Organization

Killing Fields Memorial Center

The Killing Fields Memorial Center is a nonprofit organization in Long Beach, California, that remembers the victims of the Khmer Rouge genocide.[1][2] Every April 17 since 2005 it has held a day of remembrance, on the date the Khmer Rouge took control of Cambodia.[1][3] Its main project is the Killing Fields Memorial Garden, which in 2020 was planned for a lot at 1501 East Anaheim Street in Cambodia Town.[2]

Annual commemoration

The center has organized the April 17 commemoration each year since 2005.[1] In 2017 it took place on the lot set aside for the garden. The day included Buddhist requiem prayers and traditional ceremony, and the evening program had a flag ceremony, testimonials and a candlelight vigil.[1] Vice president Kanno Nuon said the day was for remembrance and to remind "the young kids not to forget."[1] That month, for the first time, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors named the date Cambodian Genocide Remembrance Day.[1]

The 2019 service ran almost all day on the site and was open to everyone. It brought together Buddhist and Christian places of worship.[3] The center's website lists anniversary events for 2022, 2023 and 2024.[4]

Memorial garden

Organizers date the idea of a memorial to 2005.[2] Board member Paline Soth credited John Edmund, chief of staff to Sixth District councilmember Dee Andrews, with starting the push for a garden.[5]

On May 3, 2016, the Long Beach City Council agreed to lease the 6,120-square-foot lot to the center. The lease ran for five years at $1 a year, on condition that the center raise the money to build the garden.[1] Later that month Andrews joined a ceremony on the site to mark the new center.[5] Plans then showed Khmer-style buildings, a koi pond, lawns and trees.[5] The president at the time, Bryant Ben, said the center should help a community of refugees and their children heal together. He hoped a museum would follow.[5]

In March 2017 the council granted $150,000 from the Sixth District's infrastructure funds. The Cambodian Veterans Association agreed to pay for the memorial stupa.[1]

Leaders broke ground on February 2, 2020, once construction permits were secured.[2] The plans included a stage, a water fountain and a stupa, with the names of victims of the Killing Fields to be added.[2] The cost was estimated at about $750,000. Soth said donations had brought it down to about $400,000, and donors of $500 were offered a place on a plaque as gold members.[2] Volunteers included the architect Chan Ung and the designer Ritchy Chin.[2] Ung said the garden would be only the second known memorial in the United States to victims of the Khmer Rouge, after one in Chicago.[2] Organizers expected to finish it in 2021.[2]

Leadership

The center's website lists Terry Kemp Ngin as president.[6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Long Beach Post, Long Beach Cambodian community commemorates 42nd anniversary of the Killing Fields (April 2017)
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 Long Beach Post, Cambodia Town leaders break ground on long-awaited Killing Fields Memorial Garden (February 2020)
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Spectrum News 1, Survivors attend Long Beach service to remember Cambodian genocide (April 2019)
  4. ↑ Killing Fields Memorial Center, Anniversary
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Long Beach Post, Long Beach's Killing Fields Memorial to Honor Trauma Experienced Before, During and After Genocide (May 2016)
  6. ↑ Killing Fields Memorial Center, home page


Retrieved from "https://khmerconnection.com/w/index.php?title=Killing_Fields_Memorial_Center&oldid=12470"
This page was last edited on 7 October 2026, at 17:54.