The American experience of the hmong: A historical review

Author(s):

Yang, Kou

Format:

Book section

Citation:

Diversity In Diaspora: Hmong Americans In The Twenty-first Century, (2013). pp. 3-53.

Publisher:

University of Hawaii Press, 2013.

Language:

English

Abstract:

The Secret War in Laos, which was part of the Vietnam War and the Cold War, ended in 1975. The end of this war forced an estimated one-half of the Hmong of Laos to become refugees abroad, and the majority of these refugees were resettled in the United States of America. The mentioned war is known as the Secret War because the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency was involved in it without informing the U.S. Congress and the American public about the covert operations (Chagnon & Rumpf 1982). The Soviet Union and North Vietnam were also secretly involved in the war. Both sides could only be involved in this war clandestinely, since their participation violated the neutrality of Laos guaranteed by the 1954 and 1962 Geneva Accords. The final end of the war in 1975 led to the taking over of the government of Laos by the communist Pathet Lao (Lao Patriotic Front),1 enemies of the former Royal Lao Government. This caused fears that those who had supported the Royal Lao Government, an ally of the United States, would face retaliation, retribution, oppression, and reeducation camps (Lee 1990). During the war years, the Hmong of Laos, who lived in northern Laos and along the front lines of the war, were forced or coerced into fighting on both sides of the conflict. Many Hmong who had formerly been allies of the United States and supporters of the Royal Lao Government become targets of postwar mistrust, retaliation, and retribution by the post-1975 communist government of Laos. For example, Touby Lyfoung, a deputy minister of Post and Telecommunications in the Provisional Government of National Union (PGNU), the last government before the communist Pathet Lao took over in December 1975, was sent to a reeducation camp where he reportedly died in 1979 (Hamilton-Merritt 1999, 355). Touby Lyfoung was the para mount political leader of the Hmong of Laos. Moreover, he was the only Hmong and member of an ethnic minority in Laos to have ever held a cabinet post prior to the takeover by the communist Pathet Lao in December 1975. These fears and many real incidents of retaliation and retribution led to the movement of thousands of refugees out of Laos to Thailand, and this refugee movement occurred not only once but became a continuing pattern after 1975. As a result, when the communist government celebrated the tenth anniversary of its victory in 1985, about 10 percent of the estimated 3.5 million people of Laos had already left the country to become refugees abroad (Brown and Zasloff 1986, 189). About half of these refugees were Hmong-mostly those who had supported or were sympathizers of the Royal Lao Government during the war years. Hmong refugees began to leave the country in the middle of May 1975, when the PGNU began to fall and the communist Pathet Lao began to gradually take control of the country. The communists eventually proclaimed victory on December 2, 1975. At that time, the Pathet Lao changed the name of the Kingdom of Laos to the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR) after forcing the king to abdicate. The refugee exodus of the Hmong, in addition to other impacts of the war, led to Arthur Dommen's conclusion that "Among the sorriest of the exiles were the Hmong, who were virtually destroyed as a significant ethnic group as a result of the years of warfare, dislocation, and, finally, a determined extermination campaign mounted against them" (1985, 114). The Hmong refugee movement out of Laos continued into the 1990s and then slowed down, but it did not completely stop. There were approximately fifteen thousand Hmong refugees at Tham Krabok Temple in Saraburi, Thailand, who were resettled in the United States between 2004 and 2008, and in 2008 there were about eight thousand Hmong in Whitewater (Huay Nam Khao) and Nong Khai, Thailand (Thao 2008). About half of these Hmong were forced to repatriate back to Laos by 2009, leaving many of them in Whitewater with no certain future. Moreover, many thousands of additional Hmong from Laos have been living in Thailand with or without documentation. The majority of the post-1975 Hmong refugees from Laos were resettled in the United States. Others went to Australia, Argentina, Canada, France, French Guiana, and Germany. A few Hmong refugee families went to China, but they were later repatriated back to Laos. By the year 2010, it could be said that the Hmong had dispersed to all of the five continents, as there are some Hmong Thai and Hmong Americans working and residing in Africa. The postwar refugee movement of the Hmong of Laos has added another chapter to their experiences of diaspora, beginning with their migration from central China to southern China, then to Southeast Asia, and after 1975 to Australia, the Americas, Europe, and lastly, a very small number of them working and living in Africa. The first wave of Hmong refugees to be resettled in the United States arrived in July 1975. Since their first arrival, the Hmong American community has continuously grown and developed, undergoing many stages of adjustment and adaptation. Hmong Americans have experienced adjustment problems, along with some success stories. Being members of an ethnic minority in Laos and coming from an unprepared educational and technological background, the Hmong American community went from being one of the poorest Asian American groups in the 1980s to a somewhat self-sufficient community at the dawn of the twenty-first century. Their thirty-five years of American experience can be divided into what I have elsewhere classified as three distinct adaptation periods: The Refugee Years, the Turning Point or Transitional Period, and the Hmong American Era (Yang 2006). This essay is an attempt to examine the three periods mentioned and the three-decade sweep of the American experience of the Hmong. It presents and analyzes Hmong American history and includes historical accounts of their adjustment to life in the United States and their education and socioeconomic experiences. It also highlights success stories and challenging issues facing the Hmong American community. The essay is also an attempt to examine the experiences of the Hmong from their perspective, as it includes stories and many different points of view from different groups within the Hmong American community. © 2013 University of Hawai'i Press. All rights reserved.

ISBN:

9780824837778 (ISBN); 9780824835972 (ISBN)

Identifier:

HmongStudies3823