‘A HIGHER ALLEGIANCE’ BONUS
Tibetan American Voices
BY JOSHUA EATON AND JASON TURESKY
This is a supplement to ‘The Disaffection of Tibetan Elections’ by Joshua Eaton
It was a Sunday, but many of the classrooms in Medford High School were full. The Tibetan Association of Boston (TAB) was holding its weekly language and culture school. As young children perfected their Tibetan language, their parents practiced a traditional circle dance in a cafeteria.
Jampa Choephell was at the circle’s center, keeping time on a drum hung from a silk scarf, called a “kata,” around his neck.
Choephell, 41, grew up in a Tibetan refugee community in Dharamsala, India. He’s been in the U.S. for eleven years. Now, he works as an executive assistant at Northeastern University and teaches performing arts at the Sunday school.
Choephell voted in elections for the Tibetan government-in-exile — called the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) — on March 20. He’s also excited about voting in the U.S. presidential election in November.
“We are proud that we are able to transmigrate that from the Himalayas, across from 1959, and from India, across the Pacific,” Choephell said. “I think we are flourishing pretty good, out of all of these mishaps that have happened to Tibetans since the Communist occupation.”
Still, Choephell said that many of the children in the Sunday school haven’t made the connection between the Tibetan elections and their own lives. That will change, he hopes, as they grow older and stay involved with the Tibetan community. But for now, it’s not on their radars.
“As long as it doesn’t knock on their door and start affecting their snacks, their iPads, they won’t care,” he said.
A group of men sat in one corner of the cafeteria, documents and ledgers laid out on the tables in front of them. Among them was Sonam Shatsang, TAB’s president. Satsang was filling out Green Books. Every Tibetan refugee over the age of 18 who pays the CTA’s voluntary taxes gets one. They also grant the right to vote in CTA elections.
The books are more than just an ID document or a tax form, according to Choephell. They’re also a way of building Tibetan identity in the younger generation.
“We start from that start, saying, ‘Look, little one, you are a Tibetan, and the only identity that defines you as a Tibetan starts from this Green Book,’” Choephell said. “You have to donate $36 a year … If you can do that, you should be proud to call yourself a Tibetan. If not, forget about it.”
Jangchup Jimpa, 44, is one of the administrators for the Sunday school. Jimpa grew up in Nepal. He came to the U.S. 16 years ago after spending time in England. Now, he lives in Cambridge, Mass., where he works as a carpenter.
The current CTA prime minister, Lobsang Sangye, is part of a younger generation of Tibetan leaders, Jimpa says. Sangye, 48, graduated from Harvard Law School and spent several years in the Boston area before being elected to his current position in 2011.
Jinpa hopes Sangye sets an example of public service for the next generation of Tibetans growing up in exile.
“By looking at him, a lot of the younger generation get motivation to do something for the Tibetan cause,” Jimpa explained.
It’s that younger generation, Jimpa said, that’s taking the lead in Boston — organizing weekly vigils on Wednesday nights in Harvard Square, making signs and banners for community events, holding fundraisers. That makes Jimpa optimistic about the future.
“All the younger generation are the ones who are standing in front, coming up with all these placards,” he said. “The younger generation is more involved in Tibetan politics right now.”
Chhiring Palden has lived in the U.S. for 21 years, now. Palden grew up in Nepal, but her mother traveled back to Tibet for a few months while she with Palden so her daughter would be born in their homeland. Now Palden, 49, lives in Cambridge, Mass., and works as a nanny.
Palden is adamant is a proud U.S. citizen, and she has strong opinions on the presidential election. She’s a Democrat and said she’ll vote in November for whoever wins the party’s nomination. But while she was considering supporting Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders in the primary, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton swayed her on the issue of gun control.
“We need gun control. It’s very important,” Palden explained. “That’s my idea.”
Palden is just as passionate about Tibetan politics, and just as adamant about the importance of voting in CTA elections.
“I’m a Tibetan exile. I grew up in exile. I feel pretty much, even though I’m in the U.S., I feel pain about how Tibetans in Tibet, they suffer. So I have a duty,” she said.
Indeed, Palden’s passion for U.S. politics and her pride at being a citizen have done nothing to dampen her Tibetan identity. Palden still has relatives inside Tibet, she said, where there are no free elections, no free press, no freedom to protest. She feels a responsibility to take advantage of the freedoms she has as both a U.S. citizen and as a member of the Tibetan government-in-exile.
“My blood and my body is from Tibet,” Palden said, “even though I’m living in America.”
This article is part of ‘A Higher Allegiance: The Rise of a Transnational Identity in Boston’s Immigrant Communities,’ a series by the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism. ‘A Higher Allegiance’ was funded with a $10,000 crowdfunding campaign by BINJ on Beacon Reader.
Copyright 2016 Joshua Eaton. Licensed for use by the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism and media outlets in its network.
