Tibetan American

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The history of Tibetans in the United States is relatively short, as the remote kingdom of Tibet for centuries had few relations with other countries. The United States had limited contact or involvement with Tibet before World War II expanded to the Pacific.

Tibetans began to immigrate to the United States beginning in the 1950s. There are now more than 5,000 Tibetans living in the United States and Canada. The migration of these Tibetans to the United States took on the pattern of 22 "cluster groups", located primarily in the Northeast, the Great Lakes region, and the Intermountain West. Other communities include Austin, Texas and Charlottesville, Virginia.

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[edit] Tibetan Americans in the Northeast

Communities of Tibetan Americans in the Northeast exist in Boston and Amherst, Massachusetts, Ithaca, New York and Washington, D.C., and in the states of Connecticut, Vermont and New Jersey.

[edit] Tibetan Americans in the Great Lakes region

Communities of Tibetan Americans in the Great Lakes region exist in Chicago and in the states of Minnesota, Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan. There is a Tibetan Cultural Center in Bloomington, Indiana near the campus of Indiana University. The brother of the Dalai Lama is a professor at the university.

[edit] Tibetan Americans in the Western United States

Communities of Tibetan Americans in the western U.S. exist in Portland, Oregon, Berkeley, California, several locations in Southern California, and in the states of Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Washington, and Utah.

Although quite small in number overall, Colorado has one of the highest concentrations of Tibetans in North America, focused on Boulder, Colorado Springs, Douglas County and Crestone. The state sports a Buddhist university, the Naropa Institute, a Buddhist commune west of Castle Rock, and several cities have Tibetan outreach organizations. Colorado Springs alone has three Tibetan stores and a restaurant.

Much of the reason behind this rather peculiar demographic is that Tibetan guerillas were secretly trained by the CIA at Camp Hale outside of Leadville. Camp Hale was used as a training camp for expatriate Tibetans to be inserted to foment uprising in the mountain kingdom after its invasion by the Chinese People's Liberation Army, between 1959 and 1965.

From 1958 to 1960, Anthony Poshepny trained various special missions teams, including Tibetan Khambas and Hui Muslims, for operations in China against the Communist government. Poshepny sometimes claimed that he personally escorted the 14th Dalai Lama out of Tibet, but sources in the Tibetan exile deny this.

The site was chosen because of the similarities of the Rocky Mountains in the area with the Himalayan Plateau. This was a contemporary plan of the CIA to the one that trained dissident Cubans in what later became the Bay of Pigs incident. After that failed foray, the Tibetan plan in Colorado's mountains was abandoned, but the Tibetans, having no free homeland to return to, opted to stay in the friendly environment and homelike terrain.

[edit] Tibetan Immigration: U.S. Timeline

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Buddhism]].

  • 1949 The People’s Liberation Army of China invades Tibet.
  • 1952 His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s elder brother, Prof. Thupten Norbu (Taktser

Rinpoche) and his friend Dhondup Gyaltsen immigrate to the United States.

  • 1955 Geshe Ngawang Wangyal arrives in the U.S. He serves as religious leader and

spiritual teacher of a Kalmyk Mongolian community in New Jersey and teaches at Columbia University.

  • 1957–71 Tibetan resistance fighters are trained by the CIA and launch numerous

incursions into Tibet.

  • 1958 The first Tibetan Buddhist monastery in North America, Labsum Shedrup

Ling, is established in New Jersey under the spiritual guidance of Geshe Wangyal.

  • 1959 — The Dalai Lama and some 80,000 Tibetans flees to India.Nepal, Bhutan, and

Sikkim after a failed uprising against the Chinese government.

  • 1960 Rockefeller Foundation establishes eight centers for Tibetan studies in the

U.S., which invite 17 Tibetan lamas.

  • 1961 The first graduate program in Buddhist Studies is established at the

University of Wisconsin.

  • 1964 The Office of Tibet is established by His Holiness the Dalai Lama with his

representative in North America serving as director. Its main objective was to raise the issue of Tibet before the United Nations.

  • 1964 Six Tibetans, four from India and two from the U.S., enroll in a year-long

special intensive program at Cornell University to study public administration and economics.

  • 1967–69 Six Tibetans immigrate to the U.S. to work as lumberjacks for the Great

Northern Paper Company in Portage, Maine. The following year, 21 others joined them.

  • 1971 The CIA cancels its covert operations supporting Tibetan guerillas following

President Nixon’s trip to China and a new era of improved U.S.–Sino relations.

  • 1979 The first visit of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to the U.S.
  • 1981 Tibet Fund established in New York to provide humanitarian assistance to

Tibetan refugees primarily in settlements in India and Nepal.

  • 1985 There are 524 Tibetans living in the U.S.
  • 1987 Sept.–Oct. — Tibetans in Lhasa demonstrate against Chinese occupation and

call for independence; the Chinese police fire on protesters and arrest 5,000 Tibetans. Demonstrations are held in Tibetan communities around the world demanding freedom for Tibet.

  • 1987 The International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) is established in Washington,

DC, to build awareness about Tibet and seek high-level support for Tibet in the U.S. government.

  • 1987 Sept. 21 — The Five Point Peace Plan is presented by the His Holiness the

Dalai Lama to the Congressional Human Rights Caucus.

  • 1988 Tibet Fund begins administering yearly Fulbright Program scholarship grants

to bring Tibetans students and professionals to the U.S. for higher education.

  • 1989 March 5–8 — The Lhasa Uprising: thousands of Tibetans march in Lhasa to

protest Chinese rule; martial law is imposed by the Chinese army; and journalists and foreigners are asked to leave.

  • 1989 The Tibetan United States Resettlement Project (TUSRP) is established to

support the resettlement of 1,000 Tibetans. Edward Bednar is appointed director.

  • 1989 April — ICT president Tenzin Tethong, His Holiness the The Dalai Lama’s

Representative Rinchen Dharlo and Edward Bednar meet with pro-Tibet organizations, resettlement agencies, congressional staff, immigration law advisors, etc. to begin 18 months of advocacy for TUSRP.

  • 1989 Dec. 10 — His Holiness the Dalai Lama is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in

recognition of his commitment to non-violence and peace.

  • 1990 April 30 — Martial law is lifted in Tibet.
  • 1991 Tibet Fund designated by the U.S. State Department as the administrator of

U.S. humanitarian aid to Tibetan refugees.

  • 1991 Tibet House New York organizes International Year of Tibet.
  • 1992 The first group of the 1,000 Tibetans arrives in the U.S. under the TUSRP

and settles in six cluster sites throughout the U.S.

  • 1993 In little more than a year since the first group of Tibetans arrived in 1992, 21

cluster sites open in 18 different states across the United States.

  • 1993–2002 Through family reunification, more Tibetans arrive to join the original 1,000.

By 2002 there are approximately 8,650 Tibetans and 30 Tibetan community associations in the United States.

[edit] Notables

  • List of Tibetan Americans

[edit] See also

[edit] External links and references

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