Hmong fear backlash in larger community

[seemslikeadream]

Posted on Wed, May. 12, 2004


Hmong fear backlash in larger community

BY TODD NELSON

Pioneer Press


With thousands of Hmong refugees expected to be resettled in Minnesota this year, community leaders fear a backlash over the Monday arrest of a Hmong-American St. Paul police officer.

Officer Tou Cha, 35, is suspected of firing gunshots into the home of a former Hmong military commander's translator and into Hmong businesses. The incident was one of several in a flare-up of crimes among factions in the Southeast Asian community.



"People will think what they want to think. I see it as very much unrelated to whatever is happening" with the resettlement, said MayKao Hang, adult services director with Ramsey County Human Services.

When the incidents first began last year, state Sen. Mee Moua, DFL-St. Paul, urged the community not to speculate and to let the police handle the investigation. She cautioned the same thing Tuesday.
"I hope law enforcement will continue to do what they need to do to answer all the questions," she said. "It's premature to conclude that this is the answer."

It's difficult for people to keep a cool head, however, Ilean Her added.

"Whatever comes out of it, it's still a bad day for the Hmong community," she said. "He is one of our young men in a position in law enforcement, in which we've always wanted people to be involved. It's gives a bad message to the outer community."

more
http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/local/8643932.htm?ERIGHTS=3715813914446400235twincities::[e-mail]&KRD_RM=4qnmopqkkppnlmkkkkkkkkklps|kathy|N&is_rd=Y



FRED DE SAM LAZARO: The twin cities are home to the largest Hmong population in North America, about 60,000 people. They began arriving from Laos and Thai refugee camps in the late '70s, initially placed here by local church-based refugee relief groups. And while this community has plenty to celebrate, social workers and educators say it's been a struggle. Of all the Southeast Asian refugees who fled for the U.S., none was more reluctant or less prepared than the Hmong. Hmong music, artwork, and ceremonies depict an agrarian people who fled once, a century before, from China to almost total isolation in the hills of Laos. Until the mid-20th century, the Hmong did not have a written language or a currency.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/asia/vietnam/hmong_5-4.html


2001 Hmong Population and Education in
the United States and the World
August 24, 2001
Researched and Collected by Dr. Vang Pobzeb

From 1975 to 1991, more than 500,000 people in Laos fled and became international political refugees in the world because of the legacy of the Vietnam War in Southeast Asia.


The Communist Lao and Vietnamese governments have been exterminating Hmong people in Laos since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975 and are still doing so today, because of Hmong people cooperated with the U.S. government during the Vietnam War. In 2001, witnesses in Laos have reported that many thousands of Communist Vietnamese soldiers are cooperating with the Communist Lao government of the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR) to conduct an ethnic cleansing war, genocide and human rights violations against Hmong people in Laos. Therefore, we appeal to and call upon Hmong American intellectuals, educators and the general public to unify our leadership strategies and efforts in order to save the lives of Hmong people in Laos. We call upon all Hmong people to unify and work together to save the lives of Hmong people. Power politics in the world and global actors are remaining silent on the genocide against Hmong people in Laos because they are concerned with economics and commercial goods for themselves. They do not really care about human rights violations and genocide in Laos and in other parts of the world.

There are about 300,000 Hmong American people in the United States in 2001.


In 2001, there are approximately 80,000 Hmong American people in Minnesota; and 80,000 Hmong Americans in Wisconsin.


About 40,000 Hmong Americans moved from California to Minnesota, Wisconsin, and other states between 1996 and 2001.


About 70,000 Hmong Americans still live in California in 2001.


Many Hmong Americans moved from California to Minnesota and Wisconsin and other states because of the problems of welfare reforms and unemployment problems

http://www.laohumrights.org/2001data.html

Jack Austin Smith, a Vietnam Veteran and a retired career soldier


Writing to an American who was confused about the Hmong people, Jack Austin Smith, a Vietnam Veteran and a retired career soldier, wrote the following in 1996 (quoted from his e-mail to me, with permission):

The war in Vietnam was fought on several fronts and I served in two them. The main American battle ground was in the Southern end of South Vietnam. In order for the North Vietnamese forces to fight us there, it was necessary for their supplies and troops to go through Laos and Cambodia on the Ho Chi Minh Trail, and Laos was controlled by a Pro-Communist Government at that time. Therefore America was not allowed to have any forces on the ground, although we were allowed to bomb and attack North Vietnamese troops with our aerial forces. About 99% of the combat forces on the ground were Hmong irregulars who were persuaded by Americans to forget about being neutral, and to fight the N. Vietnamese regulars (not relatively poorly trained Viet Cong guerrilla forces). We supplied air cover, but every combat trooper knows aircraft can't take and hold ground. We depended on the Hmongs to do this. Without modern arms, without medical help.
After the fall of Saigon we pulled out of Southeast Asia and left the Hmongs to continue the fight without air support. When we left, the Hmong had to fight both the Laotians and the N. Vietnamese. They could not fight tanks, heavy artillery and aircraft with rifles. A great many Hmongs were slaughtered in their villages. Many were slaughtered at airfields where they waited for evacuation planes that never came. A few were able to fight every foot of the way across Laos and cross the Mekong River into refugee camps in Thailand where they were further mistreated by rather corrupt UN and Thai officials. Out of a estimated 3,000,000 prewar Hmong population less than 200,000 made it to safety. One other ill informed or stupid writer said "they were all gone" meaning, I guess, that the combat Hmongs were all dead, they are wrong. Most of the survivors are in Australia, France and here among us.

Now I don't know about those heroes who have never heard a shot fired in anger, but I am embarrassed that my country so mislead these people. The Hmongs gave up literally everything for us: their country, their homes, their peaceful way of life, most of their families, everything that we would cherish. We promised them our continued support and then we bugged out.

You mentioned having relatives who fought in Vietnam and I hope they all survived. However their chances would have been much less if the Hmongs hadn't intercepted over 50% of the N. Vietnamese troops and supplies. If you truly loved your relatives, you should be grateful for the Hmongs' sacrifices.
http://www.jefflindsay.com/hmong.shtml

[seemslikeadream]

1. Officer charged in drive-by shooting of Hmong target

He was charged in Ramsey County only in the April 20 Maplewood shooting - a felony that carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine - though prosecutors weren't ruling out further charges.

The other shooting happened Nov. 29.

"All of us are particularly saddened when a member of the (law enforcement) community is charged with violating their oath to preserve the public safety," Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner said.

According to a criminal complaint, Cha told police he gave his weapon to a cousin one day last month and that the next day the Maplewood home was hit with five bullets.

The cousin had said he wanted to scare the owner of the home, a translator for Gen. Vang Pao, a revered former Hmong military leader.

Cha said he told the cousin, "whatever they do, don't kill anybody and don't let the police find out," the complaint said.

The cousin's motive wasn't disclosed in the complaint.

The shootings are part of a string of violent crimes targeting Hmong leaders and groups in recent months. One firebombing last month gutted the home of Pao's son, and another fire damaged a Hmong fraternal organization in St. Paul.

Police said the motive behind the violence remains unclear.

Police said they traced bullet casings gathered at the scene of the shootings to Cha's department-issued .40-caliber pistol.
http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/news/politics/8650055.htm

Cha joined the Police Department 11 years ago and has had several prominent assignments, including a recent trip with the mayor and other city leaders to a Thai refugee camp that's home to thousands of Hmong.

http://www.kstp.com/article/view/143000/

[Momgonepostal]

2. If you're interested in Hmong issues...

...a good book is The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. It mainly chronicles a Hmong family and their daughter's health issues, but also goes into the story of how the Hmong came to be in the US. It sounds like a lot of those Hmong who stuck their necks out for us during the war were under the impression they'd be eligible for veterans benefits.

It also says that some Hmong refugees ended up in South America (French Guyana?). The government there let them homestead and gave them each a plot of land. As of when the book was published, the Hmong there were producing something like 50 percent of the farmed vegetables in the country, and as a whole, very self sufficient.

[seemslikeadream]

3. Thanks so much

There seems to be some trouble brewing, I've been keeping track

My interest in Hmong started here in GD

lojasmo (219 posts) Sun May-02-04 01:24 AM
Original message
Police everywhere in duluth WTF


There was a police officer in the lobby of my hotel on canal point, and an oficer in the lobby of Grandma's restaraunt/bar.

In the cold war, reportedly, duluth was number seven on the list of probable nuclear targets.

Any ideas?

Jackpine Radical (1000+ posts) Sun May-02-04 04:34 PM
Response to Reply #25

27. OK--but why Duluth?


It's 150 miles north of the Twin Cities.

Hmong rivalries erupt in violence

Leaders targeted in fire bombings

BY TODD NELSON

Pioneer Press


Could a war that ended three decades ago in a sleepy corner of Southeast Asia be behind a mysterious outbreak of violence in the Twin Cities?



EMOTIONS RUNNING HIGH

For many Lao and Hmong in the Twin Cities and beyond, the violence has stoked emotions already running high over a host of issues, from improving trade relations with the Lao government to alleged human rights abuses against Hmong resistance fighters and civilians in Laos and the pending resettlement of thousands of Hmong refugees in Thailand. With shadowy factions and differences dating back to the war to untangle, some investigators are getting a crash course in Hmong culture and politics.


The general shocked some of his loyal supporters in November when he declared during a speech in Oakdale that he had met with Vietnamese officials to discuss reconciliation. In addition to what has become known as his peace doctrine, he also announced conditional support for better U.S. trade with Laos.

Just before midnight on April 20, someone fired five gunshots into the Maplewood home of Vang Pao's translator, Xang Vang. The next morning, a fire broke out in an office at Lao Family Community of Minnesota, a refugee assistance agency Vang Pao founded more than 20 years ago, in St. Paul. The fire that destroyed the home of the general's son, Cha Vang, occurred at 1:20 a.m. on April 25. He and his wife awoke to the sound of breaking glass, discovered the fire and escaped unharmed with their three daughters. A day later, someone used a Molotov cocktail in a failed attempt to set fire to the St. Paul office of a Hmong and Laotian veterans group.
Vang Pao had good intentions when he set out to broker the peace agreement, but his former foes deceived him, said Stephen Vang, a lecturer in Hmong and Southeast Asian studies at the University of Wisconsin-Stout.

"It was controversial," Stephen Vang said of the peace plan. "People have different opinions about the plan. It turned out to be propaganda from the Lao and Viet officials. Many people are very disappointed with the results."

The violence appears to target, at least symbolically, Vang Pao, who led the secret CIA army that battled Lao and Vietnamese communist insurgents in Laos during the Vietnam War, from 1961 to 1973. The communist Pathet Lao took control over the country 29 years ago this month, sending thousands of Hmong fleeing for refuge in Thailand. More than 130,000 have resettled in the United States since Laos fell to the communists. St. Paul, with more than 24,000, has the largest Hmong population of any U.S. city.

http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/8629252.htm

Posted on Sun, May. 09, 2004

Investigators probe possible link between East Side fire and crimes against Hmong

BY LISA DONOVAN

Pioneer Press



"All possible accidental causes were eliminated," said Pete Pream, a St. Paul Deputy Fire Chief. "We believe this may be an arson fire."


Just after 11 p.m. Saturday firefighters were summoned to a home at 1675 Edgerton St., near Larpenteur Avenue. Neighbors across the street called 911 after seeing flames in the living room area.


No one was home when emergency crews arrived, and firefighters quickly knocked out the blaze, which investigators later determined started on a living room couch.



The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is helping with the investigation.


Investigators are trying to determine if the cases are related. Two attacks involve Hmong community members connected to Gen. Vang Pao, who was recruited by the CIA to lead a Hmong army against communist insurgents during the Vietnam War.


The other incidents include:


-- April 20, just before midnight, shots were fired into the residence of Xang Vang, translator for Gen. Vang Pao, on Linwood Avenue in Maplewood.


-- April 24, a fire was ignited at the Lao Family Community of Minnesota offices on the 300 block of University Avenue in St. Paul.


-- April 25, at about 1:20 a.m., a fire that has been ruled arson destroyed the home of Gen. Vang Pao's son Cha Vang on Tevlin Court in Maplewood.


-- April 26, arson was attempted at the Lao Veterans of America on the 700 block of Milton Street in St. Paul.


Laos, Hmong Bill Passes U.S. Congress: Urges Stalinist Regime to Address C



Laos, Hmong Bill Passes U.S. Congress: Urges Stalinist Regime to Address Crisis and Reform

5/6/2004 4:10:00 PM

WASHINGTON, May 6 /U.S. Newswire/ -- In an historic vote today, the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed strongly worded legislation (H.Res. 402) introduced by Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.) and a bipartisan coalition in the U.S. House of Representatives regarding the emergency crisis facing the Hmong people in Laos and the urgent need for freedom, democratic reform, and the international monitoring of elections, human rights and religious liberty in Laos.

"Today's historic vote in the U.S. Congress for the passage of H. Res. 402 is something that we at the Lao Veterans of America have worked very hard at for nearly two years in Washington, D.C.," stated Colonel Wangyee Vang, national director and founder of the Lao Veterans of America, Inc., the nation's largest Lao and Hmong veterans organization. "Today's vote in Congress for Congressman Burton's Laos bill marks an important victory for the freedom-loving Lao and Hmong people now suffering under the Communist regime in Laos as well as all of the veterans and the Laotian and Hmong-American organizations and individuals who joined together as a team to help us fight for the passage of this important legislation, to help bring freedom and democracy to Laos," Colonel Wangyee concluded.

Rep. Dan Burton was joined by Reps. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), Mark Green (D-Wisc.), Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.), Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), Ron Kind (D-Wis.), Steve Chabot (R-Ohio), Adam Smith (D-Wash.), Thomas Petri (R-Wis.) and others in introducing the Laos legislation on October 16, 2004. H.Res. 402 was introduced following a special session of the U.S. Congressional Forum on Laos, held in the Longworth House Office Building, where a number of prominent Members of Congress, Laotian and Hmong organizations, dissidents, victims and human rights organizations testified about the current crisis in Laos and the plight of the Hmong people, including the Lao Veterans of America, the Lao Students Movement for Democracy, Amnesty International and others. Hundreds of Lao and Hmong veterans, and their families, are slated to convene in the U.S. Congress early next week for a special U.S. Congressional reception and events to honor Rep. Burton's legislation and Members of Congress who have taken a leadership role in its passage. The Congressional events are cosponsored by the Lao Veterans of America, Inc., and the Center for Public Policy Analysis.

"Congressman Burton's bold new legislation addressing the current situation in Laos is a first step toward engaging the Pathet Lao regime, United Nations and the State Department more seriously, honestly and effectively regarding the horrific plight of the jailed Laotian students, political and religious dissidents and Hmong civilians and rebels now under brutal siege in closed military zones," stated Philip Smith, executive director for the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Public Policy Analysis. Smith also serves as the Washington director for the Lao Veterans of America, Inc., the Lao Students Movement for Democracy and a coalition of Lao and Hmong organizations seeking political and human rights reforms in Laos.

more
http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=155-05062004


Laos - 2004 Anuual Report

The arrest of two European journalists for investigating the situation of the Hmong ethnic minority drew international attention to the lack of freedom in Laos, where the news media take their orders from the authorities. A press law announced in 2001 has still not been adopted.

The 15-year prison sentences received by reporters Thierry Falise and Vincent Reynaud drew the world's attention to the obstacles to foreign press coverage of the plight of Laos' Hmong ethnic minority. An international outcry forced the authorities in Vientiane to release the two journalists but their Laotian guides remained in prison and were allegedly mistreated.
Directly controlled by the information and culture ministry, the Laotian press gave a very one-sided account of the case of the two European journalists. The French-language weekly Le Rénovateur was the only publication to give both sides of the story, and it was immediately censored. The government news agency Khaosan Pathet Lao (KPL) is the only news organisation that is allowed to express a view on sensitive issues.
The party newspaper Paxaxon (People) bills itself as a "revolutionary publication written by the people and for the people which serves the revolution's political action." Journalists are civil servants in the employ of the information and culture ministry. The foreign ministry also has a say in media content. Criticism of the "friendly countries," especially the Vietnamese big brother and Burma, is banned.
To escape the propaganda, many Laotians are in the habit of watching Thai TV stations that can be received in border areas, including the capital. The authorities have never tried to put a stop to this. Similarly, the international radio services that broadcast in Lao, especially Radio Free Asia and Radio France Internationale, have never been jammed. On the other hand, foreign journalists who enter on a press visa are watched closely and are banned from visiting some parts of the country. The authorities control the only Internet operator and block some news websites and sites operated by dissidents based abroad.

http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=10197


Hmong leader in Calif. may be target of violence in Minnesota

Associated Press

ST. PAUL - Authorities are looking for connections among a spate of violent incidents directed against local Hmong leaders affiliated with Gen. Vang Pao, a California resident regarded as the most influential Hmong leader in the United States.

The incidents include a firebombing at the suburban St. Paul home of the general's son, a drive-by shooting at the home of his translator, a suspicious fire at a St. Paul social service agency the general founded, and a reported hit list that includes a veteran St. Paul police officer.

Star Tribune of Minneapolis in its Sunday editions. Rumors are swirling about what's behind the violence, which the Star Tribune of Minneapolis reported in its Sunday editions. Popular theories include communist agents, political divisions or the opening shots in a war of succession in the Hmong community.

"I believe there is something going on in a more general way," said Steve Young, former dean of the Hamline University law school and a close adviser to Vang, who lives outside Los Angeles. "These are not isolated incidents. Somebody is doing something."

http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/news/politics/8574361 ...


gen. vang pao is a liar
Base: military
Re: My war too (Rose)
Re: WHAT YOU DON'T KNOW (your own people)
Re: i think... (kasey)
Re: General VANG PAO>>>??? (Alexis)
Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2003 00:01:18 GMT
From: [e-mail] (unknown yang)

vang pao is a liar who don't care about no one but himself. lets just face it, he is hmong and hmong men are are full of it. it was because of him lying to our parents in Laos that led to the death of over 108,000 hmong peoples. Two of thos people were my brothers. My dad lost his whole family and everyone else he cares for. General "coward" is not helping the hmongs in the usa neither the ones back home. he uses all the money he gets on gambling and the us lets him have 8 wives just because he was a dog to the americans who brainwashed the HMONGS to actually take part in th war just to die for the americans. A "TRUE LEADER" survives with all his people or die trying.

http://knossos.shu.edu/HyperNewsV/get/vp/military/66/4/16/1/2.html


US WI: Sen. George Asks UW For Probe On Vang Pao

URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n809/a09.html
Newshawk: Drug Policy Forum of Wisconsin www.drugsense.org/dpfwi/
Votes: 0
Pubdate: Sat, 27 Apr 2002
Source: Capital Times, The (WI)
Copyright: 2002 The Capital Times
Contact: [e-mail]
Website: http://www.captimes.com /
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/73
Author: Pat Schneider


SEN. GEORGE ASKS UW FOR PROBE ON VANG PAO

State Sen. Gary George is calling on UW-Madison Chancellor John Wiley to order an investigation into allegations by a UW-Madison professor that the commander of the CIA's secret army in the Vietnam War - now a leader of refugee Hmong in the United States - engaged in drug trafficking in Laos.

The allegations, 30 years old, resurfaced this month, enraging the refugee community.

"We will seek the truth and follow that path wherever it leads," George said Friday at a news conference at the State Capitol packed with Hmong veterans and supporters of Gen. Vang Pao.

Professor Alfred McCoy wrote about his findings on the role of Vang Pao and the CIA in drug trafficking in southeast Asia in a 1972 book, "The Politics of Heroin."

McCoy said the U.S. government assisted Vang Pao in bringing opium, an important cash crop for the Hmong, to heroin factories to help Vang Pao seal his leadership role and ensure a supply of fighters who waged a secret war against the North Vietnamese in Laos.

http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n809/a09.html


McCoy said the U.S. government assisted Vang Pao in bringing opium

Posted on Wed, Apr. 28, 2004

ST. PAUL: Crime spree on Hmong investigated

BY LENORA CHU and TODD NELSON

Pioneer Press

Authorities are trying to determine whether a connection exists between anonymous death threats leveled Monday against seven Hmong community leaders and recent crimes committed against prominent Hmong.

St. Paul Police spokesman Paul Schnell revealed Wednesday that the death threats came in an anonymous call received by a St. Paul Hmong veterans group. Local and federal law enforcement agencies are investigating the alleged hit list.

Authorities also confirmed Wednesday that an object hurled through a window sparked the arson fire that destroyed the home of Cha Vang, son of influential leader Gen. Vang Pao. Cha Vang narrowly escaped the early Sunday fire with his wife and three daughters.

A flammable substance was also found in the home, according to Maplewood Police Chief Dave Thomalla, who declined to identify the object and substance.

Two other crimes are being investigated for possible connections. On April 20, someone fired five shots into the Maplewood home of Xang Vang, Gen. Vang Pao's translator. The following day, officials discovered someone had thrown a brick into a window and started a fire at the St. Paul offices of the Lao Family Community of Minnesota.

more
http://www.realcities.com/mld/twincities/8543732.htm



Muaj ib nqe ntawm Sen. Norm Coleman cov lus hais tias "nws yog ib qho tseem ceeb heev uas U.S. State Department yuav tsum ua txhua yam coj kom tau kev thaj yeeb nyab xeeb mus rau tebchaws Lostsuas thiab pab kom tau txoj kev muaj vaj huam sib luag (humanitarian) rau haiv neeg Hmoob nrog rau daws kom tau teeb meem tsoom Hmoob tawg rog nyob rau SE Asia".

http://www.hmonglaoradio.org/default.asp?active_page_id=32

From The Wire

Rapid Fire At Home Investigated
Saint Paul Pioneer Press (April 27, 2004)

Maplewood investigators suspect an arsonist set a weekend fire at the home of a prominent Hmong community leader, who is calling the blaze a politically motivated attempt to kill him and his family.

The fire destroyed the home of Cha Vang, son of Gen. Vang Pao, one of the most widely known and influential Hmong leaders in the United States.

http://fe.pennnet.com/News/Display_News_Story.cfm?Section=WireNews&Sub ...

Cha Vang, his wife and their three daughters were asleep when the fire broke out after 1 a.m. Sunday. A noise, possibly the sound of breaking glass, prompted him to investigate and he discovered the flames toward the back of the home. He and his family escaped unharmed, but the fire left little more than the garage standing.

"If you want to terrorize a person or send a message, you slash a tire," Cha Vang said Monday. "To burn down a house with people sleeping in it is attempted murder."

Investigators said they suspect arson because the house burned so thoroughly within minutes, said Maplewood Police Chief Dave Thomalla. Investigators searched the soot and debris for evidence for a second day on Monday.

http://fe.pennnet.com/News/Display_News_Story.cfm?Section=WireNews&Sub ...

1961
Eisenhower warns the young president-elect that Laos is a major crisis, the first "domino" in Southest Asia. The CIA begins the covert build up of Hmong forces under General Vang Pao at the beginning of the year. At the same time the U.S. sends the rightist forces to Laos six AT-6 Harvard trainer aircraft armed with machine guns and equipped to fire rockets and drop bombs. The covert PEO infantrymen are replaced by 400 clandestine U.S special forces personnel known as White Star Movile Training Teams. Kennedy announces U.S support for the sovereignty of Laos in March, directly confronting the Soviet Union. Geneva conference on Laos opens in May.

http://www.seacrc.org/pages/ravenschrono.html

http://www.ohiopowmia.com/news/2190302.html


COLEMAN HOSTS FIRST EVER MEETING BETWEEN HMONG LEADER


COLEMAN HOSTS FIRST EVER MEETING BETWEEN HMONG LEADER GENERAL VANG PAO AND SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL
Coleman working to alleviate humanitarian crises in Laos and streamline Hmong refugee resettlement process

January 21st, 2004 - Washington, DC - Senator Norm Coleman today hosted a meeting in his Senate office between Hmong leader General Vang Pao and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs Matt Daley. The group, which also included Chao Ophat Nachmpassak, a member of the Lao royal family, discussed General Vang Pao's efforts to bring peace to Laos, the refugee resettlement program for Hmong in Thailand, and the humanitarian crisis facing many Hmong living in Laos.

"I have some serious concerns about the way the Hmong people are being treated today in Southeast Asia," Coleman said. "It's critical that the U.S. State Department does all it can to bring peace to Laos and an end to the humanitarian and refugee crises facing many Hmong in Southeast Asia. This meeting is a solid first step in opening up a real, meaningful diplomatic dialogue between Hmong leaders in Southeast Asia and the U.S. State Department."

General Vang Pao presented to State Department officials his vision for a lasting peace in Laos, as he publicly articulated on November 26. State Department officials listened to Vang Pao's presentation, and discussed the changing opportunities for peaceful reconciliation in Southeast Asia.

Daley, who had just returned from an official visit to the region, described the U.S. initiative to resettle in the U.S. as many as 14,000 Hmong refugees currently living in Wat Tham Krabok, Thailand

http://coleman.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases.Detail&Pr ...

Hmong Proving Potent Political Organizers in U.S.

SuabHmongRadio, News Report,

Compiled and Translated by Pha Lo, Apr 30, 2004

MILWAUKEE, Wisc. -- Milwuakee is home to approximately 20,000 Hmong, a nomadic tribe that emigrated from Laos in the Vietnam War's aftermath. Here in the United States, Hmong are discovering that their traditional, clan-based system of leadership can benefit U.S.-style grassroots politicking.

Tens of thousands of Hmong left Laos in the 1970s and 1980s after losing a war in which they were covertly recruited to serve alongside the U.S. military. Here in the United States, many were naturalized as U.S. citizens after the Lao-Veterans bill, introduced in 1996, expedited the process for those who had served or been disabled in that war.

Since gaining citizenship, Hmong have begun to exercise their voting rights. This year marked a political rite of passage for Milwaukee-are Hmong who worked on Republican State Sen. Bob Welch’s campaign for the U.S. Senate. He won the Republican primary and will compete in general elections.

Wisconsin is home to approximately 40,000 Hmong.

Victor Vaj is a Hmong radio personality in Milwaukee who spent a year working on the State Senator’s campaign. For Vaj, seeing an older generation of naturalized citizen exercise voting rights fulfills a second purpose. It encourages the U.S.-born generation to use their birthright along with their traditional Hmong upbringing to pursue politics in this country.

http://news.ncmonline.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=9d4de22d1f ...

Thousands of Hmong Refugees from Laos Ready to Arrive
Jack Austin Smith, a Vietnam Veteran and a retired career soldier

Thousands of Hmong Refugees from Laos Ready to Arrive


By Elizabeth Putnam
Wausau Daily Herald
[e-mail]

The clan system remains an integral part of Hmong culture, but the assimilation of the Hmong into American culture is threatening the system's survival.

The Hmong clans
Original 12 Hmong clans
Cha, Hang, Her, Kue, Khang, Lee, Moua, Song, Thao, Vang, Xiong, Yang
The 18 clans of today
Cha, Cheng, Chue, Fang, Hang, Her, Khang, Kong, Kue, Lee, Lor, Moua, Pha, Thao, Vang, Vue, Xiong, Yang
Sources: "Mong Education at the Crossroads," by Paoze Thao and the Hmong Cultural and Resource Center of Minnesota at hmongcenter.org


Within Hmong culture, there are 18 clans, and members of each share the same last name. The clan leaders and members provide each other with social, economic and legal assistance. They help organize social events such as weddings and offer support during difficult times, as when a family member is ill.

"I think that in the future, most of the younger children now might lose that knowledge of the clan, but that's why we need to teach or educate the kids," said Chang Yang, 36, president of the board of the Wausau Area Hmong Mutual Association.

The origin of the clan system is a mystery, according to local Hmong residents and the book "Mong Education at the Crossroads," by Paoze Thao, a professor at California State University in Monterey Bay. Thao uses an alternate spelling of Hmong in his work.

Hmong folklore tells the story of a brother and sister who married and had a child who resembled a seed. They cut it up into 12 pieces and scattered them. The pieces made people, each representing a clan. The 12 clans eventually branched out into 18 clans.

http://www.wausaudailyherald.com/wdhlocal/291782635188000.shtml

Thousands of Hmong Refugees from Laos Ready to Arrive in California
Tamara Keith
Fresno, California
08 Apr 2004, 19:28 UTC

Listen to Tamara Keith's report (RealAudio)
Keith report - Download 676k (RealAudio)

In just a few months as many as 3000 new Hmong refugees could arrive in California's Central Valley. For years they've been living in a makeshift camp at a broken-down Buddhist temple in Thailand. The Hmong people aided the United States during the Vietnam War and were forced to flee their home country of Laos as the war ended. Thousands have come to the U.S since the early 1980s, but nearly 15,000 remain on the temple grounds in Thailand. In December the State Department bowed to pressure from Hmong Americans and the Thai government and agreed to let this group of refugees immigrate. Tamara Keith reports on what Fresno community leaders are doing to prepare for the arrival.
Hmong refugee Pai Yang came to this country when she was 10 years old. Now she's the Refugee Resettlement Director for Catholic Charities in Fresno, helping families fill out the forms needed to bring their relatives over from Thailand. For Ms. Yang and others, the upcoming influx of new refugees came as a surprise. She said, "For our community this is like a very great time, a joyful time. To be able to have this opportunity to resettle in this country, to have the opportunity for education, health, etc."

On this morning, Ms. Yang is meeting with Pai-Yang Thao and her husband, who are hoping to sponsor 22 family members now living on the temple grounds in Thailand. The young couple visited the camp in December. They found it surrounded by armed guards, and the people there living with no electricity or running water.

"When we got there we felt very sad that they were living in a bad place and being caged up like animals," she said. "They can't go outside to find food and they're always waiting for us over here to send them money."

Ms. Thao can't wait for her parents, siblings, nieces and nephews to arrive in Fresno. She said that for her the reunion is like a dream come true. But, if past experience is any indication, her family will likely have a hard time adjusting to life here in the valley. Pai Yang says that when she arrived with her mother and sister in the 1980s, they struggled with the language and the culture. In Laos, her mother was a successful businesswoman, but here in California she had to pick tomatoes to make a living. Ms. Yang believes that many Hmong refugees had similar difficulties.

http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=0D604918-8C63-43F1-A1BBC15 ...

400 protest opening trade with Laos
Minneapolis Star Tribune (subscription), MN - Apr 14, 2004
... older Hmong military veterans in camouflage fatigues and younger Hmong college students ... for the US government to pressure the communist leaders to address human ...

http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/199810/15_radila_reform /

Duluth's Hmong Families Find Reform Pressure
By Amy Radil
October 15, 1998 RealAudio 2.0 14.4
Part of the MPR Welfare to Work Series

DULUTH'S SMALL HMONG COMMUNITY has been steadily growing over the past ten years. Late last year there were about 175 Hmong households in Duluth on the welfare rolls. But then Minnesota moved in to welfare reform and as they themselves admit, St. Louis County and the City of Duluth Job Training forgot the city's immigrants.

Bea Larson: There was a lot of initial panic and fear and initial orientation sessions had to be redone.
Bea Larson, is an instructor at the Adult Learning Center who teaches English as a second language classes. She soon learned the county had not only sent out letters informing Hmong recipents of the changes in English alone... it was also conducting required orientation sessions exclusively in English.

Larson: Initially people were asked to sign jobs plans that they didn't understand. A number of different folks with limited English had to be re-oriented in ways that they'd understand what they were agreeing to do.
Larson contacted Gwen Updegraaf, a legal aid attorney, who met with a group of Hmong welfare recipients who told her of further problems. The Minnesota Family Investment Program, or MFIP, legislation calls for participants to receive an individualized assessment with a job counselor, who helps them formulate a plan consisting of education, training or active job seeking. Updegraaf says instead, these people had pre-printed job forms instructing them to perform 30 hours of job search each week.

Updegraaf: There was no individualized assessment done with these people, no one sat down with them and determined how much English they spoke. Several people who had problems with their plans complained of disabilities.
Amidst the confusion, Hmong families began leaving Duluth for the Twin Cities. Reasons varied. Some wanted to join relatives, some wanted access to support services in their own language, and many found ready employment and higher wages. When Updegraaf contacted St. Louis County officials with her concerns, they agreed to allow Hmong immigrants to start over in the orientation process, this time with an interpreter, Bobbee Vang. Vang was hired with a grant from the McKnight Foundation to provide special support for Southeast Asians seeking jobs in Duluth.