Hmong American Students in College Admissions: Disaggregating Asian America

Randolf Arguelles, Director, Elite Prep San Francisco (CA) Toni Marie O’Daniel, College & Scholarship Manager, Hmong College Prep Academy (MN) Mai Nhia Xiong-Chan, VP of Enrollment Management, Hamline University (MN) Vince Upang Moua, Admission Counselor (AAPI Liaison & LGBTQ+ Liaison), Stanford University (CA)

#NACAC20 We begin with the takeaway

⬡ Colleges need to be acutely aware of the different histories, cultures, and experiences found in the monolithic category “Asian American”

∙ East Asia ∙ Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Mongolian ∙ South Asia ∙ Bangladeshi, Bhutanese, Indian, Nepalese, Pakistani, Sri Lankan ∙ Southeast Asia ∙ Burmese, Cambodian, Filipino, Hmong, Indonesian, Karen, Laotian, Malaysian, Thai, Vietnamese

2 #NACAC20 Exodus from to Southeast Asia

1790s to 1860s ⬡ ∙ The Miao Rebellion (1795-1806) and Taiping Rebellion (1850-64) took place when Imperial Chinese rulers tried to suppress ethnic minorities within its borders ∙ These and other conflicts resulted in mass exodus of Hmong from China to mountainous regions of SE Asia (, /Burma, , and ) 3 #NACAC20 The Hmong in Laos

1893-1940 ⬡ ∙ In 1893, France colonized Vietnam, , and the Kingdom of Laos, calling the territory ∙ The Hmong of Laos (approx. 30,000) were heavily taxed and oppressed by French and Laotian authorities ∙ In the 1900s, French and Laotian authorities start ceding authority to Hmong leaders on Hmong issues

4 #NACAC20 World War II

1940-45 ⬡ ∙ During “The Japanese War,” as Hmong elders called WWII, Hmong clans divided into two factions ∙ Most stayed loyal to the French and , while the rest joined the Communist party in Laos, the Pathet Lao ∙ Because of heroic actions by the Hmong during the war, Laos officially recognized the Hmong as citizens in 1947 5 #NACAC20 The “Secret War”

1961-1975 ⬡ ∙ President JFK authorized the CIA to recruit and train 19,000 Hmong men and boys (out of the 300,000 Hmong in Laos) to fight against the communist Pathet Lao party in the Laotian (1959-1975) and to disrupt the supply route to the North Vietnamese Army ∙ Hmong girls were trained as nurses and medics ∙ In 1969, Hmong troops numbered nearly 6 40,000. Nixon escalated the bombing of #NACAC20 End of the

1973-1975 ⬡ ∙ Peace treaty of February 1973 required the US and all foreign powers to withdraw from Laos. ∙ Suddenly, more than 120,000 Hmong in Laos were in their own homelands ∙ 50,000 Hmong civilians were killed or wounded in the war ∙ Between 30,000 and 40,000 Hmong soldiers died in combat, and about 3,000 7 were MIA #NACAC20 Persecution by Pathet Lao and emigration

⬡ 1975-2008 ∙ After wresting control of Laos from the monarchy, the Pathet Lao began an aggressive campaign to capture or kill Hmong soldiers and families who sided with the CIA in the civil war ∙ Tens of thousands of Hmong fled to Thailand and thousands more fled to the jungle to live as freedom fighters ∙ Over half the Laotian Hmong population left or tried to leave the country ∙ In 1976, Hmong refugees from Laos began emigrating to the US

8 #NACAC20 The Hmong

China: 3.1 million More than 4.5 Vietnam: 1.39 million million Hmong worldwide (95% Laos: 595,000 in Asia) USA: 260,000 Thailand: 120,000 Myanmar: 3,000 France: 2,000 : 2,000 Canada: 1,400

9 #NACAC20 Hmong population in the US (2010)

3,859 3,534 3,369 5,9243,623 10,864 91,244 California 49,240 Minnesota Wisconsin North Carolina Michigan Colorado 66,181 Georgia Alaska

The largest Hmong-American community is Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington: 64,422

10 #NACAC20 Kao Kalia, Hmong American author

⬡ “The adults continued having nightmares. They cried out in their sleep. In the mornings, they sat at the table and talked to us about their bad dreams: the war was around them, the land was falling to pieces, Pathet Lao and North Vietnamese soldiers were coming, the sound of guns raced with the beating of their hearts. In their dreams, they met people who were no longer alive but who had loved them back in their old lives. There were stomach ulcers from worrying and heads that throbbed late into the night. My aunts and uncles in California farmed on a small acreage, five or ten, to add to the money they received from welfare. My aunts and uncles in Minnesota, in the summers, did “under the table” work to help make ends meet if they could, like harvesting corn or picking baby cucumbers to make pickles. And the adults kept saying: how lucky we are to be in America. I wasn’t convinced.” 11 #NACAC20 Collective hope for reunification

⬡ “As a diaspora today, the Hmong have myths that foretell their eventual reunion one day by a messiah or king who would give them back their history and their country, a country that was believed to have been lost somewhere in the distant past.” — anthropologist Gary Yia Lee

12 #NACAC20 Our panelists

⬡ Toni Marie O’Daniel on working with Hmong HS students

⬡ Mai Nhia Xiong-Chan on recruiting Hmong students

⬡ Vince Upang Moua on one Hmong American’s journey through higher education

13 #NACAC20