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CHAPTER 3 Russell Jeung Southeast Asians in the House: Multiple Layers of Identity One hot summer afternoon in East Oakland, I stopped by 2-7, a known hangout for the Oaktown Junior Crips. The name "2-7" stands for 27th Avenue, the street where the house was located. I sat on the front steps with Sharon, a young mom on welfare who was feeding her baby. Nearby, tattooed teenagers dressed in blue stood around their cars, throwing dice and smoking. They had been there all day, because none of them held a job. "What do you'll think you'll do for work when you get old?" I asked one. He just laughed at the thought of getting a good job. "Probably McDonald's," he answered. Given the stereotypical image of the underclass-welfare moms and inner-city gangs-I would expect these teenagers to be African American. Yet here, the Crips were a panethnic Southeast Asian gang, made up primarily of Khmer (Cambodian) and Mien youth, the latter's parents coming from the highlands of Laos. The gang also included Laotian, Chinese, and Filipino teenagers from the neighborhood. While lounging on an abandoned couch, a not-so-sober KS1 suddenly wanted to say something: KS: Can I say one thing? Fuck the Cambodian Red Shit! All about the Cambodian blue! IS: We don't want the Khmer Rouge, man! KS: We don't want no fuckin' Khmer Rouge, man. It destroyed our country. Fuck that red shit! While the guys were going off on this political discourse, the girls wanted to make sure that I saw their tag names graffitied on the wall: Copyrighted Material SOUTHEAST ASIANS IN THE HOUSE: MULTIPLE LAYERS OF IDENTITY 61 BB: See

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