![]() The Khmer Rouge’s hatred of foreigners is, of course, extremely shortsighted, leading to a lack of doctors and medicine that in turn contributes to a spike in otherwise preventable deaths (including Keav’s). Upon the family’s arrival in Ro Leap, the village chief announces that everyone must wear the same black clothes to rid themselves “of the corrupt Western creation of vanity.” The Angkar goes so far in its quest for Cambodian “self-reliance” as to deem those who have always lived in the countryside “model citizens” while rejecting people from cities as having been “corrupted by the West.” As such, Pa insists that Loung’s family pretend to be peasants from the countryside and never speak of their life in Phnom Penh. Things like cars and electronics are banned, Kim tells Loung, because the Angkar believes imports give “foreign countries a way to invade Cambodia.” Despite widespread famine, foreign aid is rejected on similar grounds. One of the first things the Khmer Rouge does upon seizing power is expel foreigners from the country and forbid anything suggestive of foreign-especially Western-influence. The group thus exploits preexisting-but ultimately meaningless-racial divisions and prejudices to further its own horrific ends. Lighter skin is further associated with being mixed race-something the vehemently xenophobic Khmer Rouge cannot abide. Because rural workers often have darker skin and more typically-Khmer features, the Angkar’s rule encourages extreme prejudice against anyone with lighter skin. Loung notices notice that the Khmer Rouge soldiers who march through Phnom Penh are “dark-skinned, like the peasant workers at uncle's farm.” Pa later explains that the Khmer Rouge has exploited the atmosphere of resentment between the urban rich and the rural poor to garner support from the countryside. This is its own kind of racism and colorism-one more consistent with the global climate of colonialism-but in response to it the Khmer Rouge goes to the opposite extreme. Ma’s parents objected to her and Pa’s marriage specifically because Pa, who was born in a poor village, is dark-skinned. Loung notes that Cambodians of Chinese descent “have almond-shaped eyes, thin noses, and light skin” while “pure Khmer have curly black hair, flat noses, full lips, and dark chocolate skin.” Ma comes from a well-to-do Chinese background, and her “porcelain white skin” is associated with beauty and sophistication. The Khmer Rouge takes power at a time when tensions between racial groups in Cambodia are already palpable. In this way, her innocence highlights the absurdity of hating people on the basis of their ethnicity. ![]() The Khmer Rouge is a deeply paranoid, xenophobic, racist regime that seeks to rid Cambodia of all outside influence and so-called “ethnic poison.” As a child with no broader understanding of the historical or political issues that lead to the rise of the Khmer Rouge regime, Loung Ung frequently questions the rationale behind the Angkar’s brutality, only to find that there really is none.
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