Blog Two: What is Hmong? How did they arrive in America?

Blog Two: Who are the Hmong people and why are they here in America?

            Throughout my life there was one question that I always had to answer: “What is Hmong?”  As a minority group, who does not have a country, many would believe that I was Chinese or Mongolia.  The Hmongs were known as migratory people that dwelled in the south mountains of Asia and suffered the aftermath of the Vietnam War, in which brought them now as refugees in America (Cha, Dia, Mai Zong Vue, and Steve Carmen 7).  It is important for my generation and I to be able to answer these questions of: who the Hmongs are, why are they important, where are they from, and how did they get here? Hmong-Americans have to understand each their heritage, and one of the best ways is to communicate with their families.

            After being pushed out of China, the Hmongs found peace in the mountains of Laos until the Vietnam War during the 1960’s, where communist North Vietnam invaded the other countries around it (Cha, Dia, Mai Zong Vue, and Steve Carmen 8).  The Hmong Americans should be aware of the Vietnam War and realize that their parents were running away from communism.  In the Field Guide to the Hmong Culture, Dia Cha writes about how the Americans created military bases in the Hmong villages supplied weapons, informed, and trained the Hmong people to help them fight the communist government (Cha, Dia, Mai Zong Vue, and Steve Carmen 8).  I find this source more credible than most westernized books because Dia Cha is a Hmong professor with a Ph.D. in Anthropology and Ethnic studies.  Westernized books on the Vietnam War provided little information about the Hmong people, because we are the minority.  It is essential that the Hmong-Americans understand the situation and talk to their parents about their journey to America. 

            When the Americans left the Vietnam War in 1973, taking only some of the Hmong people to America with them; it devastated the Hmong people who were left, because it was the Americans who supplied the Hmong people (Cha, Dia, Mai Zong Vue, and Steve Carmen 9).  The Hmong people are farmers not soldiers.  My parents were the lucky ones who left with the American people.  With no weapons, thousands of Hmong people died from prosecution; some hid deep in jungle, or fled to the refugee camps in Thailand (Cha, Dia, Mai Zong Vue, and Steve Carmen 9).  It is important to know about your history, because the refugee camps and the Hmong people who hid in the deep dangerous jungle still exist (The Hmong and Laos: Old wars never die).  In the Economist article The Hmong and Lao: Old wars never die, it discusses about how the aftermath of the war is still not over for the Hmongs, because Thailand was going to send them back to Laos, but they still fear prosecution from the Laos government.  It is essential the Hmong-Americans to have knowledge about their people and realizing that some Hmongs are left behind in Laos and camps.  You might realize that your parents and grandparents are not the only ones who will be counting on you to be their voice. 

Cha, Dia, Mai Zong Vue, and Steve Carmen.  “Field Guide to Hmong Culture”. Madison Children’s Museum 2004. PDF file.
“The Hmong and Laos: Old wars never die”. The Economist. 15 July 2010. Web. 20 March 2012. < http://www.economist.com/node/16592276>