Paj Ntaub - upcoming modern Hmong movie

stars Hmong Georgia folks. Props!!! Cannot wait.

For those who don't know Hmong, there is English subs :D

The video won't let me embed but watch it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAxcs36p4Vg

Synopsis:
A love triangle between two good friends Nraug Hli Xiong aka 'X', Tou Lee and a fictional dream girl, Nkauj Hnub Xiong. X is every woman's dream man. He's successful, intelligent and beyond gorgeous, but even with all his good fortune X is empty knowing and sensing that his life is hollow and missing an essential element. Searching for the spark to his life X turns to his dreams and there finds this fantasy girl. Their love blossoms in his subconscious and X deters from reality to find a way to make his fantasy love come to life. However, trying to change the hands of fate, changes their destiny and X is trapped between two worlds.

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Vietnam: Between tradition and modernity

Words by Nick Ahlmark, photographs by Nicole Precel

Back in the mid-1990s I was on a gap year before university and had somehow ended up in mid-West America. Wandering through a neighbourhood in La Crosse, Wisconsin, I saw groups of women in brightly-coloured dresses tending to corn crops in their front gardens and washing their clothes in large buckets on their porches.

In one of America's whitest states, this Asian community stood out. I turned to my American friend and asked who these people were? "Oh, they're the Hmong," he replied.

Further questioning revealed that the Hmong are a race of four million people spread out across southern China, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Burma. The Hmong of La Crosse are part of the about 180,000 strong refugee community in the US. The Hmong had fought for the Americans against the communists in Vietnam and Laos during the 1960s and 1970s and thus the US had taken in a significant number of Hmong asylum seekers after the Vietnam War.

What struck me on that sunny day in Wisconsin was how this community were dutifully sticking to their traditions. They were even stashing their garden crops in hand woven baskets, all this despite having been in one of the most modern countries on the planet for the best part of 20 years.

Fast forward to February 2011; myself and fellow filmmaker Nicole Precel find ourselves in Chi Ca Commune, a cluster of villages in Xin Man district, part of Ha Giang province in northern Vietnam, the poorest province in the country. We are here to make a film which will become the eighth and final episode of Al Jazeera's Birthrights, a series examining maternal health around the world.

It is the culmination of four months of researching and organising that ultimately enabled us to spend a full eight days in this politically sensitive area of Vietnam that borders China. We were told that this is more time than any other foreign journalist has been allowed in the region post the Vietnam War.

The environment is about as radically different from suburban Wisconsin as one can imagine, but even here, the clash of modernity and tradition is evident. Renowned for its mountains and stunning beauty, the population of Ha Giang province is 90 per cent ethnic minority of which the Hmong make up the second largest group.

Here, in the isolated Chi Ca commune, very few Hmong women choose to use the government-run health services to give birth or seek maternal care. The reasons are numerous and complex, but the first is language. In general, the Hmong do not speak Vietnamese and the Vietnamese do not speak Hmong. As all health workers are from the dominant Vietnamese Kinh ethnic group, this has proved to be a major obstacle.

The second is tradition. The Hmong believe in Shamanism and have a specific set of rituals surrounding all aspects of life and this includes childbirth. It is believed that after the birth, the placenta must be buried in a hole beneath the parents' bed. The babies' bath water must be poured into the hole for one month at which point it is covered up permanently. This tradition ensures the good health of the baby and when the child grows old and dies it must return to collect the placenta for a successful journey to the afterlife. If women give birth at the hospital, conducting this ritual becomes impossible for the Hmong.

The third reason is a lack of trust between the communist institutions and the Hmong. Academics have argued that the Hmong simply pay lip service to Vietnamese nationalism and the communist way. Inside every Hmong mud brick house, a picture of Ho Chi Minh and the communist party flag hangs on the wall. But we very much got the sense that the Hmong would prefer to be seen to conform so as not to cause trouble. That way they can go about their traditional lives but at the same time appease the communist authorities by playing their expected roles without great conviction but with enough diligence.

The fourth reason is distance. The villages of Chi Ca commune are spread out over many kilometres of mountainous terrain. For some pregnant women, getting to the local health centre requires an exhausting trek of up to 10 kilometres. The district hospital is between two and three hours by motorbike, depending on the state of the roads. These journeys are obviously incredibly risky for a heavily pregnant women who is about to give birth.

Vietnam is booming and with the boom has come a massive improvement in health care. Over the last 20 years maternal and infant mortality rates in the urban and low lying regions have improved greatly. But in Ha Giang province the maternal mortality rate is almost 10 times higher than in the more urbanised parts of the country. There are no statistics for Xin Man, but as the poorest district in Ha Giang one can only imagine that the figures are even worse.

Enter the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). Realising that cultural barriers are the main obstacles for ethnic minority women seeking professional health care, they have initiated a brilliant and highly successful scheme with the Ha Giang health authority. Targeting the most able and confident young people in local villages, the UNFPA selected 49 ethnic minority women, mostly in their late teens and early 20s, to train as midwives. After the 18 month training programme in Ha Giang's capital, the women return to their villages, provide maternal and infant care to the community and try to convince local women to give birth at either the local health centre or the district hospital.

In Chi Ca commune, 20-year-old Ying, a bilingual ethnic Hmong, is the one taking on the immense challenge of trying to reduce the infant and maternal mortality rates in her community. As you can imagine it is not an easy task and we hope the film illustrates the incredible job she is doing in bridging the gap between the Hmong women and the Vietnamese health authorities.

Having graduated just over a year ago, Ying's presence has already seen an increase in the number of Hmong women seeking to have their babies at the health centre or district hospital. In our short time in Chi Ca we witnessed first-hand Ying convincing, through sheer personality and force of will, two pregnant Hmong women and their families to go to the health centre.

Most Hmong in Vietnam still live off the land. But modernisation throughout Vietnam has been nothing short of thorough and in recent years has reached the most far flung corners of the country. As Vietnam hurtles along the path of economic progress it can only be applauded for attempting to alleviate the pockets of high maternal and infant mortality rates that still remain.

Ying and the 48 other midwives represent a happy medium between modernity and tradition. One can only hope that Vietnam will continue these types of forward-thinking policies in other areas relating to its ethnic minorities, which make up 13 per cent of its over 85 million population, so their ways of life are respected, whilst the nation continues to transform.

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Laos, Obama Urged By Rights Groups, Hmong, to Free 3 Americans

WASHINGTON & MINNEAPOLIS & ST. PAUL, Minn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--A coalition of Laotian and Hmong non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and the Center for Public Policy Analysis (CPPA), have joined the families of three Hmong-Americans from Minnesota in issuing an international appeal for the release of their relatives who have been imprisoned in Laos for over three years. The appeal requests that the Lao government, and U.S. President Barack Obama, work at a higher diplomatic level, with urgent priority, to release the three Hmong-American citizens.

In August 2007, for unknown reasons, Lao People's Army (LPA) troops and secret police arrested the three Americans: Mr. Hakit Yang, 24; Mr. Congshineng Yang, 34; and Mr. Trillion Yunhaison, 44.
The Hmong-Americans remain imprisoned in Laos' Sam Neua province by LPA troops and secret police. The three are being held without charges being filed, or due process, according to the Foreign Prisoners Support Service (FPSS), the CPPA, human rights organizations, family members and others.
Mrs. Sheng Xiong, a spokeswoman for the families, and Philip Smith of the CPPA, spoke to Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) about the case.

“I just wish the Lao government would be upfront ...,” Xiong told MPR.
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2011/04/21/hmong-americans-held-in-laos/
 
“We want answers now from the Lao government about the arrest and continued imprisonment of my husband, Hakit Yang, and the other two Hmong-Americans...,” Xiong, stated further.
“We would like to ask the President, Barack Obama, and the U.S. Government, to please seriously help to press the Lao military and government to cooperate in telling the truth about the arrest and imprisonment of our families in Laos so that they can be released and come home to their loved ones, including their wives and children,” Mrs. Xiong said.

“Our Lao Hmong families, and the community in St. Paul and Minneapolis, are appealing to the Lao government... to release my husband, Hakit Yang, and his colleagues...,” Xiong commented.
“We are grateful to Kay Danes and the FPSS in Australia for helping to bring new and updated information, and evidence, about the arrest and continued jailing of my husband in Laos-- and we appreciate her book 'Standing Ground' regarding... the plight of prisoners at Phonthong Prison, in Vientiane, where my husband was jailed...,” Xiong concluded.

“The LPA, and secret police, later moved the three Americans, including Sheng Xiong's husband Hakit Yang, from Xieng Khouang province, where they were arrested, to Laos' notorious Phonthong Prison, in the capital of Vientiane, where the men were interrogated, beaten and tortured, according to eyewitness and multiple sources...,” said Philip Smith, Director of the CPPA in Washington, D.C.
http://www.centerforpublicpolicyanalysis.org
“In 2009, the three Hmong-American men were again moved... and are now being held in a secret LPA military-operated prison camp in Sam Neua Province, Laos,” Smith stated. “We are urging President Obama to press the Lao military and government, at a higher diplomatic level, to release the three Americans...”
“Additionally, we are also appealing to President Obama, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, to assist with the release of other Lao and Hmong political prisoners and religious dissidents in Laos...,” Smith concluded.
“We condemn, in the strongest terms, the continued imprisonment by the Lao military and communist officials in Laos of Mr. Hakit Yang, Mr. Conghineng Yang and Trillion Yunhaison, who are U.S. citizens still being held without charge in horrific conditions in Laos by the LPA and secret police,” said Christy Lee, Director of Hmong Advance, Inc. (HAI) in Washington, D.C.

http://www.hmongadvance.org
The NGOs joining the Hmong-American families in urging Laos, and the White House, to help release the Americans include the CPPA, HAI, Hmong Advancement, United Lao for Human Rights and Democracy, Lao Human Rights Council, Hmong Students Association, Lao Students for Democracy, United League for Democracy in Laos, Laos Institute for Democracy and Lao Veterans of America.
On March 16, the CPPA issued an appeal regarding the imprisoned Hmong-Americans and human rights violations in Laos.

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20110316007171/en/Laos-Hmong-Crisis-Rights-Groups-International-Appeal
 
CPPA - Center for Public Policy Analysis
info@centerforpublicpolicyanalysis.org

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Minneapolis conference highlights Hmong accomplishments

As a small child, MayKao Hang fled war-ravaged Laos with her family for the dubious safety of a resettlement camp in Thailand. They were, like thousands of other Hmong refugees, an impoverished people without a country.

That quickly changed.

"I'm 38," said MayKao Hang, a graduate of Como Park Senior High School, Brown University and the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs.

"I came to the United States when I was 4, so English is not my first language. But I grew up bilingual, bicultural. I'm college educated. I have a graduate degree. And now I'm the president of the Wilder Foundation."

With her own struggles and accomplishments in mind, MayKao Hang will give the keynote address this weekend at the Hmong National Conference at the Marriott City Center Hotel in downtown Minneapolis.

The three-day conference, now in its 15th year, is expected to draw 900 young Hmong professionals and college and high school students from across the country, as well as some national and international presenters.

The conference, held in a different state each year, is organized by the Hmong National Development group, which merged last year with the St. Paul-based Hmong American Partnership, a social services agency.

In a break from tradition, this year's conference will focus more on working professionals than on students. Many won't have far to travel. The Twin Cities is believed to host the highest concentration of Hmong professionals in the nation.

According to organizers, 38 percent of the conference attendees will have a master's degree or higher, and 86 percent will have at least a bachelor's degree.

"We're definitely focusing more on the working professionals, and we're bringing in very top people in the Hmong community to come and speak," said Lee Vue, 21, of St. Paul, a conference organizer and political science student in her final year at the University of Minnesota.

"We do have that mentality of helping each other — 'Hmong helps Hmong.' When you're growing up, as a Hmong child, your parents instill that in you, and in going to community events," Lee Vue said.

The conference, which begins Friday, features more than 70 workshops, with topics ranging from health care reform and social activism to business smarts. A workshop is dedicated to the community response after the fatal 2006 shooting of 19-year-old Fong Lee by a Minneapolis police officer. Another session will focus on traditional Hmong music, while yet another explores Hmong voices in hip-hop.

Students from the Center for Hmong Arts and Talent, or CHAT, in St. Paul will host a discussion about polygamy, which is illegal in Minnesota but still is practiced by some traditionalists, although frowned upon by many members of the younger generation. Another workshop, called "Placing Bets, Debts and Regrets," focuses on gambling among Hmong elders.

Pao Lor, a professor of education at the University of Wisconsin Green Bay, will discuss the future of Hmong leadership after the recent death of former Lao Army General Vang Pao, who was seen as the uniter and patriarch of the 18 Hmong clans in America.

Other speakers include U.S. Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn.; former state Sen. Mee Moua; social worker-turned-millionaire-philanthropist Jerry Yang, who won the televised "World Series of Poker"; and Kayla Yang-Best, director of the Cargill Foundation.

The conference was last held in the Twin Cities in 2006, said Bao Vang, president and CEO of the Hmong American Partnership and Hmong National Development.

Bao Vang said she hopes the conference will help launch a national strategic think tank to focus on Hmong issues. "We believe the community has moved beyond a refugee era," she said. "It's really a call to action to various stakeholders about how to advance the Hmong community in terms of economic prosperity, wealth creation, health ... how do we empower our community to participate and exercise their voting power."

"I think that the Hmong community has really achieved a lot in 35 years," MayKao Hang said. "Every time we get together at one of these conferences, it's a reminder of how far we've come and how far we still need to go.

"I think there's still a lot of economic barriers to overcome," she said. "There's a segment of the population that has moved on and become college educated, and are doing well, like myself, and there's a segment that's still struggling. I would characterize the first 30 years as 'learning how to survive in America.' And maybe the next 30 really as building on the assets that we've accumulated, and giving back to the community."

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Laos: Appeal for Release of 3 Hmong-Americans

Friday, 22 April 2011, 10:14 am
Press Release: Center for Public Policy Analysis

Laos: Appeal for Release of 3 Hmong-Americans

Washington, D.C., Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, April 21, 2011
Center for Public Policy Analysis
info@centerforpublicpolicyanalysis.org

The Center for Public Policy Analysis (CPPA) and a coalition of Laotian and Hmong non-governmental organizations have joined the Minnesota families of three Hmong-Americans in issuing an appeal for the release of their relatives being held in Laos for over three years by military and communist party officials. The appeal was issued from Washington, D.C., and the Twin Cities of Minnesota, to the Lao government and U.S. President Barack Obama to request that they work at a higher diplomatic level, with urgent priority, to release three Hmong-American citizens arrested and currently imprisoned in Laos.

The three jailed Americans, of ethnic Hmong descent from the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, have been imprisoned in Laos for over three years-- according to eye-witness sources, human rights groups, prisoner support organizations, and humanitarian activists, including Australian author and humanitarian advocate Kay Danes. . http://www.presszoom.com/print_story_140676.htm

According to the Foreign Prisoners Support Service in Australia, CPPA, family members and other sources, the three Minnesota men were arrested in Laos by Lao military and security forces while they were visiting Laos in the summer of 2007 as tourists and potential investors.. The three Hmong-Americans remained imprisoned in Laos' Sam Neua Province by Lao military and ministry of interior police.. They are currently being held without charges being filed, or due process.

“We want answers now from the Lao government about the arrest and continued imprisonment of my husband, Hakit Yang, and the other two Hmong-Americans traveling with him from Minnesota,” said Sheng Xiong, a spokeswoman for the families of the three Hmong-Americans arrested in the summer of 2007 in Xieng Khouang Province. http://www.media-newswire.com/release_1089564.html

“Our Lao Hmong families, and the community in St. Paul and Minneapolis, are appealing to the Lao government once again to release my husband Hakit Yang and his colleagues immediately, and unconditionally,” Mrs. Xiong further stated.

“We would like to ask the President of the United States, Barack Obama, and the U.S. government to please seriously help to press the Lao military and government to cooperate in telling the truth about the arrest and imprisonment of our families in Laos so that they can be released and come home to their loved ones, including their wives and children,” Xiong said.

“We are grateful to Kay Danes and the Foreign Prisoners Support Service in Australia for helping to bring new and updated information and evidence about the arrest and continued jailing of my husband in Laos and we appreciate her book 'Standing Ground' regarding her experience and first-hand knowledge about the the plight of prisoners at Phonthong Prison in Vientiane were my husband was jailed by the Lao authorities,” Xiong concluded.

Lao People's Army (LPA) troops and secret police arrested the three Americans: Mr. Hakit Yang, 24; Mr. Conghineng Yang,, 34; and Trillion Yunhaison, 44. The three were U.S. citizens from St. Paul, Minnesota and the Twin Cities area of Minnesota where their immediate families remain. A fourth Hmong individual Mr. Pao Vang, of unknown nationality and age, was reportedly acting as tour guide for the group, and was also reportedly arrested and jailed with them according to sources inside Laos.

“The LPA and secret police later moved the three Americans, including Sheng Xiong's husband Hakit Yang, to Laos' notorious Phonthong Prison, in the capital of Vientiane, where the men were interrogated, beaten and tortured according to eyewitnesses as well as numerous and redundant Hmong, Laotian, Australian, and other sources,” said Philip Smith, Executive Director for the CPPA in Washington, D.C. http://www.centerforpublicpolicyanalysis.org

“In 2009, the three Hmong-American men were again moved a second time in army trucks and vehicles, and are now being held in a secret LPA military-operated prison camp in Sam Neua Province, Laos, “ Smith stated.

“Australian human rights activist and author Kay Danes as well as the Foreign Prisoners Support Service have also uncovered more details of the Lao government's continued imprisonment and mistreatment of the three American's from Minnesota.,” Smith continued.

“We are urging President Barack Obama to press the Lao military and government, at a higher diplomatic level, to release the three Americans from the Twin Cities of Minnesota,” Smith said.

“We are also appealing to President Obama, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, to assist with the release of Lao and Hmong political prisoners and religious dissidents in Laos, including jailed Lao student pro-democracy leaders and the Hmong translator for Pastor Naw Karl Mua, of St. Paul, and two European journalists who were also previously arrested and imprisoned in Laos,” Smith concluded.

“We condemn, in the strongest terms, the continued imprisonment by the Lao military and communist officials in Laos of Mr. Hakit Yang, Mr. Conghineng Yang and Trillion Yunhaison, who are U.S. citizens still being held without charge in horrific conditions in Laos by the Lao Peoples Army and secret police,” said Christy Lee, the Executive Director of Hmong Advance, Inc. (HAI) in Washington, D.C.

“Laotian and Hmong-Americans are concerned that this is yet another brutal example of the Lao government's, and LPA military's, institutional violence and endemic racism directed against the Hmong people in Laos who continue to suffer mistreatment, gross human rights violations, extra-judicial killings, religious persecution, the confiscation of their land, and many other terrible abuses from the Lao military and corrupt communist party officials,” Ms. Lee stated from HAI offices in Washington..

On March 16, 2011, the CPPA and others issued and international appeal regarding the plight of the three Hmong-Americans from Minnesota as well as political prisoners and religious dissidents being jailed in Laos.
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20110316007171/en/Laos-Hmong-Crisis-Rights-Groups-International-Appeal

The United Nations' Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) in Geneva has repeated cited the government of Laos, and Lao People's Army soldiers and commanders, for egregious human rights violations and institutional racism, including the rape and killing of unarmed Lao Hmong civilians.

In 2003, the United Nations' CERD passed a resolution in Geneva condemning the Lao Peoples Democratic Republic (LPDR) for atrocities against the Hmong including the rape and murder of Hmong children by LPA forces. Thereafter, it again raised concerns about attacks against Hmong civilians and opposition groups in Laos. http://www.universalhumanrightsindex.org/documents/824/1223/document/en/pdf/text.pdf
http://www.universalhumanrightsindex.org/documents/824/960/document/en/pdf/text.pdf

“We want the one-party communist regime in Laos to abide by international law and release the three Lao Hmong-American citizens from St. Paul who have been jailed in Laos for over three years, ” said Boon Boualaphanh , of the Minneapolis -based United Lao for Human Rights and Democracy (ULHRD). “These America citizens and other prisoners , including prisoners of conscience and political prisoners, should also be released by the Lao military and communist party authorities including the Lao student leaders of the October 1999 Movement for Democracy in Vientiane.”
..
The Hmong-Americans currently being jailed in Laos, have no known political or family ties to opposition or dissident factions and had departed the United States for travel to Laos on July 10, 2007, from the Twin Cities of Minnesota as tourists and to potentially seek business and investment opportunities in Laos, prior to their arrest and imprisonment.

Australian Kay Danes, a former political prisoner in Laos, spoke in the U.S. Congress and the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., in April 2009, with Sheng Xiong about the current imprisonment and plight of the three Americans in Laos. Danes is the author of “Standing Ground” a book about her ordeal in Phonthong Prison in Vientiane, Laos, where the three Americans were also imprisoned and tortured before being moved to secret military prison in Sam Neua Province by Lao military and security forces.

Laos is governed by a one-party communist regime whose leadership has repeatedly been deemed as “Press Predators” by the Paris, France-based Journalists Without Borders ( JSF ). Amnesty International and other independent human rights organizations have also raise serous concerns http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?id=ENGASA260022006


For nearly a decade, a Hmong translator with links to the Twin Cities, who assisted Minnesota Hmong-American Pastor Naw Karl Mua (Naw Karl Moua) and two European journalists, Thierry Falise and Vincent Reynaud, is still imprisoned in Laos on allegations regarding their efforts to document human rights violations. The group documented horrific attacks and atrocities committed by the LPA on Laotian and Hmong civilians, independent Animist and Christians communities, and dissident groups.

Over 8,000 Lao Hmong refugees were forced back to Laos in 2009, and were placed in charge of a LPA General, General Bouasieng Champaphanh, who has repeatedly involved with answering serious human rights and religious freedom violations, and atrocity, charges by the United Nations and independent human rights and religious freedom organizations. http://media-newswire.com/release_1108993.html

The non-profit and non-governmental organizations joining the three Hmong-American families in urging Laos to release the three Americans from Minnesota include the CPPA, HAI, Hmong Advancement, Inc., ULHRD, Lao Human Rights Council, Inc., Hmong Students Association, Lao Hmong Students For Democracy, United League for Democracy in Laos, Laos Institute for Democracy, Lao Veterans of America, Inc., and others.

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Finding a Place ‘Among B-Boys’

Over a span of about seven years, filmmaker Christopher Woon documented how a love of hip-hop and break-dancing united Hmong American youth nationwide.

By Nalea J. Ko, Reporter
Published April 20, 2011

Christopher Woon first turned his camera lens on a Hmong community of break-dancers some seven years ago.

The fifth generation Chinese American filmmaker documented a group of Hmong American youth who were breaking, also known as break dancing or b-boying, in California.

Over the years the 30-year-old logged countless hours filming, interviewing and editing his documentary. As the years passed, Woon continually found himself fielding questions from others about his film’s release date.

“It’s something that I would get very defensive about it. Sometimes friends or family members would be like, ‘When are you going to finish already?’” Woon explained with a laugh. “I had to realize that this has been my learning process. A lot of people go to film school for this. I didn’t go to film school for this — this was my film school.”

Woon began capturing footage of the Hmong hip-hop breakers doing flares, windmills and more for a 2004 documentary short. The project was for Armed With A Camera, A Visual Communications fellowship program for emerging filmmakers.

Two years later, Woon received the Center For Asian American Media’s James T. Yee Fellowship and developed his film “Among B-Boys,” into a feature-length documentary.

The release of the film was delayed, Woon says, because he had been juggling finishing the documentary and studying in graduate school at the University of California, Los Angeles.

But now Woon finally has an answer about his film’s release date for any inquisitive friends and family members.

The film “Among B-Boys” will premiere May 4 at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, which opens April 28.

For the b-boys featured in the film — who are now a few years older than they were when filming began — watching the documentary next month will be like opening a time capsule.

“It’s something to look back on,” said Shoua “Sukie” Lee, a 25-year-old b-boy who was featured in the documentary. “I saw the trailer and it was a lot of footage of me when I was younger and all the kids I danced with — my crew right now when they were younger.”

Being featured in a documentary was a chance for the Hmong b-boys like Lee to showcase their dancing skills and also raise awareness about their culture.

Most Hmong people trace their roots from China. But there is other conflicting research tracing their ancestry from Siberia.

During the Vietnam War the CIA recruited Hmong soldiers to fight in a “secret war” in Laos.

In 1975 when communists seized control of Laos, thousands of Hmong were killed and others fled to refugee camps in Thailand. Hmong refugees later settled in the United States.

“My family migrated to the United States after the Vietnam War since my father was a soldier in the secret war, helping the U.S. Army,” said Longka Michael “M-Pact” Lor, a 24-year-old b-boy and student at Cal State Long Beach. “Being Hmong to me means being able to live life freely. My people have a history of struggles to live as free people in this world.”

Lor has accumulated numerous awards for his dancing skills, including placing first place in the Temple O’Styles in 2006, a b-boying competition in France.

Despite his successes in b-boying, Lor’s parents were not immediately understanding of his b-boying endeavors.

“At first my parents didn’t even understand what we were doing. We would practice in the living room while my father would do his work,” Lor said, whose twin brother Longkue Steven “Villn” Lor is also a b-boy. “I think they saw the positive outcomes from this passion of ours. It kept us on track with school. It taught us how to be leaders at such an early age. It showed us how to organize and prioritize.”

Following the release of Woon’s short documentary, Hmong American youth put their organizational skills to use, creating a b-boy crew called “Among B-Boys.” The group is comprised of Hmong American dancers from California, Minnesota and Oklahoma.

“After ‘Among B-Boys’ it kind of got a lot of the Hmong community, the Hmong dancers, to communicate more,” Lee said, who now also works as a technician in the medical industry.“ Now we’re starting to do bigger things, to team up and go to bigger competitions and stuff. So we’re actually pretty busy.”

A love of b-boying united the Hmong American youth featured in Woon’s film. Breaking competitions were featured at the Merced Hmong New Year’s Festivals. Dancing gave the Hmong youth an outlet to educate others outside of the community about their heritage.

“Breaking has become a new activity that has united many youth in the Hmong community,” said Lor. “It gives a common ground to allow those who are interested to share, laugh, teach, struggle, lose, win, love and have fun … [in a] positive atmosphere with one another.”

To document Hmong b-boys, Woon traveled to Merced, Calif., Long Beach, Calif. and Tulsa, Okla. among other locales. Working with a small budget for the documentary, Woon often relied on the Hmong American b-boys for accommodations. Lee said he­­ is appreciative that Woon is telling his story and the story of Hmong American youth.

Woon said he felt obligated to finish his film and tell the story of Hmong American youth.

“These are some life-long bonds that I feel like we’ve made. I feel like if it weren’t for them I might not have finished the film. They were a lot of my encouragement and inspiration,” Woon said. “Even though it took a long time, it all worked out in the end.”

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Hmong Heritage Month Benefit Concert Held This Weekend

It's time to immerse yourself into a beautiful cultural event that's full of color, music, and dancing. It's yet another chance this April for you to participate in the 8th Annual Marathon County Hmong Heritage Month festivities.

Posted: 7:50 AM Apr 20, 2011
Reporter: Bao Vang
Email Address: bvang@wsaw.com

It's time to immerse yourself into a beautiful cultural event that's full of color, music, and dancing. It's yet another chance this April for you to participate in the 8th Annual Marathon County Hmong Heritage Month festivities.

So far, the local Hmong community has hosted a kickoff celebration, a health forum with Hmong doctors, and healthy cooking demonstration.

This weekend, some area students are going to step into the spotlight at a concert benefit held at 6 p.m. on Saturday, April 23 at Wausau East High School. Proceeds go to the Chad Kue Foundation.

Performances include a variety of musicians, dancers and speakers. The dance group "Nkauj Hmoob Huam Pham" performed live on Sunrise 7. Click on the link in this web story to view the performance.

On Friday, April 29, the Hmong Heritage Month planning committee invites you to join them at a luncheon for more cultural performances, a lecture by Paul Hillmer, author of "A People's History of the Hmong," an Asian-styled meal and a recognition ceremony for local organizations and individuals. Register with the Wausau Area Hmong Mutual Association at (715) 842-8390.

Saturday, April 30, all families are welcome to a Family Fitness Day and Health Resource Fair from 11:30 a.m. - 4 p.m. at John Muir Middle School in Wausau. Committee members are planning games and activities to get the whole family active.

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Laos, Vietnam troops kill four Hmong Christians: NGO

WASHINGTON — Laotian and Vietnamese troops have killed four Hmong Christian women after confiscating their Bible, a US rights group said Friday, condemning growing persecutions of people for their faith in Laos.

The Center for Public Policy Analysis (CPPA) said the unarmed highland Hmong women were "summarily executed" on Thursday in northeastern Xieng Khouang province by soldiers from a special 150-member unit of the Lao People's Army (LPA) led by Vietnamese secret police and military advisers.

The government troops confiscated the group's only Bible, "brutally and repeatedly raped" at least two of the younger women before shooting them at point blank range with automatic weapons in the head and torso, it added.

Their husbands and 26 children were forced to witness the killings and have since disappeared after being beaten and tied up.

CPPA executive director Philip Smith denounced what he called a "tragic and major upswing" in religious persecution in Laos at the hands of Vietnamese and Laotian military and Communist Party officials over the past year.

"In a coordinated and expanded fashion, the Vietnam People's Army and LPA troops and security forces are especially determined to hunt down and kill independent Christian and animist believers in the highlands of Vietnam and Laos," he added.

Smith pointed to a "very dramatic" increase in persecution, imprisonment, torture and killing of Lao and Hmong Christians for celebrating Christmas or worshipping independently, as well as independent Buddhist and animist believers in the provinces of Vientiane, Khammoune, Saravan, Xieng Khouang, Luang Prabang and other regions in Laos.

Communist regimes have ruled in Vietnam and Laos since 1975. Many officials in Hanoi consider neighboring Laos an important part of their defense strategy, and the militaries of the two countries have long maintained close ties.

"We want the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the Vietnam People's Army to remove all of its security forces and troops from Laos, and we want the Lao military and communist regime to respect the human rights and religious freedom of the Laotian and Lao Hmong people," said Bounthanh Rathigna of the United League for Democracy in Laos.

Laotian officials are also said to have destroyed crops in February to cut off about 60 impoverished Christians from their food supply in rural Saravan province. CPPA also cited reports of Christians being driven from their village at gunpoint.

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Hmong gather to meet with son of late Gen. Vang Pao

BUCHANAN — A ceremony to receive a son of the late Hmong leader and military hero, Gen. Vang Pao, drew hundreds of families from Wisconsin and Minnesota to the Fox Cities on Saturday.

Neng Chue Vang, who lives in Phoenix, has been touring the state to comfort mourners and thank them for their support during his father’s January funeral. About 350 people attended Saturday’s event.


“After the death of the general, everybody is (in need of direction). They don’t know where they are going,” said Mao Khang of Hmong Women Association of Wausau. “This means a lot to them, just seeing him — especially for the elders who have been missing his father.”

Saturday’s program at Phonsavan, a banquet hall, was to celebrate the life of the 81-year-old Vang Pao, who during the Vietnam War mobilized Hmong guerrillas in the CIA’s clandestine operation in Laos.

After intelligence officers left, he was instrumental in helping thousands of refugees resettle in Wisconsin and other states around the country.

Nao Neng Vang, a Stevens Point resident and ceremony chairman, said Hmong leaders selected the Appleton area for a visit because of its central location for those traveling to the event.

There were song and dance performances, remarks from several leaders with the Hmong 18 Council of Wisconsin and a message from the group’s honored guest, Neng Chue Vang.

Nina Vue, a 19-year-old from Milwaukee, came with her parents to the ceremony curious to know if he will be the next leader.

“The Hmong community has a lot of rules and regulations. Without a leader (serving) as (an arbitrator), it’s hard to decide what is correct and how to do things,” she said, speaking of Hmong customs and way of family life.

Douglas Chuedoua Vue, also of Milwaukee, is focused on the future.

“Before Gen. Vang Pao passed away, he left a very important message … about his 68 years of experience leading the Hmong,” he said.

He said the council would study his words after completing Vang Pao’s spiritual ceremony planned during Memorial Day weekend.

“We still hold on to our strength. We are still united as one. We are still working as a team,” he said.

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Hmong leader Vang Pao's son takes on role

The son of Gen. Vang Pao aims to fill his late father's role as a Hmong cultural leader, and is touring Wisconsin to meet that goal.

NengChu Vang is visiting with Hmong and other community leaders in Wausau on Thursday and today, and will speak at a meeting of the Hmong 18 Council of Wisconsin in Appleton on Saturday.

Vang Pao, who died Jan. 6 in Clovis, Calif., had developed a leadership network with roots in Hmong communities across the country. Through organizations such as the Lao Family Community Center Inc., the military leader who led a U.S.-supported Hmong army against communist forces in Laos in the 1960s and '70s, continued to lead in America.

NengChu Vang, 56, of Phoenix said he wants to continue his father's work on cultural issues, including fighting domestic violence and stressing the importance of education among young Hmong.

"I want to pay close attention to the area of domestic abuse," NengChu Vang said.

Too many Hmong cling to ancient viewpoints that allow men to rule over women, he said. "For me, it's time to change that."

Gen. Vang Pao spoke out publicly against domestic violence for the first time in Wausau in July 2009, in the wake of several cases of Hmong domestic violence that included murder-suicides.

Since then, Hmong leaders formed a committee devoted to stopping domestic abuse. Part of its efforts include educating Hmong clan leaders about the legal ramifications of domestic violence. The committee also has held educational forums about healthy relationships.

Vang Pao's influence had an impact on the community, said Dean Zuleger, village administrator in Weston, which sponsors an anti-domestic violence campaign called Everest Men Respect. The Hmong community has significantly bolstered that effort, Zuleger said.

NengChu Vang is traveling with his daughter, Lhee Vang, 32, of Phoenix, a medical school student. The idea of the trip, she said, is to listen to people.

"He's doing a bottom-up approach," Lhee Vang said. "He's meeting with local politicians, local leaders, activists. These people know what the real issues are."

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