The Hmong trace their history to China, where they lived for thousands of years, and where some Hmong families still live. The Chinese and Hmong lived next to each other and coexisted, but it would be an incorrect to say that the Hmong and Chinese lived peacefully for centuries (Bengston, et al, 2008). According the Chan (1994), the major Hmong migration happened during the Quing dynasty because of oppression and a need for more space (p.1). The Hmong settled in several countries after the diaspora from China, but since most Hmong in America come from Laos (Chan, 1994), we will focus just on the Hmong in Laos. It must be noted that while the Hmong lived in Laos, they still maintained the Hmong language and customs.
During the 1880’s the French colonized what became known as French Indochina. “Composed … of Tonkin, Annam, Cochin China, Cambodia, and Laos, the French considered landlocked Laos the least important colony” (Chan, 1994, p. 6). As a result, there was a smaller French presence in the country, and some of the existing government was kept in place. Along with colonization, the French taxed the people, but unlike previous regimes, it had to be paid in cash. Interestingly, the French collected taxes from the Hmong highlanders, or hill people, by using Lao leaders and the Black Tai, a different ethnic group, so “the payment of taxes was not tempered by any bonds of kinship or ethnic solidarity” (Chan, 1994, p. 7).
Chan (1994) gives three reasons why the Hmong were involved with the political culture of Laos, no matter who was at the top. He states:
Fist, [Hmong people] lived in the strategic border region between North Vietnam and Laos—one of the most fiercely contended terrains…. Second, they have been extraordinarily hardy soldiers, capable of operating effectively both as guerillas in the jungles and mountains and as regular troops in positional warfare. Third, they grew the opium that helped finance the French colonial adventures from the 1890s to the 1950s, the Japanese occupation from 1941 to 1945, and the American involvement in Indochina in the 1960s and the early 1970s. (p.11)
This involvement in the politics of the country ultimately turned the government of Laos against them. In order for almost an entire people group to leave a country, the impetus needed to be huge—as big as the Vietnam conflict.
The United States was interested in Laos not being a communist country. However, the United States could not become a military presence in Laos because the 1954 Geneva accords did not allow any other country besides France to station troops in Laos so that Laos would remain neutral during the Cold War. France (because of her status as the colonizer) was allowed to keep 1,500 troops there at one time (Chan, 1994, p. 24). However, neutrality was a hard thing to keep, and the United States believed that by building up the Royal Lao Army, Laos would not become a communist country. In a book entitled, Laos: War and Revolution, Len E. Ackland wrote an article called “No Place for Neutralism: The Eisenhower Administration and Laos,” which Chan paraphrases, “the United States agreed to pay all the salaries of the troops and officers in the [RLA]” (Chan, 1994, 24). The United States was even willing to overlook abuses of the money in order to uphold the RLA. The United States did this because of the communist movement, which was in more and more countries, and was poised to influence to Laos as well. The Pathet Lao guerillas were indeed a communist force in Laos who eventually took control of the country in 1975. They were associated with the Viet Minh, the communist army who operated in Vietnam. (Pathet Lao. Encyclopædia Britannica.)
During the Vietnam Conflict, Hmong soldiers were recruited by the CIA to carry out operations in Laos. The CIA, which did not place troops, was able to train the Hmong covertly. Because of the Hmong people’s understanding of the mountainous country, they were automatically the best at maneuvers in Laos and became strong allies with the Americans. However, when the Americans pulled out of Vietnam and, by tenuous extension, Laos, in 1973, many of the Hmong families were left to face a regime who did not speak the same language, or engage in the same culture. On top of these natural barriers, the Pathet Lao Communists also looked at the Hmong as spies for the United States of America (Vang and Flores, 1999, p.9). The political differences between the Hmong leaders and the leaders of the Pathet Lao became a much wider gulf than any language barrier between them. As a result of the Hmong people’s active alliance against communism, the Hmong families were persecuted. According to Vang and Flores, “On May 12, 1975, some Hmong military leaders and their families were airlifted to safety in Thai camps, but thousands were abandoned…” (p. 9). Many fled to Thailand across the Mekong River, risking drowning, separation, and gunfire. After staying in refuge camps for several years, the refugees moved to other countries, with the largest number settling in the United States.
The Hmong people are split into large clans. Communities of Hmong people are often very close geographically, depending on each other in America. Several communities live in California, such as Fresno and California, and a large population lives in the Midwest, especially St. Paul.
This history is one that all Hmong in Laos share, even those who were not involved in the military. Hmong communities were intentionally persecuted, and the Hmong people have a collective memory of this. However, none of the children who were born in the United States lived through these events. Living day to day in a village in Laos, fleeing from the Pathet Lao, or waiting in a refugee camp are not in the experience of a Hmong American teenager today, no matter how many stories they are told by elders. Students may have a hard time connecting with the tales told by their grandma or someone else who was born in Laos.
*Works Cited:
Bengston, D. N., Schermann, M. M., Moua, M., and Lee, T. T. (2008). Listening to neglected
voices: Hmong and public lands in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Society and Natural Resources 21(10) 876-890. Retrieved November 2, 2008, from USDA National Agricultural Library. doi 10.1080/08941920701684197
Chan, S. (1994). Hmong means free: life in Laos and America. Philadelphia: Temple University
Press.
Pathet Lao. (2009). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved November 20, 2009, from
Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/446407/Pathet-Lao
Vang, T. & Flores, J. (1999, October). The Hmong Americans: identity, conflict and opportunity.
Multicultural Perspectives 1(4) 9-14. Retrieved April 14, 2009, from Academic Search
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