There are many refugees settled across the world. Some are known. Some aren’t. The Hmong people are one of the many refugees AND ethnicities who aren’t as recognized. Luckily, I am Hmong and can briefly tell you about my people. To start off, the “H” is silent, and you pronounce the “o” like it’s capitalized (oh). There’s no Hmong country. They’re people who want to live peacefully in the hills of Southeast Asia. They’ve resettled everywhere, but here’s how Hmong refugees came to the United States.
What is Hmong and Where is it?
There have been countless times when people ask me where Hmong is and tell me I’m just Chinese. Although I understand people are curious about where Hmong is, and I’m happy to talk about the topic, being called Chinese feels like denouncing my identity as my family doesn’t know a lick of Chinese dialects.
To continue on Hmong people becoming refugees, we must take a quick look into Hmong history. Like most recorded civilizations, it started in Mesopotamia. From there, Hmong people branched off into China. They lived and prospered until they were persecuted and hunted, forced to flee southward to Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam, and Thailand. From there, Hmong people continued living in the hills.
Some would say this wouldn’t add up, as the research may have mixed answers. Like many ancient civilizations, Hmong history and records perished by dominating empires. In this case, it was the Han Chinese who destroyed Hmong history. Because of this, Hmong history was orally passed along from elders to their children. Since oral storytelling is big in Hmong culture, much of the past can be mixed, off, or accurate compared to today’s texts.
The Secret War
During the Vietnam War, communism was also spreading in Laos. Laos was in a civil war between the Communist-backed Pathet Lao and the Royal Lao Government. At the time, the USA wasn’t allowed in Laos. So, the CIA hired Hmong villagers from the hills to rescue fallen American pilots. Later, they were tasked with disrupting communist supply lines in Laos – this was dubbed the Secret War since US citizens didn’t know about it. From there, relatives of those Hmong villagers were also joining the ranks of the communists. Innocent Hmong people were just victims forced into joining which side got to them first. Hmong families and relatives had to kill each other.
That was when the genocide began. The CIA promised the Hmong people a way to safety – a new life in America. Of course, that promise wasn’t fulfilled after the Vietnam war ended. Some Hmong made it to the United States, but higher-ups and officials were prioritized. Many were left behind to fend for themselves, including young children and women.
From there, some Hmong villagers chose to flee to Thailand to seek refuge. My parents were one of them. If you ask any Hmong refugee about crossing the Mekong River, you won’t expect to hear anything happy. It was the only way to safety. Hmong refugees had to either turn back and be killed by the Communists or die trying to cross the river. Some Hmong people are still running for their lives and being hunted to this day. It just doesn’t receive much coverage anymore.
How Many Hmong People live in the United States?
After living in refugee camps in Thailand, sponsors came in from churches and other Hmong families who settled worldwide – France, Australia, Argentina, Canada, Thailand, and the United States. The sponsors helped with processing legal documents to enter other countries.
As of 2019, the Hmong population is estimated to be over 320,000 in the United States. We have yet to see the final count for the 2020 Census. Of the 320,000 Hmong, the majority live in California, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. The Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul have the most Hmong per capita in the United States, summing up to over 80,000 people.
What issues do Hmong People face today?
As with every ethnic minority in America and being a refugee, Hmong people faced a lot of issues in the past. The problems include living in poverty and facing racism. Hmong children were bullied for having big buck teeth and slanted eyes. Since early refugees didn’t understand English, some Hmong kids were forced to gather and protect each other, eventually leading to gang violence. Dealing with poverty in the early days of resettling, Hmong children in urban environments had busy parents, so there were only gangs to keep each other safe.
Today, some Hmong are still facing this diversity issue, but many have been able to avoid problems such as gang violence. As time continued, Hmong people have set up education centers and nonprofits to help out the community. Some Hmong have also made it as being on the big screen!
So, ask a Hmong person what and where Hmong is, and you’ll get mixed answers of not having a country and saying they’re Chinese or southeast Asian, but I would personally say Hmong is our ethnicity and Hmong is where my home is.
mr cha–you are right–you really have an identity problem -for many reasons=1]because of the secret war-your people had a difficult time- hmong people became refugees-you lost your ”home” and your ”root”-2] you are very confused about the origin and the identity of yourself because you are very skeptical about so called oral history and the ”recorded” history by ”han” people 3] maybe you have not done enough research about your the history of your family and your ancestors and the history of china- 4] as most people -you are confused by the ”definition” and the meaning of ”chinese” and ”china” =‘’CHINESE” AND ”HAN” ARE NOT THE SAME MEANING 5] han was and is one of the many ethinic groups living in china- hmong is one of the many ethnic groups have been living in china for thousands of years– as other ethnic groups-such as tibetans-turks-”mongolian” ”manchurians” all had been invading the territory of han people-all the ethnic groups were trying to control the mainland of china 6] as the hmong people-originally-their ancestors were from the northern part of china- they migrated to other parts in china, they had wars with other ethnic groups including hmongs’ ancestors from the norther part of china, they finally settled down in today’s henan province and the central part of china 7] hmong’s ancestors kept migrating southward and many other parts of china–once they established strong kingdom and helped the han people to fight against other ethnic groups, they were not being ‘persectuted”-some hmong also being appointed as high rank officials 8] it is very difficult to define han people or other ethnic people-after thousands of years of countless wars and many migrations and many mixed marriages -hardly there is any so called ”blue blood”’ or pure blood of han people or any other ethnic groups-for example,milions of chinese muslims’ ancestors are arabians, they dont speak arabian at all 9] not only by blood-but by culture-today’s so called chinese culture is not 100% ”han” culture–it has assimilulated with other cultures and vise vera–such as the chinese violin -”e-hu” and the chinese custume ”chi-pao” [from manchurian] -==you feel bad because other people think or call you ”chinese”- on the other hand–how do you or how should you define hmong and hmong culture?–for thousands of years-there are hmong people living in china and in many other parts in southeast asia–i have met many hmongs-they themselves told me their ancestors are from china-they have ”chinese” names-they go back to china to find their roots and to meet their relatives–so as the famous hmong general vang pao and the first hmong phd studied in france–dr yang– i have visited vang pao elementary school in fresno 10] not only you have identity problem-many people of so called ”minority groups” living in america-including american born people -have identity problems-they may think or believe they are ”americans”-or asian americans -but who they really are-who am i ??-what am i ???–you should read the book ”root” the asian american reader published by UCLA–it can make you have better understanding about yourself =for your information-today-in many countries-the so called ”chinese” cannot speak chinese -because of many complicated political reasons and problems==by the way-how do you or any one define ”american” or ”american ”’culture” or so called ”american food”==finally-i should ”introduce” myself–hahaha- tell you something about my backgroud-so you can understand ”where i am coming from”==i am so called a ”chinese american”–i was a three time refugee of civil wars–thanks to the communists-i have lived in five different countries-traveled many countries in asia and europe-[including laos-vietnam-cambodia etc]–i am a retired social worker and volunteer-helping minority orphans and children of underpriviledged families-you and any one is more than welcome to contact me ==i hate war-one of the main reasons for so many conflicts and wars is that many people not only are very ignorant about other people and their cultures and histories but also very ignorant about themselves and their own people and their own cultures and their own histories-[for example-many chinese in china dont even know that the arabian chinese and jewish chinese -hungarian chinese have been living in china for thousands of years–many americans cannot even name the early 13 conlonies -and why native american ”indians” are being called ”indians’-they dont know in new york city-there are 800 languages and dialects spoken every day=and many europeans do not know how tea and silk imported to europe thousands years ago on the ”silk road”-many of them dont know that german is the mother language of english=so-we all should try to do more outreach and to learn more about ourselves and other people’s cultures and histories==my email address-mryangusa@yahoo.com–i would try to reply your email as soon as i can-but i am going to be 80 years old soon–it would take some more time–i hate typing–i am a very bad typist-so please excuse me for my messy typing and typos==BEST REGARDS
I would love to send Tommy Cha a press release about an upcoming lecture by Yang Sao Xiong, Ph.D. entitled
America’s Secret War in Laos and Its Destructive Consequences in support of our current exhibition on the secret war, but cannot find his email address. Can you provide it?
Thank you.