Video of the Georgia Hmong New Years. My mom and sis are in this video. I seriously was trying to avoid being interviewed when I was wearing Hmong, hehehe.
Spoken in Hmong and English
:)
Jason Yang's parents wait to be let into the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's office
Late on Friday, November 19, Mee Yang finally saw the body of her husband, Jason Yang, who died on November 13 after a police chase from the Epic nightclub in downtown Minneapolis. Yang was allowed to view her husband's body, accompanied by a registered nurse, after obtaining a court order. She was accompanied by Michelle Gross, from Communities United Against Police Brutality who is a registered nurse, but had to stand behind glass to see the body. They were not allowed to bring a photographer.
The family of Jason Yang, along with more than a hundred supporters had rallied at the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office earlier on November 19, asking to be let in to see his body. Yang's wife, along with his siblings and parents, with the support of Communities United Against Police Brutality, asked that they be allowed to take photographs and determine for themselves whether they believe he died from jumping off a parking ramp.
Jason's wife, Mee Yang, would have been allowed to enter to see the body in the morning, with Jason's parents, but his brothers and a photographer and members of CUAPB would not be allowed in. Not wanting to see the body without supporters, Mee Yang and Jason's parents decided against viewing the body.
"I'm hoping to get some answers," Mee Yang said after the rally. "It makes me so angry. That they don't understand how hard this has been for me and my family—especially my little boys who were so close with their Dad. I just seek answers, that's all, and justice especially if there was any wrongdoing—but you know at this point I'm trying to do is seek answers for some closure."
John Yang, Jason's brother, said the HCME never asked the family to identify the body, that instead they had used his photo identification. He said they tried before to go in and see the body, but HCME refused to let them.
He said the reason the family wants to see the body is to see if there is any evidence. When asked what evidence they were looking for, he said "We're looking for anything. We don't know—we just know there's a lot of questions that need to be answered." Yang said the family didn't want the body released to a funeral home because then any evidence they found would not be able to be used in court.
According to Wameng Moua of Hmong Today, Yang had just started working at Bruce Vento Elementary School in Saint Paul. He had a college degree from Northwestern Bible College and was on the Hmong Chamber of Commerce.
Yang was a much-loved member of the community. He had had always gotten top grades, and had been a star athlete on Central High School's soccer team. "Everyone looked up to him," said his brother John Yang. He and Mee Yang had four young children.
William Palmer, Public Information Officer for the Minneapolis Police Department, said that Yang was one of the instigators of a fight at Epic on November 13. According to the police report, officers pursued Yang on foot. Palmer said Yang ran into a parking lot, then out of the parking lot onto a ramp into Highway 94, where he jumped off the fourth street exit from the barrier. The police report states that Yang was pronounced dead upon arrival by the paramedics. According to Palmer, there are two ongoing investigations about the incident: an Internal investigation by the criminal affairs unit and a criminal investigation.
Not everyone believes the MPD's version of events. Exactly what happened that night at Epic remains unclear. The Minneapolis Police Department has no report for the incident, although they do have a very limited report of the police chase leading to Jason's death, which says that he jumped from a 394 off ramp in downtown Minneapolis.
Some in the Hmong community say that the bouncers at Epic are notorious for beating up on Hmong people. A representative for Epic Nightclub could not be reached for comment.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a witness present at the Epic on November 13 said: "The police were running around, kicking young women, using racial slurs." In a comment that speaks to the level of mistrust of Minneapolis police, the witness also said that, "Everyone was convinced that he [Yang] was killed by police and thrown over."
Many from the Hmong community are still shaken and angry about the 2006 death of 19-year-old Fong Lee, who was shot by a Minneapolis police officer. Rulings in both the criminal and civil court cases surrounding the Fong Lee case have been in favor of the police.
The Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office initially did not allow the family access to the body. "This is not a funeral facility," said Carolyn Marinan, Public Affairs Director for HCME. She said the reason the body hadn't been released to the family yet was because the family hadn't told them to what funeral home to send it. The Examiner's report hadn't been finalized, she said, so she could not say the cause of Yang's death. However, when told that the family wanted to see the body in order to see for themselves any evidence that he might have been killed in a way that was not accidental, Marinan said: "This is a highly regarded institution. They take what they do very seriously."
Marinan said the body could be released to a different facility to do another autopsy, but this would mean the family would have to pay for it.
Outside the HCME's office on Friday morning, John Yang thanked the community for their support. "This means so much to the family. There's so much support," he said. "We're in a tough time right now. We miss Jason. It hurts us." After speaking, John introduced his father, who addressed the crowd in Hmong.
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Wa Seng Ly and his wife, My Thao, who together own Valley American Asian Foods on Elsie St. in Appleton, are photographed on Veterans Day. Seng Ly is a Hmong veteran of the Vietnam War and served as a forward observer (artillery spotter) on a U.S. aircraft during the war. (Post-Crescent photo by Sharon Cekada)
APPLETON — The sky over Long Chiang, Laos showed a hint of daylight as Hmong army Capt. Wa Seng Ly walked to a waiting U.S. Air Force Cessna observation aircraft with an American pilot at the controls.
Ly's watch read 4:30 a.m. that day in February 1972 as the veteran of more than 500 missions as a forward air controller readied for another flight to spot formations of North Vietnamese soldiers and equipment traveling the Ho Chi Minh trail toward South Vietnam.
Flights of American fighter bombers headed toward targets Ly and his American pilot would mark by colored smoke bombs as part of the CIA-directed secret war against North Vietnam from 1961 to 1975. In Long Chiang, Ly's wife, My Thao Vue Ly, waited in fear with the couple's four children that her husband might not return.
As Ly and four Hmong companions walked toward their planes, high above Long Chiang the pilot of a U.S. fighter jet detected movement in the jungle below. The pilot dove, firing a rocket armed with an anti-personnel cluster bomb containing 670 tennis ball-sized bomblets, each filled with 300 metal fragments.
The Hmong soldiers never heard the approaching jet before the bomblets exploded.
A one-centimeter piece of shrapnel the size of a pea sliced into the right side of Ly's head, traveled through his brain and lodged in his head just above the ear lobe, two centimeters from the left side of his skull.
"One of my cousins who knew I was in the area found me laying on the ground about five hours later and carried me on his back to the hospital about a mile away. It was all very scary. It was a nightmare," said Ly, 70, who now lives in Appleton and with his wife operates the Valley American Asian Foods grocery store at 930 W. Elsie St.
Ly is one of thousands of Hmong soldiers who fought in support of the United States during the Vietnam War.
He holds no anger toward the U.S. pilot who dropped the bomb that injured him.
"It was a mistake," Ly said, shuffling his left foot as he rounded a corner in the store to complete some paperwork.
Protecting their country
Ly was 13 years old when he joined the Hmong army in a generations-old battle against communist North Vietnamese forces that controlled much of South Vietnam while attacking Hmong and Royal Laotian military forces.
"We had to protect our country," Ly said.
Ly fought for years against the communist Pathet Lao, attaining the rank of drill instructor.
His work, and his partial knowledge of the English language, caught the eye of an influential neighbor, Gen. Vang Pao, commander of the Hmong military forces.
Pao, now 81, is considered a hero by the Hmong and lives in exile in California. Pao visited Ly and his wife several times during the past few years.
As a forward air controller, Ly's job was to spot targets for U.S. bombers.
Missions were restricted to Laos, which is situated between North and South Vietnam on the east and Thailand on the west. Cambodia meets the southern end of Laos while China and Burma touch its northern border.
The missions were hazardous. Ly's plane crashed several times, once from gunfire and once from a lack of gasoline.
"One time he almost drowned when his plane landed in a pond," My Thao said. "I am just lucky he is alive."
Ly spent from 10 days to three months in Thai hospitals recuperating from injuries suffered in the crashes, but always returned to duty, except for the day friendly fire ended his military career.
"I just could not go back after I was shot in the head," Ly said.
After getting shot, Ly saw a fellow soldier fall dead. The soldier was one of as many as 20,000 Hmong soldiers to die during the secret war. Including civilians, an estimated 30,000 to 40,000 Hmong died during the war, about 10 percent of the Hmong population.
When Long Cheng fell in 1975, the conquering Pathet Lao captured Hmong military records and began a hunt that continues to this day for Hmong soldiers and their families.
Ly and his family escaped first to the Laotian capital of Vientiane and then to Cambodia.
Ly's family came to the United States in May 1976 with few possessions.
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"We destroyed our photographs and other personal things. If we had been caught with them we would have been killed on the spot," My Thao said.
Making ends meet
The couple and their children traveled to Wisconsin and settled in the Fox Cities with the Catholic Diocese of Green Bay as their sponsors.
They first lived in Combined Locks before moving to Kimberly. On May 18, 1984, the couple became naturalized U.S. citizens.
They purchased the grocery store in 1982 as a partnership and became the sole owners in 1987. They moved to Appleton five years ago.
"We are dependent on ourselves and need help from everyone to be our customers," My Thao said.
Ly, who doctors say is 75 percent disabled due to his brain injury, often sits on a metal folding chair while serving shoppers.
"He is not allowed to lift anything over 25 pounds," My Thao said.
Despite diagnosed difficulties in comprehending and expressing thoughts in his own language as well as troubles with math, Ly cheerfully takes care of business.
Hidden behind the counter is a framed copy of a Post-Crescent front page from 1984 featuring their conversion to U.S. citizenship.
Several other newspaper clippings, including the July 2003 death and funeral of My Thao's father, Nhia Pao Vue, rest in folders in the store.
My Thao said it would be a good thing if the U.S. and Wisconsin allowed Hmong veterans of the Vietnam War to be buried in veterans' cemeteries, but said it's more important to compensate the former soldiers financially for their support of the United States.
Ly receives $300 in monthly Social Security payments and is eligible for Medicare benefits. There is no retirement pay for his nearly 20 years in the Hmong military or his service under the CIA.
It isn't the first time Ly felt the sting of reluctance by his adopted homeland to financially commit to his care.
According to a May 1979 letter from a physician to the diocese regarding a neuropsychological evaluation possibly leading to an operation removing the metal fragment in Ly's head, the physician wrote that it would not be fair for Ly to undergo the operation and hospitalization and "that the taxpayer would be straddled with the payment of such a surgery and hospitalization."
"I have told him the cost would probably be around $6,500 for both and he would have to pay that from his own funds," the evaluating physician wrote.
Financially, Ly doesn't want much to see himself and his wife through their days.
"Our children are all grown now and moved away. The last one moved to Milwaukee in 2009," Ly said. "We have enough food in the store to support us with rice and noodles, which we eat every day."
It's the $300 a month that bothers him.
"I've talked to many of my friends and they receive $600 or $700 a month in Social Security payments. I don't understand why I get $300 a month," Ly said.
But Ly isn't about to challenge the government of the land that sheltered him from persecution and even death in his Laotian homeland.
"I am happy living here," Ly said.
I got this from my mom, which was forwarded to her. If you know any Hmong soccer players, please have them fill this out! Thanks!
Hi folks,
My husband, Blong, has a vision for a Hmong Cup in 2011. This will be different from the other Hmong soccer tournaments, including the Fourth of July one, in that it will be on regulation-sized fields, 90-minute games with certified referees. The purpose is to find the best Hmong teams in the nation. There are several outstanding questions for him (how much should the prize money be? how much should the registration fee be?).
You can help by taking this 10-min survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/W3SFDPY. It's easy and painless.
Please let me or Blong know if you have any questions or concerns.
Many thanks!
Mai Neng
Dear Friends and Family Members:
I have thought long and hard about putting on a Hmong soccer tournament in Minnesota. At the moment, I am in the research phase. If all goes well, the tournament should happen in August of 2011.
Please take a few minutes to answer the survey below. It will help me to have a better understanding of what I need to do.
I'd appreciate you sending the survey out to your contacts, especially your Hmong friends and family members. They don't have to be soccer players, but if they are, that's great. Just send them the Survey Monkey link and they should be able to access the survey.
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/W3SFDPY
The deadline to answer the survey is December 17, 2011 at midnight. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Blong Yang
From across the world, UNPO Presidency Members have joined together to express their dismay at the disregard being shown to the lives and rights of Hmong communities in Laos, where military activities threaten thousands of people
The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) has been monitoring developments in the Phou Bia region of the Lao People's Democratic Republic with deepening concern over the past months as reports have grown in number – and graphic detail - of the crimes being perpetrated against the indigenous Hmong ChaoFa population.
Military operations, jointly carried out by Lao and Vietnamese troops, appear to be verging on crimes against humanity. But with limited access to the region preventing the scale of the military operation and its human cost from being known the international community is standing by as men, women and children are encircled by what are reported to be four Lao and one Vietnamese battalions.
The UNPO condemns without reservation Vientane’s and Hanoi’s persistent persecution of innocent Hmong people in the LPDR – a people that have previously been the targets of poisonous gas, rocket grenades, machine guns and denial of access to food
American Congressmen have called for a stop to coerced return to the LPDR of Hmong ChaoFa refugees, but the international community must begin – because nothing has been done to date – to stabilise the area, address and investigate gross violations of basic Hmong human rights and to make those acting in the name of the Laotian and Vietnamese governments responsible and accountable for their actions.
The UNPO calls upon Lao authorities to fully implement the recommendations it accepted following the UPR process of the UN Human Rights Council in May 2010 to "[a]dopt and implement the measures necessary to grant the Hmong the same rights and freedoms as the other members of the Lao population in accordance with international human rights standards, including through genuine engagement with the international community on the issue".
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