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First They Killed My Father by Loung Ung

• Publication Date: January 1, 2001
• Paperback: 238 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• ISBN-10: 0060931388
• ISBN-13: 9780060931384
• About the Book
• Reading Guide (PDF)
• Critical Praise
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First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers Themes

By loung ung.

These notes were contributed by members of the GradeSaver community. We are thankful for their contributions and encourage you to make your own.

Written by Jules Dominick, mary osei, sebastian galvan

Throughout the Khmer Rouge takeover, the only way to survive is through family. Without each other, it would have been unlikely that the Ung family would survive. Pa was wise and helped the family escape the city. Kim sacrificed his well-being to get extra food for the family. Meng and Khouy worked hard and brought extra food back to the family. Loung and Chou kept each other company and helped each other through the rough times. Ma kept fighting in able to help her youngest, Geak .

Life is not always fair

As seen in the beginning of the book, the Ung family had a privileged life. With a caretaker, two cars, and a nice home, the family had little worries. However, in a matter of three days, everything changes. Their once peaceful life was ruined. Death and destruction surrounded them. All Loung wondered was why this was happening to them. Through this, she learned how life is not always fair.

Cooperation

The family cooperates with the Khmer Rouge in able to survive. When they first leave the city, Pa gives a soldier his watch. Although this is only a small detail, if Pa didn't cooperate, it is likely that is family would have faced trouble. The entire family cooperated with the soldiers and did any of the orders that they were given.

Sacrifice to Survive

The Ung family sacrificed many things to survive the Khmer Rouge takeover. They gave up their entire life in fear of the consequences of the soldiers. Kim sacrificed his well-being for extra food. Pa sacrificed some of his food ration to give to his family. The family broke apart in able to have a better chance of survival. Almost every action the family took sacrificed something, all having one common goal, the want to survive.

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First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

First they killed my father

What are the author’s main points?

Check out the themes page below:

https://www.gradesaver.com/first-they-killed-my-father/study-guide/themes

This is difficult to answer. War and instability have created some horrible times in human history. Why people did what they did can't be answered in this short space. There are so many complex elements to this.

Loungs family gets pot of brown sugar

She eats as much as her wet finger can gather. Sugar is a luxury during this time: “Sugar!” “Brown sugar!” Ma exclaims, taking the pot away from him.

Study Guide for First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers

First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers study guide contains a biography of Loung Ung, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers
• First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers Summary
• Character List

Essays for First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers

First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers literature essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of First They Killed My Father by Loung Ung.

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Wikipedia Entries for First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers

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First They Killed My Father Summary and Key Lessons

“First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers” is a harrowing and poignant memoir by Loung Ung, detailing her childhood experiences during the brutal reign of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. 

The book is a vivid account of the atrocities committed between 1975 and 1979, a period when Pol Pot’s regime aimed to transform Cambodia into a classless agrarian society, resulting in the deaths of an estimated two million people through starvation, forced labor, and execution.

First They Killed My Father Summary

Loung Ung is five years old when the Khmer Rouge comes to power in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. 

The first part of the memoir describes her life before the regime’s takeover, painting a picture of a close-knit and loving family living a comfortable life. 

Loung’s father is a high-ranking government official, which initially provides the family with some protection but later marks them for persecution. As the Khmer Rouge forces begin to evacuate the city, claiming that American bombings are imminent , the Ung family is forced to flee their home. 

Loung recounts the confusion and fear of these initial days, as her family tries to keep a low profile to hide their former status, which is a dangerous liability in the new society where the educated and former officials are especially targeted.

The narrative follows the family’s grueling journey to the countryside, where they are eventually separated. 

Loung’s father is taken away under the pretense of needing his expertise for the government, a common ruse for the execution of former officials. Her mother, desperately trying to keep the remaining family together , makes the agonizing decision to disperse her children to various work camps, believing this will increase their chances of survival. 

Loung is trained as a child soldier in a labor camp for orphans, and her transformation from a privileged child to a starving, grief-stricken, and indoctrinated soldier is a poignant representation of the regime’s impact on the innocence of youth. 

Ung’s storytelling captures the devastating loss of childhood and the chilling effects of being exposed to violence and death at such a tender age.

In the camps, life is brutal and dehumanizing. 

Loung, like millions of others, endures starvation, hard labor, and the constant fear of execution. She details the harsh daily realities: the minimal rations of food, the backbreaking work, and the Khmer Rouge’s relentless propaganda. 

The regime’s attempt to eradicate personal identities, family ties, culture, and history is a theme Ung revisits throughout her memoir, showing how the Khmer Rouge sought to control every aspect of life. Loung’s narrative is interwoven with her personal struggle to retain her sense of self and her memories of a better time, which serve both as a comfort and a source of pain, reminding her of all that has been lost.

Amidst the horror, there are moments of poignant human connection. 

Ung describes the bonds that form between survivors, the small acts of kindness that offer a glimmer of hope, and the indomitable will to live that sustains her through the darkest times. 

As Vietnamese troops begin to infiltrate Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge’s grip on the country starts to weaken, offering a faint hope of liberation. Loung’s escape from the labor camp and her journey to a refugee camp near the Thai border is fraught with danger, yet it signals the beginning of a slow and painful road to recovery.

The book concludes with Loung and her surviving family members in a refugee camp, where they face the challenge of rebuilding their shattered lives . 

They grapple with the deep psychological scars and the grief of losing their parents and siblings. The memoir extends beyond the immediate tale of survival, touching on the refugee experience and the challenges faced by those who fled the Khmer Rouge, as well as the long-lasting impact of such trauma. 

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Key Lessons

1. resilience in the face of unspeakable adversity.

The human capacity for resilience is profound. 

Loung Ung’s story exemplifies how a person can endure extreme hardship and loss, yet still find the strength to continue and eventually overcome. As a child, Ung had to adapt quickly to the brutal realities imposed by the Khmer Rouge, losing her home, family, and innocence. 

Her journey of survival teaches us that while we may have little control over the external forces that disrupt our lives , our response to them can demonstrate remarkable fortitude. 

This resilience can be fostered through holding onto memories of better times, forging new relationships in adversity , and nurturing hope for a brighter future.

Application:

This lesson can be applied in our own lives by recognizing that while we cannot always control what happens to us , we can cultivate resilience by focusing on our responses to challenging situations. 

We can train ourselves to look for lessons in our struggles and to seek out support from others, understanding that hardship can strengthen our character and capacity to deal with future challenges.

2. The Destructive Power of Ideology Over Humanity

The book starkly illustrates the dangers of a dogmatic ideology that values principles over people . 

The Khmer Rouge’s vision of a classless society resulted in the dehumanization and deaths of millions , revealing how a rigid adherence to an ideology can lead to the justification of atrocities. 

Ung’s memoir warns against the devaluation of individual lives for the sake of a political or social ideal , showcasing the importance of empathy, ethical considerations, and the sanctity of human life even within political movements.

Application: 

We must approach ideologies and political systems with a critical eye, ensuring that the protection of human rights remains at the forefront of any societal change. 

In practice, this means advocating for policies that consider the welfare of all individuals, promoting open dialogue and dissenting views to prevent the echo chambers that often precede humanitarian crises, and educating ourselves about the past to recognize the warning signs of oppressive regimes.

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3. The Impact of War on Children

Children are often the most vulnerable and voiceless victims of war , and their suffering can have lifelong effects. 

Through Loung Ung’s eyes, we see the psychological and physical toll that conflict exacts on young people, from the loss of family and security to the interruption of education and the theft of innocence. 

The book teaches that the impact of war on children extends far beyond the cessation of conflict; it can alter the trajectory of their entire lives . 

This underscores the need for a focus on the protection and psychological support of children in conflict zones as a central aspect of humanitarian aid and international policy.

When considering the implications of conflict, or in supporting humanitarian efforts, prioritizing the welfare of children is crucial. 

On a smaller scale, this can involve supporting organizations that focus on providing relief, education, and psychological services to children affected by war. 

On a larger scale, it requires pushing for policies and international actions that prevent the use of child soldiers, ensure safe zones for children in conflict areas, and offer asylum to those most vulnerable. 

Additionally, individuals can foster awareness and education about the impact of conflict on young lives to ensure that the issue remains at the forefront of international discourse.

Final Thoughts

“First They Killed My Father” serves as a powerful testament to the resilience of the human spirit, the importance of remembrance, and the need for healing after the devastation of war and genocide. Loung Ung’s narrative is a personal and emotional journey that also provides a critical voice in the collective memory of Cambodia’s tragic past.

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First They Killed My Father

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The Price of Survival

First They Killed My Father is Loung Ung ’s unflinching first-person account of the 1975 to 1979 Cambodian Genocide, during which the Khmer Rouge regime killed an estimated two million citizens through forced labor, starvation, and indiscriminate execution. Loung is just five years old when the Khmer Rouge takes control of the country, but she makes it through its reign of terror through a combination of luck, personal strength, and the unwavering support of her…

Genocide, Racism, and Propaganda

The Khmer Rouge is a deeply paranoid, xenophobic, racist regime that seeks to rid Cambodia of all outside influence and so-called “ethnic poison.” As a child with no broader understanding of the historical or political issues that lead to the rise of the Khmer Rouge regime, Loung Ung frequently questions the rationale behind the Angkar ’s brutality, only to find that there really is none. In this way, her innocence highlights the absurdity of hating…

Women’s Treatment in Times of War

Women faced unique horrors—including rape and forced marriage to soldiers—under the Khmer Rouge , who viewed them as weak and disposable. Even prior to the takeover, however, many Cambodian women were subjected to sexist societal expectations and unfair treatment. Writing from the perspective of a young girl, Loung ’s story is particularly attuned to the ways in which women suffer before, during, and after times of war. Whatever group controls Cambodia—the Lon Nol government, the…

The Unbreakable Bonds of Family

As a young child at the start of the Khmer Rouge takeover, Loung has little else in her life apart from her parents and six siblings. Family is Loung’s entire world, and as the horror of the next four years steals her innocence, ties between family members are the only things unbroken by the Angkar .

In the beginning of the story, Loung emphasizes that her relationships with her siblings in Phnom Penh are fairly…

Movie Reviews

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Angelina Jolie's "First They Killed My Father" is far and away her best work as a director: a rare film about a national tragedy told through the eyes and mind of a child, and as fine a war movie as has ever been made. Adapted by Jolie and co-writer Loung Ung from Ung's memoir about her family's experiences after the Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia, it stands apart from most work in this vein not just because of what it does so well, but because of what it refuses to do.

There are emotionally powerful moments, particularly near the end when you start to see some light at the end of the tunnel, but there's little in the way of canned Hollywood uplift. But every image and feeling are anchored to the point-of-view of Ung, played by the remarkable young actress Sareum Srey Moch . She was five when the Khmer Rouge captured Phnom Penh and seven when she made it out, her young mind stained by memories of hunger, brutality and sudden death. She learned skills that no child should know, like how to plant land mines, fire an AK-47, and drive a spear into a Vietnamese soldier's chest.

The movie kicks off with a prologue alluding to how American carpet bombing of Cambodia during the closing years of the war helped create a power vacuum that vicious people rushed to fill. This is related through documentary and news clips of bombers incinerating forests, U.S. troops understandably expressing little interest in or animosity toward Cambodia, then-President Richard Nixon insisting that there is no American war there, and then-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger callously promising a "final solution" in the region. The blend of languages in this section reinforces the idea that this era was a tragedy of international significance, regardless of whether people who were alive at the time paid attention.

Luong's story begins in relative peace, with the heroine and her bourgeois family, headed by a military police officer father ( Phoeung Kompheak ), in the capital, wondering what changes the end of the U.S. war will bring. The Khmer Rouge, a splinter of the Vietnam People's Army of North Vietnam led by future dictator Pol Pot, rolls into the city, crushing the remnants of the country's weak official government and initiating a purge that would claim millions of lives. Loung's father sees the writing on the wall and leads his wife ( Sveng Socheata ) and children from the city. 

From that point on, "First They Killed My Father" becomes a survival story about a suddenly powerless family doing whatever it takes to get through the day. Their efforts are shadowed by the knowledge that not all of them will make it out alive, and that even outwardly unremarkable interactions could lead to the family being separated, imprisoned, brutalized or murdered. The early scenes of Luong's mother, father and siblings divesting themselves of most possessions (including some beloved dresses and toys) are all the more vivid for being underplayed. This dry-eyed reportage continues throughout the film, ratcheting up toward operatic or tragic heights only when Loung is at her most distraught.

It's impossible to properly appreciate the impact of this story without acknowledging the filmmaking's role in summoning it. More so than almost any recent American feature made at this budget level, "First They Killed My Father" creates a distinct visual vocabulary that seems to emerge organically from the story, then pursues it consistently, never breaking away without reason. With the exception of a few aerial or crane shots that provide a sense of geographical context, and some high-angled overhead shots that evoke the eye of an indifferent God, most of the film is captured with a handheld camera that communicates anxiety or dread but never tries to generate phony action-movie "excitement." Shot after shot after shot amounts to a simple record of actions: she walked over there; this person spoke to that person. They're all captured by cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle in smartly composed but unfussy images, some in third person (with the heroine in the frame), others in first (the camera representing what Loung sees). The editing, by Xavier Box and Patricia Rommel , reconciles these perspectives in such a supple way that we seem to be outside and inside the story all at once, thinking about it even as we're feeling its impact.

Every now and then, Jolie gives us a flashback or fantasy, often focusing on the heroine's memories of a time when the family were comfortable, healthy and carefree. The color in these shots is oversaturated, aglow with yearning. When the film snaps back into present tense and rejoins Loung and her family in an agrarian work camp/"re-education" facility where the earth, sky and trees seem to have been bled of color, the loss of pigmentation stands in for the loss of hope.

In time, the reason for this meticulous style becomes clear: this is a tale recollected in tranquility from some point in the future, so of course it would switch on a dime between immediacy and detachment. When you remember trauma, you see a dark picture but also the philosophical frame you've built around it. Everything seems to be happening a long time ago but also right now. 

The script mostly avoids the particulars of Cambodian-Vietnamese animosity, presenting re-education sessions filled with anti-Vietnamese invective as examples of wartime conditioning and mind control. The Khmer Rouge's constant praising of the utopian ideals of Communism is undermined by what the heroine sees: the vegetables and rice being taken from the camp workers and sent to the front lines to feed combat soldiers; the meager spoonfuls of broth that the farm slaves stir in their bowls at night; the crude pleasure that low-level flunkies take in humiliating underlings, their sadism empowered by allegiance to the state; the plump beetles that the father roasts over a fire, then serves to his starving family like chestnuts. The script is less interested in what it all meant, geopolitically speaking, than how it felt to live through it: the sense of dislocation and uncertainty, the deprivation and fear, the artillery shells tearing through treelines at night and jolting sleepers awake; the mines blasting bodies into the air and setting them down without legs.

The ace in Jolie's deck here is the knowledge that a girl as young as Loung can't comprehend the larger meaning of what's happening to her, and is therefore unlikely to expend precious emotional energy connecting cause-and-effect dots or lamenting what was lost. It's an almost entirely experiential movie. Whatever occurs automatically becomes the new normal for the heroine, and she does her best to adapt to it, even when she's stricken by grief, panic or rage. Whether Luong is hearing her mother warn her and her sisters that they can't take party dresses on the road, watching a camp worker beat a hungry child for stealing vegetables, or inspiring a group of kids to kill, skin, roast and eat a snake, the film maintains a culturally neutral attitude. It's never, "Oh, how horrible" or "Isn't that strange and different?" but simply "Here's what happened next."

This is not a "triumph of the human spirit" movie with syrupy strings and inspirational speeches. Marco Beltrami's score never appears unless it has something to add to the images. The majority of scenes play out with natural sound: marching boots, helicopters, gunshots, bombs, birds, insects, cheering crowds, whispered conversations, shrill propaganda speeches, river water flowing downstream. There are no awkwardly inserted scenes with U.N. observers, doctors or journalists, devised to justify casting American or English actors in a film that doesn't require their presence.

It's a film that recreates a bleak time and place with a journalistic eye for detail, catching fleeting, at times surreal instances of humanity amid horror—particularly when it catches kids acting like kids, playing in river water, stretching a hand up towards a military helicopter soaring overhead, becoming fixated on the soft clang-clang of a teakettle bouncing against a knee during a walk. There are many moments where somebody who has no practical reason to smile at Loung smiles at her. She smiles back because that's what kids do, even when they know the adult standing over them could kill their sister, mother or father for no reason at all.

The movie channels the hardest parts of some of the toughest great films ever made: the scenes in "Los Olvidados" and " Pixote " of slum kids playing in ruins; the gallows humor of World War II films built around kids, especially " Hope and Glory " and " Empire of the Sun "; the documentary-immediate sections of " Platoon " that showed the tedium and indignity of war: mud, rain, leeches, insomnia.

Jolie and her collaborators move through Loung's story so economically—never lingering on a scene or image longer than is necessary to make a point—that the fear and pain inherent in the material is always counterbalanced by the intellectual excitement of seeing a world re-created in detail, from the ground up. Jolie is certain to be criticized for being a rich white American directing a film about Cambodian genocide, and not without cause, but it's also obvious that she's done everything possible, short of not directing the movie, to remove herself from center stage, put the spotlight on her heroine, and keep it there. The cast is comprised of Cambodian actors whose names mean nothing internationally, and they don't speak English with a vaguely "Asian" accent, but subtitled Khmer. The opening and closing credits are presented simultaneously in Khmer and English; Khmer always comes first.

That this movie even exists is a small miracle. That it seems to have been made without compromise and largely without ego makes it even more rare. 

Matt Zoller Seitz

Matt Zoller Seitz is the Editor at Large of RogerEbert.com, TV critic for New York Magazine and Vulture.com, and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in criticism.

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Film Credits

First They Killed My Father (2017)

135 minutes

Phoeung Kompheak as Pa

Sveng Socheata as Ma

Sareum Srey Moch as Loung

• Angelina Jolie

Writer (based on the book "First They Killed My Father" by)

Cinematographer.

• Anthony Dod Mantle
• Patricia Rommel
• Marco Beltrami

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Cities’ Efforts to Hold Police Accountable Hit a Wall: The Police

Civilian oversight boards face resistance across the country from those they are supposed to monitor. A New York case underscores the tension.

By Maria Cramer

Last year, a woman in Albany, N.Y., filed a complaint with the civilian board responsible for investigating allegations of misconduct by the city’s police: She believed officers had not thoroughly investigated her claim that the father of her 3-year-old daughter had sexually assaulted the girl.

But when the board asked the Albany Police Department for a copy of the case file and issued subpoenas to compel the investigators to answer questions, the police refused to cooperate. Releasing investigative files, they argued, could endanger victims, according to internal emails.

Eric Hawkins, the police chief, also told the board that he would not allow officers or detectives to cooperate with any of the panel’s investigations because forcing officers to respond to subpoenas would violate the police union’s contract, according to a lawsuit the board filed against the Police Department.

The resistance to the Albany board’s demands is emblematic of the struggles such panels continue to face across the United States, decades after being created to increase police accountability.

Civilian review boards, first formed in the 1970s, were meant to provide a mechanism for ensuring that law enforcement agencies were answerable to the public they serve. The most effective panels have the power to investigate misconduct and a role in meting out discipline, according to experts.

But many police departments remain reluctant to accept outside oversight, said Edward F. Davis, a former Boston police commissioner who generally supports such boards.

“When you get down to what the police view as their own responsibilities — policing the police and asking hard questions of what happened — they’re hesitant to turn that power over to just anybody,” he said.

Police unions and conservative officers are increasingly resistant to review boards, arguing that civilians are unqualified to judge how officers do their jobs even as many boards strive to include members with law enforcement or legal backgrounds. Albany’s nine-person board includes a retired police officer, a pastor, a lawyer and a mental health specialist.

Before Minneapolis police officers killed George Floyd in May 2020, there were 200 review boards around the country, according to the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement. After the killing, 50 more were formed, said Cameron McEllhiney, the organization’s executive director.

Some have experienced a backlash since then. Last year, five years after voters in Nashville overwhelmingly approved a referendum that increased the city review board’s ability to question officers, the state’s Republican governor, Bill Lee, signed legislation abolishing panels with such powers across the state , essentially replacing them with weaker boards.

In March, Florida lawmakers passed a bill that forbids the state’s 21 review boards from investigating allegations of misconduct against officers. Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, signed the bill on April 12.

The suit filed by the Albany board argues that the Police Department is violating a law approved by city voters in 2021 that expanded the power of the panel, officially known as the Albany Community Police Review Board, to investigate misconduct allegations.

The suit, filed in state court, accuses the city, the department and Chief Hawkins of undermining the board’s ability to review cases independently, including by repeatedly ignoring “lawfully issued” subpoenas to interview officers.

The police, the board’s lawyers wrote, “have offered ever-changing justifications to shield their outright disregard of their duty to comply.”

A police spokeswoman declined to comment, citing the suit.

Stephen J. Rehfuss, a lawyer for the Albany Police Benevolent Association, filed a motion asking for the lawsuit to be dismissed, arguing that the board was requiring officers to submit to interviews even though it did not have the power to protect them from prosecution.

“Without this immunity, the officers compelled testimony could potentially be used in a subsequent criminal proceeding,” he wrote. “As a result, the officers are denied their constitutionally protected right against self-incrimination.”

Matthew Toporowski, a lawyer for the city, denied in a motion that Chief Hawkins had directed his officers to ignore the board’s subpoenas.

The board “has no factual support to the contrary,” he wrote, adding that Chief Hawkins and another police commander had spent hours answering questions from the board about cases it was investigating.

In Florida, supporters of the legislation recently signed by Mr. DeSantis said police misconduct should be investigated by other officers, not by civilians. They also said some board members had an anti-police bias. One member in Tallahassee allegedly brought a mug with an “Abolish Police” sticker to a board meeting .

“Imagine being a doctor and being evaluated on the conduct of your care by someone who has no idea what your own community standard might be,” State Representative Daniel Alvarez, a Republican, told his colleagues during debate on the bill.

But a police oversight board without investigative powers is largely ineffective, said Ajenai Clemmons, an assistant professor of public policy in the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver.

“Oversight can’t be reliant on police departments to turn over the information if and when they choose,” she said. Of boards, she added: “They need subpoena powers, and they need the ability to conduct independent investigations.”

More than 70 percent of Albany voters approved the 2021 referendum that expanded the review panel’s investigative authority by empowering the board to demand case files and subpoena officers.

The board hired an outside company that recruits retired police officers to investigate misconduct accusations, and the firm began examining several cases, including the one involving the 3-year-old girl.

But the police balked at providing the case files to investigators and complying with the subpoenas, which board leaders said was a direct violation of the law.

“Voters said they wanted to see the change,” said John Levendosky, a retired police officer and board member, in an interview last fall before the suit was filed. “The administration and the department itself are saying, ‘No, we like things the way they were. And we have the money the power and the time to keep things status quo.’”

The 3-year-old’s mother filed her complaint with the board on Jan. 30, 2023, after what she said was years of trying to get the police to make an arrest.

“I didn’t know which way to turn,” the mother, Jasmine, said in an interview. She asked that she be identified only by her given name to protect her daughter’s identity. “I was desperate.”

Jasmine described in her complaint how she had found blood in her daughter’s underwear after the girl returned home from visiting her father one day in October 2019. Jasmine said her daughter had told her that her father had put an object inside her vagina, according to court documents.

Jasmine immediately took the girl to the hospital, where the child gave doctors the same account and then repeated it again to the police, according to court documents.

But one of the investigators in the case called the child’s statement “hearsay,” according to a copy of Jasmine’s review board complaint. Another investigator, Sgt. Gregory Askew, waited more than two weeks to interview the child’s father and told Jasmine she should file a separate complaint with the child welfare agency, Jasmine’s complaint said.

Jasmine filed a complaint with the child welfare agency, and a family court trial was held. On Sept. 1, 2020, the family court judge found that Jasmine’s daughter had been sexually abused.

Citing the girl’s statements, photographic evidence of her injuries and the father’s “disjointed and inconsistent testimony,” the judge ordered the father to stay away from the girl for five years.

But when Jasmine called Sergeant Askew to tell him about the court’s finding, he told her that “the temporary stay away order ‘was good enough’” and he did not reopen the case, according to her review board complaint. The police “inflicted more trauma to me and my family,” Jasmine wrote in the complaint.

The father, who has not been criminally charged, and his lawyer in family court did not respond to requests for comment.

Sergeant Askew referred a request for comment to a police spokeswoman. She declined to comment, citing the board’s suit.

The police eventually provided the panel with the child’s case files after the board authorized two subpoenas for the documents.

But the investigation hit a roadblock in February, when Sergeant Askew did not appear for a scheduled interview to testify about the case, according to an email Jasmine received from the outside firm hired by the board.

“I am so sorry that I cannot move this forward until we can get the Albany Police Department to cooperate,” Julie Schwartz, a managing director at the firm, T&M USA, wrote, adding: “It is so unfair to you.”

Both Jasmine and her daughter, who is now 8, are in therapy. Jasmine said her daughter gets frightened when she sees a man walking down the street who resembles her father.

But she said her daughter remained optimistic and affectionate.

“She’s still that person, expecting the good out of people,” Jasmine said. “I have to just let her know that it’s unfortunate, but we can’t trust everyone.”

Kirsten Noyes contributed research.

Maria Cramer is a Times reporter covering the New York Police Department and crime in the city and surrounding areas. More about Maria Cramer

First They Killed My Father

63 pages • 2 hours read

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Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-2

Chapters 3-6

Chapters 7-11

Chapters 12-14

Chapters 15-18

Chapters 19-24

Chapter 25-Epilogue

Key Figures

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Discussion Questions

Chapters 3-6 Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 3 summary: “take over”.

On April 17, 1975, a group of soldiers dressed in black with red sashes and scarves ride into town on large cargo trucks. Along with their unusual outfits, Loung immediately notices their long greasy hair, commenting, “It is believed that men who wear their hair long must have something to hide” (17). As a cheering crowd forms around the men, but Loung’s father knows that something is not right. Loung and her father return to their home to find her mother packing what she can. Loung is confused by the behavior of her parents and older siblings. At this time, her biggest concern is what car they will take, the Mazda or the truck. Once they pack up and leave their home, the Ungs find chaos in the streets as the soldiers shout to everyone in Phnom Penh to leave the city immediately.

Chapter 4 Summary: “Evacuation”

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