The above photo features four people who were an integral part of the Greensboro-based film "This Is My Home Now." The film is about the Montagnard, the indigenous peoples of Central Vietnam. The Montagnard community has and continues to suffer political persecution for helping Americans during The Vietnam War. As a result, many members of the community have been resettled to the United States. The largest group of Montagnard outside of Vietnam is in North Carolina, and many have been resettled to Greensboro.
About five years ago, Mariah Dunn Kramer (right), then a graduate student at UNCG studying film, approached Dean MacLeod (2nd from right), then director of education at the Greensboro Historical Museum, about making a film on the Montagnard community of Greensboro. Intentionally, Montagnard students are the dominant voice in the film. Mai Butrang (3rd from right) and Sun Bujri (on the left), both Page High School students at the time, played an integral part in the film. The four panelists were at the Friday Center in Chapel Hill yesterday for a screening of the film at the World View K-12 Symposium. While everyone in the above photo now works elsewhere and only two remain in Greensboro, sometimes the stars align and great things happen. If you get a chance to see "This Is My Home Now," you will get a glimpse in to the challenges of immigration, from the perspective of Montagnard teens who struggle to navigate high school and their own identities, while helping their parents adjust to life in America.
Making a film is probably the best way to highlight and bring attention to the many many problems of immigration Janis, I feel we are so lucky to be in a safe country but then who knows what could happen tomorrow ✨
Posted by: Grace | Friday, October 19, 2018 at 06:56 AM
That's an aspect of history I was not familiar with.
Posted by: William Kendall | Sunday, October 21, 2018 at 02:18 PM