Colorfully dressed Hmong Baby
Hmong History Remember that guy who shot the hunters in Minnesota? He was a Hmong and few people realized much about these folks. At my local farmers market there is Hmong supplier and the family shows up every Saturday to sell some of the finest greens you can imagine (and hot peppers). They are nice folks. Who knows what went wrong with the gunman.
The Hmong, tribal people from highland Laos, are recent immigrants to the United States. The Hmong were largely insulated from the outside world, but during the Vietnam War, between 1954 and 1975, the Hmong were recruited by the United States to fight against the communist forces in Laos.
When the United States forces withdrew from Vietnam and Laos in 1975, the Hmong became the target of violent reprisals from the new government. Hundreds of thousands of Hmong were forced to flee across the Mekong River to seek refugee in Thailand. During the marching to Thailand, tens of thousands were being killed by the Communist Pathet Lao, victims of chemical bio-logical toxins, and died of hunger.
Currently, there are over a hundred thousand Hmong on the hillside inside Laos who are still fighting for freedom and democracy. Approximately 300,000 Hmong are living in the United States and other western countries, 40,000 still remain in the refugee camps and an unstated number are living illegally with relatives in the local Hmong villages in Thailand.
Most of the Hmong who are in Thailand hesitate to seek resettlement in the U.S. and are not yet ready to return to Laos. As Thailand seeks to end its refugee population, we, the United Hmong Foundation, must ensure that no Hmong are returned involuntarily. Despite the continuous flow of the Hmong refugees into the United States, many Americans are still unaware of the sacrifices the Hmong made for supporting American military during the Vietnam War. The Hmong also have good determination to unite by the common experience of rebuilding individual lives and families that were permanently altered by war and resettlement.
I’ve known the Hmong as immigrants in the states for almost 20 years now and just last November I had the privilage of taking a tour of their villages in northern Thailand.
They are a facinating people and I can testify that this wacko hunter does not represent the Hmong I know. Of course, they have their bad apples like any ethnic group but no more or no less than anyone else.
Hank
My wife is from vietnam and escaped with the “boat people.” She says the Hmong have a wonderful reputation as being very loyal and good people. In her escape, a Hmong she didn’t know saved her life and ensured fairness on the boat as it drifted around the south china sea.
She has great respect for the Hmong.
Actually the shootings were in Wisconsin.
Some thoughts on the story.