Tribute to genocide victims is personal for some Corona-Norco students

Paul Alvarez / The Press-Enterprise
Santiago High School senior Aaron Carriedo places flags in front of the old Corona City Hall on Thursday as part of the third annual Field of Flags display. Students from Corona and Norco high schools planted more than 3,000 flags to honor Holocaust and genocide victims.

By MICHELLE L. KLAMPE

The Press-Enterprise
Slideshow: Field of Flags

Amanda Thuch blinked away tears as she gazed at the field of small white flags planted in front of old Corona City Hall on Thursday to represent genocide victims in Cambodia.
The flags were just a few of the 3,400 flags planted by Corona-Norco high school students in commemoration of Yom Hashoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day, marked worldwide today.
"Looking at all these flags is pretty emotional," said Thuch, a 16-year-old sophomore at Orange Grove High School. "I prayed for them."
The third annual Field of Flags display honors Holocaust victims as well as the victims of genocides in Cambodia, Armenia, Iraq, Bosnia, Rwanda and Darfur. Each small flag represents 5,000 lives lost.
The tribute is constructed by high school students involved in the Corona-Norco district's Unity program, which helps students overcome biases and understand social justice.
In previous years, the event was held at Santana Regional Park, but it was moved this year to the lawn on Sixth Street so more members of the community could visit the display.
"This is a chance for people to park their car and look," said Eliseo Davalos, director of pupil services for Corona-Norco Unified School District.
Student docents will be at the site today to talk to visitors. The flags will remain through Sunday morning.
Among the genocides remembered in the Field of Flags display is the 1987-88 killing of thousands of Kurds in Iraq.
Brianna McCullough, a 17-year-old Centennial High School senior, said she did not know anything about the Armenian genocide, in which more than 1 million people were killed starting in 1915, until she researched it for the project.
"I think all of these people that died should be recognized," she said. "The only way you can stop stuff like this is by talking about it."
The Cambodian genocide, which left an estimated 2 million people dead at the hands of the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s, is more than just an event in history for Thuch. Her parents were born in Cambodia, and members of her family escaped the oppression, she said.
"My grandma was pregnant with my uncle and she walked for three days" to escape, said Thuch, who wore a red T-shirt with an image of the Cambodian temple Angkor Wat on the front. Her classmates sported similar T-shirts on loan from Thuch's mother.
The personal connections of students Thuch and Rawel Chanloeung, 17, who was born in Cambodia and whose parents lived through the genocide, brought the project to life for Orange Grove students, said counselor Lynda Bowie.
"It was exciting," she said, "but it was also disheartening."
Reach Michelle L. Klampe at 951-893-2114 or mklampe@PE.com