Chippewa Valley Museum — PO Box 1204 — Eau Claire WI 54702 — (715) 834-7871 — info@cvmuseum.com

Hmong in America

These are excerpts from Hmong in America, a highly illustrated book by Tim Pfaff, published by CVM Press. The book includes a substantial annotated bibliography for scholars. Hmong in America is available from the Chippewa Valley Museum Press.

Yong Kay Moua welcomes his mother, Nao Yang, at the Chippewa Valley Regional Airport, May 18, 1993. Photographer: John Lindrud, Eau Claire Leader-Telegram.

In 1994, U.S. President Bill Clinton's decision to lift the trade embargo of Vietnam renewed the debate over what is sometimes described as America's longest and most tragic war. On both sides of the political spectrum, the Vietnam War continues to spark divisive, impassioned arguments among scholars and lay people. What are the lessons of Vietnam? Was American policy inherently flawed? Was the failure in the field or lack of support at home? Such debates often carry ideological rhetoric which has continued to ring out long after battlefields have fallen silent. One side is painted as benign, the other, malevolent; one leader is labeled hero, another villain.

America's involvement in Laos, and as a consequence its alliance with the Hmong, has received far less attention, yet is written about and debated with no less conviction. From 1961 to 1975, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency actively recruited Laotian highlanders to fight a "secret war" in Laos in direct violation of the 1962 Geneva Accords. Hmong soldiers blocked supplies headed for South Vietnam and served as the primary "anti-communist" force in Laos. The multi-million-dollar operation, unreported in the American press until 1969, wreaked havoc on the land and its people. When American forces withdrew from Southeast Asia in 1975, thousands fled to Thailand as refugees and subsequently resettled in the United States.

The Hmong will likely remain unknown to most Americans, yet their experience cuts to the core of American politics, touching upon issues which have been widely debated throughout U .S . history . Under what circumstances should American might be projected overseas? Is it legitimate for the U.S. government to conduct military operations in foreign countries without public knowledge and support? Is it the obligation of the United States to provide a safe haven for refugees/immigrants around the world, as the credo on the Statue of Liberty implies? What is the best way to structure public assistance, so that it empowers the needy to become self-sufficient without creating a permanent "welfare class?" Finally, is it desireable or even appropriate for arriving immigrants to practice and pass down their own cultural traditions? Does this enhance or threaten American culture?

Hmong in America is one outcome of an on-going documentation effort begun in 1991 as a cooperative project conducted by the Chippewa Valley Museum (CVM) and the Eau Claire Area Hmong Mutual Assistance Association (HMAA). The HMAA, an organization dedicated to helping Hmong refugees adjust in American society, was responding to the desire by many adults to preserve Hmong history and culture for their children. CVM has a broad mission to preserve the history of the Chippewa Valley and its people and to present their stories to the public.

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