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Creating Critical Mass for Community

First Laotian American national center opens in Berkeley

Five of members of the Board of Directors of the Laotian American National Alliance (LANA) are introduced at a kickoff event last week: Khammany Mathavongsy, Soudary Kittivong-Greenbaum, Sary Tatpaporn, Phaeng Toomaly-Andersen, and Prany Sananikone.

By Neela Banerjee

Laotian American leaders and community activists gathered in Berkeley, Calif., last Saturday night to launch the Laotian American National Alliance (LANA), which will be the first national nonprofit advocacy organization for the Lao community.

LANA’s mission is to mobilize Laotian Americans by promoting social and economic advancement through civic participation and public policy advocacy. There are about 350,000 people of Laotian descent living in the United States today.

Plans for LANA have been underway for over three years and stemmed from a conference of the National Association for the Education and Advancement of Cambodian, Laotians and Vietnamese held in 1997.

“LANA will serve as a progressive association of community leaders, young professionals and activists who will collaborate to facilitate forums to voice the interests of Laotian Americans in the United States,” Vilay Chaleunrath, co-chair of LANA’s board of directors, said.

Laotians were persecuted and forced to flee their home country after the Vietnam War because of their alliance with the United States. Unlike other refugee groups, Laotians have no central location where the community is based.

“We do not have a specific city or region where there is a critical mass,” board member Soudary Kittivong-Greenbaum said. “LANA will help strengthen our communities across the country by providing a core for national empowerment.”

LANA seeks to cross all ethnic lines within its diverse communities. The organization’s policies define the term “Laotian” to encompass all people whose birthplace or ancestry can be traced to Laos. This includes the Hmong, Iu-mien, Khmu, Thai Dam and Lao.

“LANA will serve as a collective voice for Laotian Americans,” board member Sary Tatpaporn said. “We will continue to do outreach to Laotian Americans, especially professionals, and hope to have a membership drive to get as many people involved as we can.”

LANA’s West Coast launch was held in conjunction with a U.C. Berkeley conference focusing on 25 years of the Southeast Asian diaspora. The conference, sponsored by the U.C. Berkeley Southeast Asian Student Coalition (SASC) and the ethnic studies department, was held in part to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the U.S. Refugee Act, which facilitated the resettlement of refugees from Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. Some 300 people attended the conference.

“One of the most exciting parts of this conference was that there were some local high school students there who had never been in an environment where they were discussing Southeast Asian issues,” SASC member Amorette Yang said.

The two-day conference brought together researchers and policy analysts with Southeast Asian community activists and advocates with the goal of generating position papers on the community’s critical issues.