November 15, 2001 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — Extensions of Remarks E2085 IN HONOR OF THE PUERTO RICAN decorations for his contributions to the war ef- Today nearly 195,000 Hmong and 135,000 ASSOCIATION FOR HUMAN DE- fort, but is worthy of the praise of this body of Lao Americans live in the United States. Large VELOPMENT, INC. Congress. Hmong and Lao communities have been es- Mr. Speaker, it is a great privilege to honor tablished in parts of California, Minnesota, HON. ROBERT MENENDEZ Verne L. Wikert for his service to this country. Wisconsin, North Carolina and Colorado. OF NEW JERSEY He served selflessly during a time when the In closing, I would like to congratulate Con- IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES country was in great need. His actions have gressman Tancredo for his work on this legis- brought great credit to himself and his nation. lation and urge my colleagues to stand in Thursday, November 15, 2001 f strong support for the passage of H. Con. Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise today Res. 88. EXPRESSING SENSE OF CONGRESS to honor and pay tribute to the Puerto Rican f Association for Human Development, Inc. THAT PRESIDENT ISSUE PROC- (PRAHD). PRAHD is a non-profit organization LAMATION RECOGNIZING A NA- 68TH ANNIVERSARY OF FAMINE- in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, dedicated to TIONAL LAO-HMONG RECOGNI- GENOCIDE IN UKRAINE providing health, educational, and social serv- TION DAY ices to low-income residents of Middlesex HON. BOB SCHAFFER SPEECH OF County, New Jersey. OF COLORADO Since 1974, PRAHD has emerged as one of HON. ROBERT A. UNDERWOOD IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES the premier non-profit organizations in the OF GUAM Thursday, November 15, 2001 State of New Jersey. This dynamic organiza- IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Mr. SCHAFFER. Mr. Speaker, as Co-Chair tion provides a wide range of social services Tuesday, November 13, 2001 essential to low-income and elderly residents of the Congressional Ukrainian Caucus, I rise of Middlesex County. PRAHD currently spon- Mr. UNDERWOOD. Mr. Speaker, I rise in today to commemorate the memory of millions sors pre-school child care programs, HIV/AIDS strong support of H. Con. Res. 88, a resolu- of innocent victims ruthlessly murdered at the educational services, substance abuse pre- tion urging the President to issue a national tyrannical hands of Joseph Stalin and other vention classes, and health care services for proclamation recognizing the important con- Soviet communists. This year marks the 68th homebound senior citizens. tributions of Hmongs and Laotians to our great anniversary of the Famine-Genocide per- The outstanding success and efficiency of nation. petrated by Stalin in an attempt to subjugate this organization can be attributed to its com- Unfortunately, few Americans know that the people of Ukraine. mitted staff, which is working tirelessly to en- many Hmong and Lao people came to the In order to achieve his vision of a strong in- sure that adequate social services are pro- United States as refugees fleeing genocide dustrialized Soviet Union, Stalin sought to vided for residents in Middlesex County. and persecution for fighting against the spread force Ukraine into compliance. However, his PRAHD, which is governed by a Board of Di- of communism in Laos, a country once part of policy of forced collectivization was strongly rectors and is managed by an Executive Di- the French colony known as Indochina, which resisted by the freedom-loving peasantry. In rector, currently employs 38 full-time and 74 also encompassed Cambodia and Vietnam. an effort to break the spirit of the Ukrainian part-time staffers. It is also supported by the Following the French rule over Indochina people, Stalin used food as a weapon, starv- diligent efforts of numerous community lead- from 1863 until its withdrawal from the region ing between six and eight million people to ers, who volunteer their skills and services. in 1954, the United States became involved in death, while confiscating and exporting mas- As a result of its hard work, PRAHD has the struggle for democracy and independence sive quantities of grain. This was a naked act vastly improved the standard of living for thou- for Indochina from 1955 to 1975. During this of genocide against Ukraine and her people. sands of New Jersey families. period which became known as the Vietnam The famine was entirely the creation of Sta- Today, I ask my colleagues to join me in War, the United States recruited Hmong and lin’s totalitarian policies. The Communist honoring PRAHD for its service to the commu- Lao people to fight against the communist Vi- State’s prohibition of private land ownership nity of Perth Amboy and for its countless acts etnamese Army and the Pathet Lao. Hmong and Stalin’s excessive seizures of agricultural of kindness and compassion. and Lao soldiers flew thousands of deadly products created an intolerable life for the combat missions in support of the U.S. Armed Ukrainian peasantry. This situation escalated f Forces and the Central Intelligence Agency, when state-sanctioned production quotas HONORING VERNE L. WIKERT and fought in conventional and guerrilla com- could not be filled. The quotas were designed bat clashes with extreme casualties against to guarantee failure. The failure of quota fulfill- HON. SCOTT McINNIS communist Vietnamese and Pathet Lao. More ment was interpreted, by Stalin, as anti-Soviet OF COLORADO than 35,000 Hmong and Lao soldiers lost their behavior, as treason, and acted upon accord- IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES lives in defense of democracy and many more ingly. were seriously injured and disabled. Stalin ordered the Soviet secret police, the Thursday, November 15, 2001 After the United States pulled out of Viet- GPU (State Political Directorate), later the Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I would like to nam in 1975, many of the Hmong and Lao NKVD (People’s Commissariat for Internal Af- take this opportunity to recognize Verne L. soldiers and their families were forced to live fairs), to enforce his quotas by whatever Wikert and his contributions to this country. in communist concentration camps known as means necessary. The GPU, with the help of Verne began his service to this nation in the ‘‘reeducation camps’’ by the Pathet Lao. While local party officials, seized all the available 1940’s, serving as a Merchant Marine in the in these camps, thousands of Hmong and Lao food and seed, rendering the peasantry in- Pacific theatre during World War II. people were subjected to chemical bombings, capable of producing even enough to feed Mr. Wikert joined the Merchant Marines at tortures, and genocidal murders. Many eventu- themselves in the most fertile regions of Eu- the age of seventeen. Tasked with the position ally escaped to refugee camps in Thailand rope and Asia. As a result, a mass migration as oiler aboard the S.S. Coast Trader, Verne and some refugees fled to the United States. of peasantry loomed. Many sought a chance and his crew were responsible for supplying It is estimated that between 1975 and 1995, for survival in the cities, others merely brought the Pacific theatre with troops and supplies the communist Pathet Lao government killed their children to urban areas and left them in throughout the war. On June 7, 1942, a Japa- more than 300,000 people in Laos, including the hope they would survive, returning, them- nese submarine torpedoed his ship. Following the Royal Lao family. selves, to their villages to die. the attack, Verne fought his way from below Only in recent years have we begun to rec- To prevent the migration, the ‘‘social para- deck to escape the sinking ship. This event ognize and commemorate the contributions sitism’’ Stalin implemented a passport system, put the crew through a five-day ordeal, fighting thousands of Hmong and Lao Americans have which forced the peasantry to remain in their for their survival off the coast of the state of made during the period of the Vietnam War. In villages. Those caught hiding food were either Washington. Upon rescue, Wikert, in a coma, the 106th Congress, Congress passed the deported to Siberian labor camps or shot. was near death. Hmong Veterans’ Naturalization Act introduced Often, the grain collected would begin to rot Mr. Wikert recovered from this experience by our esteemed former colleague the late while it waited for pickup. Those trying to steal and continued his service to his country, sur- Congressman Bruce Vento, which expedited even the rotting grain faced the same fate as viving two more torpedo attacks before the naturalization procedures for Hmong and Lao those hiding it. Anyone who did not appear to end of the war. As is customary in the Mer- refugees who fought in the special guerrilla be starving was suspected of hording food chant Marines, he received no awards or units in Laos. and faced death or deportation. Unable to eat,
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