u00a0that language. \u00a0Wait a minute, society has changed, could be a girl.<\/div>\n
\u201cNo fight.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhy not?\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Then Pason held one hand out flat about hip hight. \u00a0Expression deadpan but hint of amusement. \u00a0His enemy was some Grade Two kid.. \u00a0 A little person.<\/div>\n
I shuddered to think what my fighting advice could have done. \u00a0 Pason had good sense and \u00a0perhaps, I began to think, also a good sense of humour.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
It was 1979. The Viet Nam war had ended badly and millions of Sour East Asians were fleeing many of them dying in efforts to escape because \u00a0they had sympathized with US led forces in that ghastly war. \u00a0The boat people captured \u00a0global imagination. \u00a0Thousands jammed on floating coffins fleeing.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cWe must do \u00a0something,\u2026sponsor a family or send \u00a0money?\u201d, we debated in a congregational meeting at First United Church, Port Credit.<\/div>\n
\u201cMoney gets there fastest,\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cBut people need a place to go?<\/div>\n
\u201cWe could do both.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
So one late \u00a0winter day \u00a0in 1979 we got word suddenly that our refugee family had arrived. Four teenagers. \u00a0No parents. \u00a0And \u00a0they were Laotian, not Vietnamese. We were stunned but ready.<\/div>\n
Divided up the labour\u2026housing, food, \u00a0clothing, employment, education.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cAlan, you and Marjorie are responsible for the schooling of Pason, the youngest. of the Banjongpaniths.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
And so for a few brief years we had a second son\u2026unforgettable \u00a0years. Humorous years. Pason latched on to Kevin and Andrew as puppies in a litter.<\/div>\n
Our youngest Andrew was in Grade Five, \u00a0Pason was placed \u00a0in Grade Six\u2026Kevin in Grade Seven. \u00a0I was the father of three boys suddenly\u2026or so it seemed.\u00a0 Not exactly a good father \u00a0figure some thought. \u00a0Need proof?<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cPason,\u201d I said \u00a0one day when his English was better, \u201cdo you know why I brought you to Canada?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cNo\u201d he replied looking at me from the passenger seat of our truck as we \u00a0headed to a farm auction sale,<\/div>\n
\u201cYou are here for one purpose.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cOne purpose? \u00a0What purpose?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cIf you fail at this purpose, I will send you back to Laos?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cPurpose? What purpose?<\/div>\n
\u201cWipe that grin off your face Pason.\u201d , The nerve of him\u2026colossal \u00a0nerve\u2026total disrespect. I thought\u00a0Laotians were taught to respect their elders like the Chinese do. \u00a0That was what Confucius taught.\u00a0 Damn, Pason has a wider grin now.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhy am I here, Mr. Skeoch\/\u201c<\/div>\n
\u201cFirst, help me attach this iron stone boat to the back of the truck. \u00a0We can haul it to the farm. \u00a0 Maybe you would like to sit on it. \u00a0Bumpy ride on ice and gravel.\u201d \u00a0We were attending a winter farm auction sale\u2026rural Ontario.<\/div>\n
Largely white men, older\u2026mostly farmers and antique hunters. \u00a0Lots of sidelong glances at Pason.<\/div>\n
\u201cWhy am I here, \u00a0Mr. Skeoch?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cSimple. You are a bodyguard.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cBodyguard?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cYes!\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWho am \u00a0I supposed to protect?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cOur other sons\u2026principally Andrew as Kevin is older.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cDid you say \u2018other\u2019 sons?<\/div>\n
\u201cSlip of the \u00a0tongue Pason\u2026slip of the tongue.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cYou did say \u2018other\u2019 sons. \u00a0 Does that mean you are treating me as a \u00a0son like Andrew \u00a0and Kevin?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cOK, I said it.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cNo worries, Mr. Skeoch, I \u00a0am a good wrestler, Andrew \u00a0will \u00a0be protected.<\/div>\n
Yes, Having Pason around was like having a third son for those \u00a02 or 3 short years while he \u00a0was in school.\u00a0 He was good company\u2026really interested in sharing his life with mine. \u00a0He set up amusing questions. Take<\/div>\n
this for example. \u00a0We were driving down to Port Credit. School was out.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cMr. Skeoch, \u00a0did \u00a0you ever smoke cigarettes?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWeird question Pason.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cDid you?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cYes, when \u00a0I was in Grade Ten I managed grab three \u00a0Craven A \u00a0cigarettes from a relatives \u00a0pack. \u201csmoked one of them before school with Bob Taylor and \u00a0Bill Rankin who were real smokers.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cDid \u00a0you Like smoking?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u2018No.\u00a0 Asked myself \u2018What the hell am I doing this for?\u2019, then gave the other two cigarettes to Bob and \u00a0Bill.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhy are you asking?\u201d<\/div>\n
No comment from Pason<\/div>\n
\u201cHave you, Pason, started smoking cigarettes?\u201d<\/div>\n
Pason looked over at me and said. \u201cI am in Grade Ten.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Pason had a \u00a0great sense \u00a0of humour. \u00a0To this day \u00a0I am not sure if \u00a0he \u00a0was setting me up or whether he had started smoking and wanted my advice. \u00a0His comment, \u201cI am in Grade Ten\u201d made me laugh.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
That was \u00a0a long time ago. \u00a0Passong is now an adult with a thriving optometry business in Brampton. \u00a0Married \u00a0with grown up kids \u00a0of their own now \u2026kids nearly adults. \u00a0 He dropped by at the farm a few months ago. Drove a \u00a0big Mercedes… fit for the Prme Minister of Canada. He still has that lopsided grin. Never lost it.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\"\"<\/div>\n
Pason and his wife and his business in 2018<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Now, so \u00a0many years later, I have time to dig deeper into Pason\u2019s life. \u00a0 How \u00a0did the Banjongpanith escape from Laos. \u00a0Why risk death? \u00a0Back n the 1970\u2019s there was not time for that. Our church Clerk of Session got a sudden phone call \u00a0one evening.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cYour refugees are now in Canada. They will arrive \u00a0at the church tonight.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cHow many?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cFour.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cParents and two children?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cNo, four \u00a0teenagers, all related.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWe expected a \u00a0family, what are we going to do with four teenagers?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cYour problem now, come \u00a0and \u00a0get them.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Got them. No English. \u00a0Plopped the four of them in \u00a0a cheap motel outside Port Credit and proceeded to get them an apartment and all\u00a0things needed to furnish \u00a0it\u2026tables, beds, chairs, pots, pans, dishes, clothes, bedding\u2026piles of stuff. \u00a0The four \u00a0kids could \u00a0not say much\u2026a lot of hand \u00a0gestures. \u00a0Pason\u2019s two older \u00a0sisters assumed command of the \u00a0group. \u00a0Son Pet and Son Pong. \u00a0Pason was the youngest.\u00a0 Pasa was the \u00a0most enigmatic. \u00a0 Without speaking he communicated the fact he had managed on his own\u2026that he knew the world around him was not always good.\u00a0 \u00a0I never got to know Pasa very well. \u00a0He could look after himself. \u00a0We \u00a0got him enrolled at Port Credit Secondary School and he looked after himself after that.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Now Pasa was younger\u2026in between our kids. \u00a0Or perhaps older than he admitted. \u00a0Pasa knew how to fit in. \u00a0He wanted to \u00a0fit in\u2026wanted to become Canadian even if \u00a0it meant smoking a \u00a0few cigarettes \u00a0and learning how to use the \u2018f\u2019 word. \u00a0Nah! \u00a0I should not have said \u00a0that. \u00a0 I never heard him use the \u2018f\u2019 except with that first question, \u201cWhat is a fucking immigrant?\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
All four of the Banjongpaniths \u00a0were intelligent\u2026as opposed to smarmy kind of smart. \u00a0They had manners. \u00a0Soon said please \u00a0and thank you.\u00a0 They were Buddhists and \u00a0knew all \u00a0about walking the Middle Way\u2026avoiding extremes. \u00a0 Fitting in. \u00a0Big smiles. \u00a0Gave of themselves rather than taking what they \u00a0could. Our church was enriched immensely by their presence. \u00a0We were \u00a0appreciated without fawning , cloying, \u00a0going overboard with bowing and scraping. \u00a0All four enriched the \u00a0lives of our whole congregation.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
DELVING INTO LAOS\u2026WHO WERE \u00a0THESE PEOPLE\u2026WHAT IS LAOS? WHERE IS LAOS? \u00a0WHY FLEE LAOS?<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Pasa, as I mentioned, \u00a0was somewhat of an enigma. \u00a0He seemed \u00a0more battle scarred \u00a0and \u00a0cautious than his younger brother Pason.\u00a0 I never really got to know him well. \u00a0 Wished that were not so.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\"Image<\/div>\n
Mekong River, twelfth river in the world\u2026brown<\/div>\n
with mud and topsoil from \u00a0Tibet, even Mouont \u00a0Everest.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Passa swam the Mekong River\u2026alone. \u00a0With communist Pathet Lao solders taking potshots at him I was led to believe. \u00a0Dead bodies in the Mekong were a fact of \u00a0life in those days. \u00a0Thousands of other Laotians wanted to escape the victorious communists. \u00a0A lot of people died. \u00a0Thousands. \u00a0 Tens of thousands. But Pasa lived. \u00a0He made \u00a0the decision to swim the Mekong on his own. \u00a0Never told \u00a0his \u00a0mom or dad. \u00a0just left one dark night with a small pack. \u00a0Parents were irate. \u00a0 Pasa knew that it was very important that one of the family reach the other side of the Mekong, the Thailand side, \u00a0before the rest fled. \u00a0Why? Because no one \u00a0trusted the semi-criminals who promised safe escort to Thailand. \u00a0Escaping Laotians could not take much with them. \u00a0so they carried<\/div>\n
\n

valuable portable wealth. \u00a0Gold, cash, precious stones\u2026money or things that could be converted into money. Some \u00a0Ferry owners were just as \u00a0likely to kill a family halfwy across and dump the bodies. \u00a0Who would know? \u00a0Who would care?\u00a0 If, on the other hand, there was a contact on the opposite bank of the Mekong with supporters trouble was less likely. \u00a0Pasa knew this and just up and disappeared one night much to the chagrin of his father who wanted to engineer the escape of the whole family.\u00a0 Pasa was a very tough risk taker. Hardened.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Today \u00a0we \u00a0would call the \u00a0Banjongpaniths economic migrants. \u00a0They \u00a0were not forced to make \u00a0a run for the West. \u00a0At least not yet. \u00a0That may have happened<\/div>\n
down the road for this was a middle class family. \u00a0Yes, probably fairly affluent for they lived in a \u00a0large new house in the city ofSavannaket and \u00a0Mr Banjongpanith was a \u00a0member of the professional business class\u2026 In the optometry business I think but am not sure. \u00a0Within the crucible of Laotian politics the family would be considered capitalists and pro-American. \u00a0That does not mean they knew any Americans. \u00a0Suffice \u00a0it to \u00a0say they had \u00a0a pro-Western bias. \u00a0And having such views \u00a0was dangerous once the Viet Nam war ended and everything fell to the victorious communist forces. \u00a0Their educated children would be regarded with suspicion. In other, more acidic words,<\/div>\n
their future was behind them.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Better to get out\u2026to leave everything behind. To hope for a better life for the children.\u00a0 So much for the Banjongpaniths. \u00a0 What do we know about Laos in 1979?<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
LAOS<\/div>\n
IF someone asked me where Laos was back in 1979 , I \u00a0would \u00a0have \u00a0to shrug my shoulders. \u00a0I did not know. \u00a0I guess \u00a0no one else did either for the question was never raised. \u00a0We \u00a0were too busy making a \u00a0new home for these kids. \u00a0At the time I \u00a0wondered \u00a0why we got a family from Laos \u00a0and not from Viet Nam. \u00a0 No connection in m mind. \u00a0But I said \u00a0nothing and just did my job of helping the new kids fit into our society.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Pasit graduated \u00a0from Port Credit high school in 1988 and then Ryerson in 1994 in Architectural Design.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
LAOS? \u00a0 NEVER HEARD OF THE PLACE<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Let me use an \u00a0imaginary dialogue:<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
“Where did these kids \u00a0come \u00a0from? \u201c<\/div>\n
\u201cLaos?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cLaos, never heard of the place. Is that a city or a country?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cLand locked nation in South East Asia.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cYes, bunch of countries there\u2026Viet Nam, \u00a0Thailand, \u00a0Cambodian, Myanmar, Laos, etc.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cSo these kids are Laotians, \u00a0I thought we were getting refugees \u00a0from Viet Nam, maybe a family of boat people.<\/div>\n
Instead \u00a0we got these four kids \u00a0from a country I\u2019ve never heard about before. Where is Laos?\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cHas Laos \u00a0any connection to the Viet Nam War?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201chave you ever heard of the Ho Chi Minh Trail?<\/div>\n
\"Image<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n
HO CHI MINH TRAIL<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\"Image\"Image\"Image\"Image<\/div>\n
The Ho Chi Minh trail through jungle much of the time was used to ferry troops, and supplies for Viet Cong communist forces. \u00a0 In some place elephants were used in others, the trail was wide enough for convoys of trucks.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cHo Chi Minh Trail\u2026yes…heard Whispers\u2026same \u00a0jungle track used by Viet Cong..\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cRight, the jungle route for Viet Cong soldiers to infiltrate South Viet Nam\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cThrough Laos?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cRight. \u00a0The US airforce between 1964 and 1973 dropped over 2,000,000 tons of bombs along the eastern Laotian border. \u00a0They logged 580,000 USAF missions which made Laos the most heavily bombed country per capita in the history of the world…\u201d equal to a \u00a0planeload of bombs every 8 minutes, 24 hours a day, for 9 years.\u201d<\/div>\n
Even today in 2018 that part of Laos is dangerous killing or wounding 100 people per year from unexploded bombs.<\/div>\n
Thousands of gallons of Agent Orange dropped to defoliate the jungle.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\"Image<\/div>\n
This is \u00a0one bomb crater on the Ho Chi Minh Trail. \u00a0Those \u00a0tiny dots in the muddy water are people. A huge \u00a0crater\u2026one of thousands.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cWas Laos an ally of the North Vietnamese?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cNot completely. \u00a0A Civil War was being fought in Laos dating back to the 1950\u2019s when France tried to rebuild \u00a0its colonial empire after the Japanese takeover in World War II. France failed in the end. \u00a0But the Royal Laotian Army got into a bitter \u2018take no prisoners\u2019 decade long war with the Pathet Lao communist inusrgents.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhy have I never heard about this?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cBecause bigger wars were going on elsewhere. \u00a0 Have you ever heard of the Cold War?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cDo you mean the big bloodless thermonuclear standoff between the Soviet Union and the West? \u00a0\u201c<\/div>\n
\u201cYes, so much bigger than Laos. A bluffing game where \u00a0huge squadrons of<\/div>\n
nuclear armed \u00a0American B 52 bombers countered similar Soviet Union bombers… ready for an Armageddon like no other. \u00a0\u201c<\/div>\n
\u201cLike that movie Dr. Strangelove with Peter Sellars?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cYes.”<\/div>\n
\u201cThe Secret War in Laos was \u00a0small change in the Cold War. \u00a0Forgotten. Unknown to most of us in he West. \u00a0But a secret war was being fought in Laos.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cA secret war?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cLaos was not a homogenous state. \u00a0There were\u2026and are\u2026large numbers of different peoples living there. the Lowland Laotians in the south had good land and and large cities. Most were well educated. \u00a0Many looked upon those of us in the West favourably. \u00a0The Banjongpaniths came from the Laotian city of Savannaket whose colonial heritage to France can still be seen in many of the grand homes.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cYou said \u2018secret war\u2019 ?.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cComplicated. \u00a0Simply put there was a nasty \u00a0civil war between the Lowland Laotians and the Highland Laotians living in the mountainous regions of\u00a0Northern also. \u00a0Even that is too simple. \u00a0Northern Laos was \u00a0home to a different people, the Hmong people, \u00a0who were separate…not part of the communist guerrilla forces.<\/div>\n
\u201cHmong? \u00a0Getting me confused already! \u00a0Who are the Hmong?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cA large Laotian sub group whose roots are Chinese. \u00a0Some 400,000 Hmong lived in Northern Laos. Indigenous people with a long history. \u00a0They resented<\/div>\n
the North Vietnamese and Pathet Lao forces invading their part of Laos. \u00a0An oversimplification, sorry about that. \u00a0But the Hmong are the key to understanding the Secret War in Laos.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cHow?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cHmong \u00a0resentment of the North Vietnamese was the crack in the door for the American CIA\u2026Central Intelligence Agency\u2026that began arming, training<\/div>\n
and support the Hmong.<\/div>\n
\u201cHow many?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201c60% of the Hmong population were staunchly pro-American.\u201d<\/div>\n
“Hmong pilots for instance were often the men who rescued american pilots shot down over the Ho Chi Minh Trail. \u00a0That is largely unknown to Americans and I hazard to say absolutely unknown to Canadians. \u00a0 During the Viet Nam War there was a Secret Army of Hmong fighting alongside American<\/div>\n
soldiers. \u00a0Many of these escaped Laos in 1975 fleeing across \u00a0the Mekong River to Thailand.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cHow many?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cThe Hmong population in the United \u00a0States today in 2018 is 260,073. \u00a0Huge, with roots to this Secret Army.<\/div>\n
\u201cWhat happened to the Secret Army?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cFragmented into pieces. Something like 20,000 are now Canadians. \u00a0They can be found in all western democracies in significant numbers. 60,000 Hmong were forcibly sent back to Laos where they faced so much persecution the they hid out in the jungles of Laos in small family groups where they are still to this day being \u201cHunted \u00a0Like Animals\u201d \u00a0as documented in a film by Rebecca Sommer. \u00a0Some \u00a0Hmong are still fighting the communist government of Laos.<\/div>\n
\u201cMessy\u2026hard to follow.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cAnd still happening as one report started that \u2018Significant number of\u2026Hmong Animists and Christians, including Protestant and Catholic believers, have been subjected in the 21st century to military attacks, police arrest, imprisonment, extrajudicial \u00a0killings, and torture for seeking to worship independently form the Marxist government of the Lao People\u2019s \u00a0Democratic Republic.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhat \u00a0has this got to do with Pason Banjongpanith?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cNot much, I guess, Pasa and \u00a0his family are not Hmong\u2026they’re Laotians\u2026different.”<\/div>\n
\u201cHow \u00a0do \u00a0you know?”<\/div>\n
\u2018An \u00a0incident\u2026\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cIncident?\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cWell, another nearby church had sponsored a Hmong family, probably connected \u00a0to the Secret Army but we did not know that, and we decided to bring the two families together, after all, they were both Laotian. \u00a0All Laotian immigrants. \u00a0Should welcome each other\u2026a chance to talk together. \u00a0Not so. The meeting was an absolute failure..\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t really know.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cThey were like strangers to each other. \u00a0More than that. There was a tension in the meeting. \u00a0No talk. \u00a0No smiles. \u00a0No discussions of life<\/div>\n
in the refugee camp. \u00a0 Just an anxiety for the meeting to end which it \u00a0did\u2026fast.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cHave you ever figured out why>\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cNo but I have an \u00a0idea.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cLike?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cLike, I think the Banjongpaniths were more economic refugees while \u00a0the Hmong were political refuges. \u00a0Two very different kinds of refugees.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cThe Banjongpaniths kids. were highly educated members of the Laotian middle class. \u00a0Their parents were skilled optometrists with a thriving business and a grand house. \u00a0All this was doomed \u00a0with the communist takeover of Laos in 1975. \u00a0The entrepreneurial class \u00a0were suspect.<\/div>\n
\u201cSuspect? Capitalists. \u00a0Enemy of Marian Socialism.<\/div>\n
Western.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhy did they decide to flee\u2026to leave everything.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cProbably saw the \u00a0writing on the wall. What they had would be confiscated by the state. \u00a0Orthodox communism says \u00a0that the rich will never\u00a0voluntarily surrender their wealth. \u00a0Never allow their wealth to be \u00a0redistributed. \u00a0Force will be necessary. \u00a0\u201c<\/div>\n
\u201cAnd \u00a0the kids?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cThey will never have the opportunities that were available \u00a0when the Americans occupied Laos. Indoctrination would be necessary. \u00a0And the former<\/div>\n
possessing classes\u2026educated, skilled, wealthy\u2026they would \u00a0always be suspect in the new Marxist Laos… might have \u00a0to be re-educated which was a<\/div>\n
euphemism for being killed in some instances.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cSo flight was planned.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cYes, carefully. \u00a0How to escape with a family of six children some of whom were advanced \u00a0teenagers and some were small children. \u00a0Pasa\u00a0was the oldest boy. \u00a0And \u00a0he was quite a handful as he approached adulthood. \u00a0Pasa may have been aware that his fleeing family would be very vulnerable to the river pirates who ferried, and \u00a0sometimes killed Laotian refugees, especially it it was obvious they had special skills which translated means they had wealth. \u00a0The Mekong is a long, deep and muddy river that could hide many nasty transgressions.. \u00a0The chance of murder or at the very least abuse is a constant worry for refugees the \u00a0world over. The knowledge that Pasa and help was waiting at the other river bank reduced \u00a0the prospect of violence.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhy \u00a0did they have to be so \u00a0sneaky? \u00a0Why at night?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cBecause the Patient Lao communist soldiers considered fleeing Laotians the enemy. \u00a0Traitors. \u00a0Fair game to shoot. \u00a0Seems to me I recall that Pasa<\/div>\n
had soldiers taking pot shots at him. \u00a0Death by a bullet happened to many others, fate of thousands unknown,\u00a0 fleeing Laos in 1975.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
THE HONG KHAI LAOTIAN REFUGEE CAMP IN THAILAND<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cWhere did they go after crossing the Mekong?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cThe Nong Kha refugee camp for Laotians, a huge camp close to the Mekong River in Thailand.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhat was \u00a0it like?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cPasong, Pasa, Son Pet, Son Pone all came from \u00a0this camp. \u00a0We thought that all Laotian refugees would feel bonded together. \u00a0When we organized an evening with a Hmong family brought over by a nearby church we \u00a0expected great smiles and hugs and cheering. \u00a0Instead \u00a0the meeting was a\u00a0total failure. he Hmong Family and the Banjongpaniths just did not like each \u00a0other. \u00a0That was strange\u2026a \u00a0mystery that was only solved when I read \u00a0about the Hong Khai camp. \u00a0The two groups were separated. \u00a0\u201cThe Hmong and Lao people do not like to live together.\u00a0 The Lao were urban and often highly educated. \u00a0 The Hmong tended to be more rural\u2026farmers.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
That\u2019s \u00a0the way I figure the kids from Laos got here to Port Credit. \u00a0May \u00a0or may not be true. \u00a0Probably some corrections need to be made.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
alan skeoch<\/div>\n
Feb. \u00a02018<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\"Image<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\"Image<\/div>\n
Thos \u00a0tiny blips in this waterhole are people swimming. \u00a0The waterhole is \u00a0one single bomb crater on the Ho Chi Minh Trail in eastern Laos<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\"Image<\/div>\n
Crossing the Mekong at night would \u00a0be similar to this<\/div>\n
picture only pitch black<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\"Image<\/div>\n
The Mekong River has catfish of huge \u00a0size<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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

MR \u00a0SKEOCH WHAT IS A FUCKING IMMIGRANT?\u201d ALAN \u00a0SKEOCH feb. 2018 Telling the story as it unfolded \u201cMr. Skeoch, what is a \u00a0\u2018fucking immigrant?\u2019 \u201c Who said that to you?\u201d \u201c School\u201d And Pason Banjongpanith pointed to Queen Elizabeth Public School in Mississauga.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=618"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":654,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618\/revisions\/654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}