Marpheen Chann - November 2022

President, Cambodian Community Association of Maine

The first Cambodian Mainer elected to office as an at-large Portland charter commissioner, born in California to parents who had fled the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, Marpheen Chann learned to navigate “white spaces’ ‘ and “vicarious privilege” at a young age. At his grandmother’s insistence, the family moved to Maine in search of a “safer home” — a move which ultimately led to Marpheen’s placement in foster care. Being adopted came with certain benefits but also numerous barriers: “I still struggle in the workplace, in government, just because of how I look, people assume different things like you’re good at math or bad at driving. As a minority you see the little things that kind of poke you, day in and day out. Even though Maine is welcoming and accepting, there’s still a lot of work to do in our daily lives so people of color can be their full selves and not have to hold back.”

Marpheen believes changes start at a personal level, “We need people to speak up. Minorities need to engage with one another, even if it means having hard conversations. Building trust we can better understand why people are racist — if all we did was cancel those people, there’s no conversation.” Marpheen recommends the graphic novel Wake, about female-led slave rebellions, and Love, Victor, an intersectional TV show about a Hispanic Latinx kid coming out to his Hispanic Latinx parents.