15 posts tagged “hmong”

St. Paul Minnesota Hmong Jailed By Laos Regime Given Voice in US Congress

I recently read this very stirring account of 3 Hmong-Americans from Minnesota who were imprisoned in Laos. These three men have been missing since August of 2007.

What is known is that these three Hmong-American men had left to Laos for a business trip. They were unjustly arrested by the Laos Secret Police and then transferred into a undisclosed area. The article goes on to state that since the U.S. Embassay has no laws to find these men, the wife of one of the men is asking to petition this to Congress.

I had an interesting conversation with my mother the other day. She continually wants to go to Thailand/Laos as a tourist. She has never walked more than a mile in her life and yet she wants to visit a country where one has to walk for long distances to get to certain places. Her main thing would be to go and visit my parents' refugee camps and villages they were born in.

When I had brought up this article she said, "They wouldn't abduct you, only those who go for political reasons." Well, I if they are worried about Hmong people from America trying to overthrow the Laos government, I'd think that they would think an Asian girl who looks Hmong and speaks English may be a "spy".

This whole idea of going, in my mind, is kind of "risky" as I-- a very Americanized Hmong girl-- would be heading into a patriachical society where they kidnap tourists. And not just kidnapped... but horrible things have happened!

Travelers should be aware that over the past several years a number of Lao- and Hmong-American citizens have been murdered in northern and northeastern Thailand near the border with Laos . In September 2004, a Lao-American was shot and killed by two unidentified males in Nong Khai, Thailand . In January 2005, a Hmong-American citizen was murdered in Nong Khai along with three Hmong-Thai citizens. In November 2005, a Hmong-American was murdered in front of his hotel in Nong Khai by a man wearing a balaclava to hide his identity. In January 2006, a Lao-American husband and wife were murdered at a temple in Nong Khai, and, in December 2006, in Ubon Ratchathani two Lao-Americans were shot as they exited a bus from Laos by a man on a motorcycle. During this same period, a number of non-Americans with ties to Laos have also been murdered in this region of Thailand . In addition, in March 2006, a Hmong-American disappeared from his residence along with seven other individuals. No arrests have been made in many of these cases. If U.S. citizens--particularly Lao-Americans or Hmong-Americans--must travel to these areas, they should exercise caution and remain vigilant with regard to their personal security.

So, as much as my "paranoia" may be a bit "extreme"... It is definitely justified.

http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/268592.html

This just in, reported by the Sac Bee (as this story is happening in Sacramento), it is believed that the CIA was involved in persuading the Hmong leader, and 9 followers, to overthrowing Laos.

This story continues from a previous post I made on June 5th (http://dnl.vox.com/library/post/6a00c2251f3a298e1d00d4143ca6646a47.html).

As the article brings out:

Hmong leaders in the United States believed the Central Intelligence Agency was backing a plan to extract Hmong villagers from the Laos jungle, according to papers filed late Wednesday in Sacramento federal court.

Talk about a corrupt government!  This needs to be brought to more attention!  And now!  Spread the word and ask your local news channel to shed light on this story.  Of course the government will try to bring a man down, but when the government was the one at fault, they will down play this act and try to bury it!

I've really been wanting to write an update on just the general status of life. Overall, it's good. Really, I don't mind working 60+ hours per week. In fact, this week, I've only got 30 hours thus far--and it's only Thursday! (Oh wait, we had Wednesday "off".)

Last weekend I went to my great uncle's funeral. He was related through my mother's father's side (Yawm Txiv (pronunciation: yuh tsee), Maternal Grandpa). This uncle I did not know well. I didn't even know that he had died, however, I did know that my mother's mom (Niam Tais (pronunciation: nee'yuh thigh), Maternal Grandma) and mother's father was going to be there. The last time I saw them was July 2005, as they live in Michigan.

Yawm Txiv recently quit his mechanic job (sold his shop) to go back to working in the farm, and that worries me because he's 64-years-old working on his farm and selling his produce for money. It takes far too long for 65 to come, for social security to kick in for both my Niam Tais and Yawm Txiv, as farming is their only means of money at the moment, I some how feel obligated to help them. So I gave them enough to cover for their plane ride to Sacramento, as it's not cheap.

With all of the coverage on General Vang Pao, the one person I really wanted to talk to about it was Yawm Txiv, but he hadn't slept in two days, and I didn't want to stress him to answer questions he may not know how to reply. Overall, it was nice to see them again. Before my family left, Yawm Txiv cut some of the raw beef that was there and gave it to me. When I got home I had to cut it into smaller pieces to store it into the freezer.

While there, my mom had pointed out, "Do you see that skinny girl? See how her clothes don't really match. Yeah, she's from Thailand. One of the uncles just bought her. She's like a second wife." One of the uncles got a second wife and she walked around with the first wife and looked as young to be her daughter. Well, she was 14. The uncle was 48. Yeah... I know.

An excerpt from Merriam-Websters' Dictionary dictates "Coup de grâce" as follows:

Coup de grâce /"kü-d&-'gräs/
Etymology: French, lit. for "grace of mercy"
Def.: a deathblow or death shot administered to end the suffering of one mortally wounded

The first that I heard of the news of the attempted Hmong coup de grace upon the Lao government was from The San Francisco Chronicle which stated that war veteran General Vang Pao and and 9 others were indicted by the U.S. Government for "plans" to purchase several armed weapons and explosives.

An excerpt from the article reads:

Pao led Hmong tribesmen during the Vietnam War, when members of the ethnic group were recruited and trained by the CIA to fight communist forces. Many Hmong people fled as the war ended with communists in power in Laos, and more than 65,000 now live in California. Pao is highly respected in the Hmong exile community and is its most well-known figure.

Firstly, General Vang Pao traditionally goes by his surname and then first name. The news of General Vang Pao's plans to overthrow the Laos government do not surprise me as anyone who has followed his history knows that it was always Vang's priority to give the Hmong a nation to call their own. As he was recruited by CIA, at the start to overthrow Laos' regime, General Vang Pao was able to recruit many Hmong people with the promise of a Land which they can have freedom. In Vang's mind's eye, it would be Laos after, with the help of the U.S., they had defeated the communist government.

To rewind to a little more, the Hmong have never been able to live in a peaceful state with a land to call their own. As the diasporas of China, the Hmong have encountered genocide century after another and remain to receive persecution from the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR) and even from people here in the US.

I, personally, think that the LPDR needs to be overthrown, as there are many things about their regime which I do not personally agree with: from illegal sweatshop practices, which low cuts those 3rd world countries which actually practice fair textile services; to the ravaged lands which house opium addicts and the prostitution of young girls. Of course, this is not anything "new," but there are no institutions which help to rehabilitate or prosecute these things.

But I digress... Some sources say that he was encouraged to buy weapons which they would have sent to remote areas of Thailand which would act as staging sites. There were also some sources which stated that he had started to try recruiting retired Navy SEALs.

So, a question that many may be asking now is: What would happen to the Hmong if General Vang Pao were able to overthrow the Lao Government? Would the Hmong be happy/willing to move back into Laos?

It's easy to guess that, with the comfortable lives here in the United States, many would be unwilling to go back. Many Hmong, however, do not know that Laos isn't just all forests. In addition, it will definitely be very hard to reintegrate those Hmong who have lived in the deep jungles hiding from the LPDR in fear of being killed.

As I brought out earlier in the post, the definition of a coup de grace is: "a deathblow or death shot administered to end the suffering of one mortally wounded." The irony of it all is if these 10 men were in Laos, the CIA would have been funding them. In fact, they did.

Earlier this year, Thailand underwent a coup de grace, and perhaps, this is what highly motivated the General. However, this is the U.S.'s way of a coup de grace upon the Hmong, by the "hand of grace", to take the "leader" of the Hmong as we are seen as Guerrilla terrorists. The U.S.'s actions to indict these 10 men after 6 months of investigation solidifies the ignorance of our government, as well as the corruption that the U.S. would turn it's back on those who helped them.

Wow! This last weekend was so much like a blur. It ended up being two BBQs, working 4 hours, grocery shopping, and cleaning my cat's litter box. This is probably the longest duration of time that I've watched TV in the several years.

Many have forgotten the meaning of Memorial Day weekend. For one group of my friends, it means Anime/Sci-fi Conventions. For another group of my friends, it's an excuse to have BBQs. For me, it meant a reflection on my relatives who were in the war. To celebrate Memorial Day, you have to have relatives who are US soldiers. So, does it matter if your relatives were hired through CIA to fight for them?

I know that, in Lansing, Michigan, my grandfather would be dressed in his army attire. In the living room of a great uncle, metal folding chairs will be set up into a circle, with each uncle and grandfather seated upon them. They will talk about the "Secret War" and pick fruits from the center coffee table filled with fruits which are in season. Each year, the circle will grow smaller. In their mind's eyes, the war will grow dimmer and soon, they themselves will be forgotten...

However, on Memorial Day weekend, I will respectfully bow my head to those who gave me and my family the hopes of living in a country which allows me to have shoes on my feet, warm food in my belly, and a roof over my head.

Lately, there was been a lot of attention to the Hmong such as the most recent stories of a Halt to Deportation of the Hmong in Thailand; where 44 Hmong men locked themselves in a compound, threatening to commit suicide rather than return to the Communist regime of Laos where the Hmong have received persecution for over 30 years (click play to hear the story).  So it came to me with no surprise when it was reported that Wisconsin pushed a bill to have children become more educated about how much the Hmong have sacrificed to live in the US. 

I truly implore the act of awareness of what the Hmong contributions have been to America, as I think it is only fair because we learn about the African's who were slaves, the Chinese who paved our railroads, the Japanese held in internment camps, and so forth.  I am a true believer that learning about our past will hopefully help us to understand our mistakes and learn from them.  There was a quote which helped to explain it has, 'A person who has failed to remember their history is certain to repeat it" or something to that effect.

So, when I see such insincerity such as a man who feels that learning about the Hmong people's contribution is unnecessary, it peeves me just a bit.  I do not even mind that we do not get a "Hmong Awareness Day".  I mean, the African American's get a whole month. 

The Hmong are not an invisible race which can be swept under the proverbial rug.  It was because of our contributions that many soldiers were even rescued.  Or that the Ho Chi Min Trail was blocked by the Hmong infantry units.  How about the Hmong's expert guerrilla skills which helped to keep US soldiers alive as they trekked their ways back to Air fields?

However, I cannot hold it against those who are not educated about the Hmong to prejudge our intentions.  In fact, I only wish to help educate those who do not know why the Hmong have come.  I do not hold it against him because he will never know how it is to be picking rice patties with bombs falling around like 2-ton hail storms.  Or the risk of gathering vegetables in a field of undetonated bombs.  Or killing chickens with your little sister crying as you have her slung on your back because your father is busy fighting against their neighbors with alien weapons and your mother was killed violently by Lao militant. 

All you could do was stare behind shaking hands as you watched them rape your mother, and slash her stomach afterwards.  Watch the life seep away as her small intestines spilled onto the dirt.

No, they will never understand. 

But when the government which you slaved for, which you sacrificed your farms for-- the same government which promised you opportunities of freedom and you pledged yourself a US ally-- treats you as a terrorist, and you can't obtain citizenship, that is when I cannot stand it anymore.

I will take persecution. 
I will take racism.

But I will not, and should not ever take that my parents are being denied citizenship.

My mother's grandfather was a solider.  My father's grandfather was a nurse.  They were there for you.  And you continually turn your back.  How many more years will it take for them to recognize us? 

How many more years will you ignore us?

"From a high mountain, across a vast ocean,
Into a deep valley, my spirit has flown with me,"
My grandmother continues, "But when you fall, it will leave.
It will go back to the land of ancestors."

I listen to my grandmother as she lays in her bed,
A single flickering light illuminates the room with an orange glow
As she has my hand embraced tightly,
intertwined into hers, and a tear rolls down her cheek.

"My young child, your grandma has lost her soul."
In most cases, with ua neeb [1] ritual a shaman
Would get onto his spiritual horse, and ride into the land of ancestors,
Offering a pig's heart to exchange for her heart

But in a Christian household, where Shamanism is pagan worship,
Where bamboos do not line the roof from threshold to alter--
A spirit line drawn to guide our ancestors--
How will the spirit know where to go?

There are no paper money boats to sail the offerings
Into the land that is cold and long forgotten.
There are no halved bull horns to clang or bells to ring
To call my grandmother's spirit back.

As my grandmother cries from her bedroom,
I boil an egg, gather rice to the top of a small rice bowl,
I place the egg into her hand, and place three piece of incense into the rice,
I hold her hand and light the incenses, as we silently hu plig [2].
---------------------------
[1] - pronounced: oo-ah neng.  A ritual where a shaman rides a spiritual horse into the land of ancestors and gives a physical offering of an animal's heart to bargin with the ancestors to restore a lost soul.
[2] - pronounce: hoo plee.  A ritual where a animal, most times a chicken, is sacrificed and incense is lit to "call" a spirit back.

The following is an excerpt from a piece I am currently working on.

-------------------------------

The weekend of the "Water Festival"—a weekend long soccer tournament with music, entertainment, and Hmong food—my parents brought home a Hmong man who was 16 years my senior.  I went and brought him water and peaches that were picked that morning from our tree just outside our front door.  He thanked me and asked me what my name was.  "Kuv lub npe hu ua Paj Hli."  He nodded and looked at my father and smiled.  My father had then asked me something I regretted doing, even to this day.  Though a simple task, the agony still fills me with such pain.  My father had asked, in Hmong, in a soft tone, "Paj Hli, take our visitor and show him our chickens in the backyard."  I tried to hide my confusion, not sure why this man had come to our home, yet I did as my father told.

The guest followed me closely as I guided him to our back yard.  It unnerved me at how close he stayed.  I could feel his breath on my neck.  I opened the door to the back yard.  In the fence, you could see that 3 wooden planks had been taken down and were laying flat on the ground next to the gap in the fence.  This was so grandmothers could enter through the back yard in the neighboring houses.  The chicken coop was towards the back of the small yard.  Closest to the door was a four by four cement patio, which was littered with blue flip-flops of all sizes and gardening boots.  As we navigated through the shoes, we walked on the small patch of grass until we got to the part of the yard which had no grass; this is where the chickens were.  Here is where I laid my naivety and traditions to rest. 

As we reached the door to the chicken coop, the guest grabbed my hand and said to me, "Your hair smells very nice."  My face, which was still looking ahead, became filled with anxiety.  He touched my shoulder and took a strand of hair and tucked it behind my ear and lowly said, "It reminds me of the starry night."  As these words crept to my ears, my eyes bulged, filled with fear.  Trying to pull away I said, "Please do not touch me."  As I struggled to loosen his grip, he grabbed my shoulder with his other hand and exclaimed, "But we are to be wed tonight.  That is why you are gathering the chickens." 

As the reality of what my parents had done became clear, I attempted to get away.  In my flurry of kicks and struggling, I managed to get away and snuck into a neighboring back yard.  As he followed me, I found a gap in the fence, which led to the canal area behind the houses.  I ran and ran until my muscles pumped acid, my throat became strained, and the tears had dried and became crusty watermarks on my cheeks.  I thought to myself, "They cannot marry me off, if they cannot find me!" and struggled a grin of victory.

Those next four days were probably the hardest part of my seventeen years alive.  With enough clothing in my gym locker to last me for a week, I would find shelter in local runaway homes.  Classmates, who lived in the same apartment complex as me, would tell me of how my parents were looking for me and would ask me what I had done to upset my parents so much.  My younger sister, who was a freshman, spotted me and said how our parents had lost even more face because of a disobedient child—Me.  I just laughed.  I laughed and told my sister that our parents will need to come and find me before I would return.  And they did. 

Walking to the county library one afternoon, my dad drove up in the pick-up truck and yelled at me to get inside.  As I willingly climbed in, the only thing that could be heard were my sniffles and tears.  Once I was inside the truck, he did not say a word until we got home.  My parents "disciplined" me with everything imaginable.  They wanted me to remember what would happen to me if I ever tried to disobey them and shame their faces again. 

They hit me with a belt, sandals, chopsticks, a wooden spoon, the metal end of the fly swatter, an extension cable, their fists, a backscratcher, and finally a metal baseball bat which belonged to my older brother.  I cannot remember much after passing out from hitting my forehead on the coffee table after being kicked by my mother, but when I woke up, I was lying on the floor of my bedroom.  One of my sisters rolled me to my side after she heard my breathing becoming gargled by my blood.

Visiting SF Gate and it's section of "Day in Pictures", I found this screenshot. I think the most offensive part of the description, which reads:

Loony tunes: Playing the lusheng standing up is far too easy for the Miao ethnic Chinese of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Is the part where they refer to the Hmong people as "Miao" (which is quite a derogatory term) and that they do not denote that it's a Hmong New Year celebration. And even if they refer to the Qeej as 芦笙 (lu sheng), I will forgive them, as Qeej would be kind of weird to read for non-Hmong-literate people.

If you're interested, you can learn more about the Hmong people at the following links:
Wikipedia - Hmong People
Wikipedia - Lusheng/Qeej
Learn About Hmong - Qeej

I don't celebrate holidays for religious reasons, but I do take advantage of the fact that here in the US, they do observe it.  That being the case, I get to have days to spend time with my family. 

Wednesyda, November 22

 

Before the trip began, I helped to organize the departmental potluck.  There was good food, and a lot of desserts and lots of dip.  The VP of the department was kind enough to get a 20 lbs. turkey for us to eat.

 

Someone brought their Nintendo Wii for all to play, some people played pool, and we all filled ourselves and went home.  I did all of the above.  I got a chance to play Wii Sports - Boxing, where I proceeded to knock the guy out by repeatedly punching the opponent in the face and groin.  I played pool where I proceed to lose.

 

Thursday, November 23

My brother Ric and his girlfriend Alicia flew in on a Thursday evening and when we got into town we basically went to sleep. 

Friday, November 24

 

I woke up at 6:30 to check out and see if I could purchase a Nintendo Wii, but to no avail.  Instead, we went home, took a shower, sat around, and then went out to Best Buy again to look around.  I bought Elite Beat Agents for the Nintendo DS (and haven't put it down yet). 

 

Afterwards, we went to go and eat Hmong food, went home and played a lot of Texas Hold'em.

 

Saturday, November 25

It was my parents' housewarming party, and so we had quite a few relatives show up.  But even though the house was full, we still had 3 families absent.

 

Did I mention that A.J. came with me to Fresno/Sanger?  If not, he did come along.  He always played the guitar, and my dad asked him to play "Dust In the Wind" about 30 times.  Sorry, A.J.! :)

Sunday & Monday, November 26 - 27

Sunday was our trip home.  It was filled with the rainy cloudy weather of San Francisco on Sunday, and a bright clear day of Monday.

 

Though I live in San Francisco, I still love visiting every part of it, and taking pictures like the tourist I am. :)  It is always a joy to visit the bridge and walk along the paved roads down to Fort Point.  And walking around Baker Beach and Crissy Field.

 

My older brother's girlfriend is from Poland, and she has never really cared too much about coming to San Francisco.  Or to not misquote her, "I never told myself that I had to visit the Golden Gate Bridge before I die, or anything, but I am happy to be here."  All-in-all, it was a very eventful and busy, 5 day weekend for me.