UNDERWAY AT 11:00 THIS MORNING IN 1975, A MINORITY GROUP FLEEING COMMUNISM IN SOUTHEAST ASIA RELOCATED TO THE MIDWEST. IT’S A MIGRATION THAT TRANSFORMED IMMIGRATION POLICIES ACROSS THE COUNTRY. AND JOINING US THIS MORNING TO TALK ABOUT THIS DOCUMENTARY THAT WILL BE AIRING EXCLUSIVELY ON VERY LOCAL IS EXECUTIVE PRODUCER AND NARRATOR LAURA LING. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR JOINING US TODAY. MIKE. THANK YOU FOR HAVING ME. OKAY. SO THIS DOCUMENTARY SURROUNDS THE TAI DAM PEOPLE. SO EXPLAIN WHO THEY ARE FIRST. SURE. THE TAI DAM ARE A MINORITY GROUP THAT WAS FLEEING SOUTHEAST ASIA AFTER THE VIETNAM WAR. THEY WERE FLEEING COMMUNISM. THEY’RE A SMALL GROUP WHO WANTED TO SEEK REFUGE IN THE UNITED STATES AS A WHOLE. COMMUNITY. SO THEY WROTE LETTERS TO EVERY GOVERNOR IN THE UNITED STATES. ONLY ONE PERSON IN GOVERNOR ROBERT RAY OF IOWA ANSWERED THEIR CALL AND WELCOMED THIS COMMUNITY AS A WHOLE GROUP TO IOWA AND THEREBY HELPING THEM PRESERVE THEIR LANGUAGE, THEIR CULTURE, THEIR KINSHIP, AND THIS RESULTED IN NOT JUST TRANSFORMING THE CULTURE OUT THERE IN THE MIDWEST. IT ALSO TRANSFORMED HOW FOLKS MIGRATE OR SEEK REFUGE IN OTHER COUNTRIES, OR AT LEAST FROM INTO THIS COUNTRY. SURE. WELL, IT WAS A REAL TESTAMENT TO GOVERNOR ROBERT RAY’S ACTIONS THAT WERE CONTROVERSIAL AT THE TIME, BUT HE WANTED TO HELP THOSE IN NEED. SO HE LOBBIED REPUBLICAN AND DEMOCRATS. HE LOBBIED THE CARTER ADMINISTRATION WHEN THE UNITED STATES HAD ALREADY CLOSED ITS DOORS TO REFUGEES FROM SOUTHEAST ASIA, AND THEN REOPENED OUR DOORS TO MORE REFUGEES. AND WE CAN SEE THE IMPACT THAT THIS HAS HAD IN COMMUNITIES ALL ACROSS THE COUNTRY, EVEN OUR OWN COMMUNITY IN SACRAMENTO, WHICH HAS SUCH A VIBRANT CULTURE, A VIBRANT ASIAN AND SOUTHEAST ASIAN CULTURE HERE IS, UM, THAT THAT CAN TIE BACK TO FOLKS WHEN THEY IMMIGRATED AFTER THE VIETNAM WAR, RIGHT? YEAH. AND, YOU KNOW, OBVIOUSLY, THIS DOCUMENTARY HAS HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE TO TO IT. BUT I ALWAYS LOVE WHEN YOU CAN KIND OF GET THAT LITTLE PERSONAL HOOK AND YOU JUST TOLD ME THAT THERE’S A LOVE STORY IN HERE. YES. SO THERE’S A MODERN DAY LOVE STORY TWIST IN THE DOCUMENTARY THAT. SO I HOPE THAT HISTORY BUFFS AND ROMANTICS ALIKE WILL ENJOY IT, BUT IT FOLLOWS THE STORY OF JASMINE VONG AND JEFFREY NEWLAND, WHOSE RELATIONSHIP MIGHT NEVER HAVE EVOLVED OR HAPPENED AT ALL, IF NOT NOT FOR THE ACTIONS OF GOVERNOR RAY IN THE 1970S. AND SO THERE’S KIND OF A FULL CIRCLE MOMENT HERE. BUT THEY LEARN SOME UNEXPECTED THINGS ABOUT THEIR FAMILY HISTORY THAT I THINK WILL SURPRISE VIEWERS AS WELL. AND I’M NOT GOING TO GIVE TOO MUCH AWAY BECAUSE I HOPE VIEWERS TUNE IN. ABSOLUTELY. WE NEED YOU TO WATCH. BUT ONCE SOMEBODY DOES, UH, WHAT DO YOU HOPE THEY WALK AWAY WITH AFTER SITTING DOWN AND TAKING THIS DOCUMENTARY IN? WELL, I THINK IT’S AN IMPORTANT PART OF ASIAN AMERICAN AND AMERICAN HISTORY THAT MANY MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT. AND IT’S AAPI HERITAGE MONTH. YES IT IS. I REALLY HOPE THAT PEOPLE WILL GET A SENSE OF THE CONTRIBUTIONS ASIANS OF THE SOUTHEAST ASIAN COMMUNITY, THEIR RESILIENCE, OVERCOMING TREMENDOUS OBSTACLES, AND ALL OF THE, AS I SAID, CONTRIBUTIONS THAT THEY HAVE GIVEN US. YEAH, ABSOLUTELY. OKAY. REAL QUICK, HOW DO WE WATCH IT? WHEN WHEN IS IT AVAILABLE? YOU CAN WATCH IT FOR FREE BY DOWNLOADING THE VERY LOCAL APP, WHICH I HOPE EVERYONE HAS DONE BY NOW. THAT’S RIGHT. ALL RIGHT. LAURA LING, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR JOINING US. AND IT’S FREE AGAIN. SO JUST DOWNLOAD THAT VERY LOCAL APP. YOU CAN WATCH IT FOR FREE. OH MY GOD THAT’S THE BEST PRICE