-We are in Seattle’s Chintaown-
International District, and we are at mam's books.
We are an Asian American bookstore.
♪ ♪
This is my dad,
Mam, the bookstore is named after him.
[broom sweeping]
Hey, thank you pa.
-He’s done a good job, you know?
My name, but I’m not especially about businessman,
I’m just a worker.
-Within the Asian American diaspora,
you know, I think voices are often
left out.
I'm a Cambodian American myself. For this bookstore
for instance, I have pictures of my family
throughout this bookstore to show the Southeast
Asian to show the Cambodian American experience.
I think oftentimes
immigrants and refugees are painted as outsiders.
And I think I wanted to show folks that,
you know, a lot of us are just kids.
You see a lot
of laughter in those videos, a lot of joy.
I think my parents try to make it here;
I think in this country, that's what it shows.
This is not my my store.
This has everyone's fingerprints on it.
For the mentors have got me in this community
to know my parents who surround me with books,
like it's everyone's fingerprints.
-My name is Ron Chu, and
I've worked in the neighborhood for a long time.
Several years ago, I wrote a book titled
“My Unforgotten Seattle,” and I saw the world changing,
my world vanishing and then a new world emerging.
I felt it was important to capture those stories.
What more appropriate place to to sell my book
than in a place that really is about
continuing the history of this neighborhood and its legacy.
[crowd chatter]
-This is our first book talk
and look at this room. Can everyone just look around.
[cheering and applause]
-Our stories, specifically as mine,
has come full circle in the sense that those of us
who owned books and read books
and wrote books were murdered in our country.
And now there is a bookstore for us.
-Sokha had this dream of creating
an Asian American bookstore in the neighborhood.
And I've watched it evolve as he's bounced
different ideas around and he's made it happen.
It's a very special place.
-Thank you
to a community, Asian community,
and the city, let Sokha
have the opportunity to open the store
and help people to get
knowledge from here,
because this is the store of knowledge.
Thank you, my family.
Thank you, my children.
Thank you, everybody.
♪ ♪