The Hmong in Minnesota [Excerpts]
By Yang Dao
We call ourselves Hmong. The name means “Human Beings.” Hmong ancestors lived in a kingdom more than four thousand years ago on the sides of the Yellow River or Hoang Ho in China. Their long history was constantly punctuated by struggles, wars and rebellions against invaders and foreign domination. At the end, they chose dispersion and isolation to preserve their freedom and liberty and to maintain their thousand year old traditions.
At the beginning of the 19th century, the Hmong migrated into French Indochina, which comprised Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. They lived high in the mountains, raising crops and livestock. They found their social organization on a clan system and they believed in reincarnation.
In 1947, Hmong officially became citizens of the Kingdom of a Million Elephants (Laos) that obtained its independence in 1954. They took part in the Indochina War (1947-1975) that brought into conflict communists and non-communists. Many of the Hmong were involved in the "Secret War of Laos" as allies of the United States and fought against the communist expansion in Indochina. Because of their association with Washington during the Vietnam War, they fled to Thailand, a neighboring country, to escape persecution after the takeover of Laos by the Communist Pathet Lao in 1975.
In January 1976, some 150 Hmong families, numbering about 750 people, formed the first contingent to come to the United States from a Thailand refugee camp, under the US Refugee Program. The heads of those families had been employed by the United States Agency for International Development, the US Information Service or by the US Embassy in Vientiane, Laos.
Thus, about 60 people, were sponsored to Minnesota. With the assistance of churches, non-profit organizations and private individuals, the majority found employment in the Twin Cities. Soon after, this group of Hmong immigrants sponsored their parents and relatives who still remained in Thailand refugee camps. Through this system of sponsorship, the Hmong population in the Twin Cities metropolitan area by 1978-79 grew to 3,000.
Hmong guests realized the Twin Cities had many advantages: sound Hmong leadership, good understanding between Hmong refugees and the local population, strong educational programs and possibilities of employment. The news rapidly spread to other communities, and many Hmong refugees from other states decided to move to Minnesota despite its rigorous winter. By 1982, the Hmong population in the Twin Cities had increased to 12,000 people, the largest urban Hmong population in the United States.
[Insert- Update] Census 2000 figures report that 41,800 Hmong live in Minnesota, but it is generally agreed among public and nonprofit agencies serving the Hmong that the actual number is above 60,000. The Census shows that the Twin Cities area has the largest number of Hmong persons of any metropolitan area in the nation. The Minnesota Hmong community enjoys strong cultural connections and traditions and has many representatives in positions of commercial, educational, and political power.