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A Hmong American Reconnects With Her Lost Identity A Hmong American Reconnects With Her Lost Identity

By Pa Zong Lee

PA-ZONG LEE: Vanessa Lee has struggled all her life with her Hmong identity, as the culture and its history have gone widely unknown to America.
VANESSA LEE: Even when I say I’m Hmong they have no idea what that is.
PA-ZONG LEE: While growing up in a pre-dominantly white neighborhood in Syracuse, no one knew what Hmong was.
VANESSA LEE: It always used to be like a game, like a guessing game. Its like, what’s your race and I’m just like guess, and in my head I know that they’re not gonna get it and they name every other Asian race. And I’m just like, it’s not me, and then I say Hmong and they’re just like well what’s Hmong?
PA-ZONG LEE: What many don’t know is that the Hmong people are a hidden part of US history. Originally one of the indigenous groups of China, the Hmong began to migrate south around the 1800s due to the oppression by imperial China. They became an ethnic minority in Southeast Asia who were roped into a US-involved war. The CIA secretly entered Laos in 1961 to prevent the spread of communism, and so the Secret War began.
LEE PAO XIONG: So instead of using American troops in the country of Laos, they trained the Hmong to fight as surrogate soldiers of the American armed forces.
PA-ZONG LEE: Everything was kept a secret.
LEE PAO XIONG: The President, the CIA, and Ambassador of the State Department knew about the war and very few people in Congress knew about the war. They didn’t know much about it until 1972 when a reporter wrote a story about America bombing the country of Laos and bombing Cambodia.
PA-ZONG LEE: Xiong says that after Congress found out about the war, they stopped the funding for the operation. The CIA pulled out of Laos. The communist faction took over and the Hmong people were now seen as the enemies.
LEE PAO XIONG: During the war, 30,000 or so Hmong were captured, killed, or missing… And after the war its estimated over 50,000 people died trying to escape the country of Laos into Thailand as refugees.
PA-ZONG LEE: My parents and grandparents were among those who survived.
Although Vanessa and I aren’t related, our families share the same experiences.
VANESSA LEE: A part of my identity definitely feels lost.
PA-ZONG LEE: This is the Mekong River, where many Hmong people died while crossing into Thailand for the camps. My parents were only kids running for their lives through Laos. My grandmother lost three children, one of which they had to leave in the jungle after being born for only a few hours. Vanessa and I are a testament of our families’ survival, something others did not initially think would come true.
LEE PAO XIONG: The resettlement policy did not include the Hmong people because they didn’t think that the Hmong people would be able to survive in America.
PA-ZONG LEE: Today my home state of Minnesota has the largest urban Hmong population, but Syracuse only has a handful.
MAY MAO LEE: Probably less than 20 families, so yeah… so now its just the Lees and the Vangs, that’s it, the two clans. Its really hard to keep a tradition when you don’t have that stuff going on you know.
PA-ZONG LEE: There are small ways where the Lee family continues the Hmong culture. Cooking and displaying Hmong story cloths, or “Paj Ntaub” in her home. They tell the story of the Hmong people.
MAY MAO LEE: My parents, and you know my great grandparents, that’s what they did back in the day in their country. So… I mean harvesting weed and rice and yeah.
PA-ZONG LEE: While today in America, younger Hmong generations are given the opportunity to chase their wildest dreams, like Sunisa Lee, who is the first Hmong USA gymnast and athlete.
VANESSA LEE: It’s like some sort of acknowledgement and recognition because now I can say like yeah here’s this amazing Hmong woman who did something and made something of herself and I am like of her tribe in a way.
PA-ZONG LEE: Vanessa loves when her mom cooks Hmong food and even wants to learn the language.
VANESSA LEE: There’s certain things that I very much care about in the Hmong culture that I can parse out and that is the food, I love the language, I feel like the language is something I can work on.
PA-ZONG LEE: Which Xiong hopes younger generations will keep alive.
LEE PAO XIONG: The language is the most important piece because if you lose the language, you lose the culture, you lose the culture, you lose the history, you lose the history, you lose your identity.
PA-ZONG LEE: Something Central New York Hmong families hope doesn’t happen. In Syracuse, Pa-Zong Lee, NCC News.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) —  Vanessa Lee has struggled all her life with her Hmong identity, but she is now finding ways to reconnect with her culture. One of the main factors that contributed to this was her childhood as she grew up in a pre-dominantly white neighborhood in Syracuse.

“A part of my identity definitely feels lost,” Vanessa said.

The Hmong people and their history is one that has been largely hidden. What brought the Hmong people to the United States as refugees is tied to a U.S. involved war that many don’t know about.

Lee Pao Xiong, a Professor of Hmong Studies at Concordia University, St. Paul, said that the Hmong are originally one of the indigenous groups of China. They began to migrate south around the 1800s due to the oppression by imperial China, and became an ethnic minority in Southeast Asia. In 1961, the CIA secretly entered Laos to prevent the spread of communism, and so the Secret War began. The CIA recruited the Hmong to fight with them against the communist.

“The President, the CIA, and Ambassador of the State Department knew about the war and very few people in Congress knew about the war,” said Xiong. “They didn’t know much about it until 1972 when a reporter wrote a story about America bombing the country of Laos and bombing Cambodia.”

After Congress found out about the war, they stopped the funding and ended the Secret War. As the CIA pulled out, Xiong said the Hmong were left behind and targeted as the communists took over.

“During the war, 30,000 or so Hmong were captured, killed, or missing,” Xiong said. “And after the war its estimated over 50,000 people died trying to escape the country of Laos into Thailand as refugees.”

As the Hmong people fled for refuge in Thailand, they had to cross the Mekong River that was between the two countries. Many people died during this last chance for survival. My own family, along with Vanessa’s, were among those who survived and were placed in the U.S. Xiong said Minnesota is home to the largest Hmong urban population in America today, but Vanessa’s mother, May Lee, said the case for Syracuse is very different.

“Probably less than 20 families… so now its just the Lees and the Vangs, that’s it, the two clans,” May said. “Its really hard to keep a tradition when you don’t have that stuff going on you know.”

It’s hard to keep the culture alive without a community around, as is the case for the Lee family. Xiong said that the Hmong people are a collective, close-knit community that sticks together. But even with a scarce Hmong community in Syracuse, the Lee family still find small ways to hold onto their culture. May has a number of Hmong story cloths, or “Paj Ntaub”, hung up around the house. These story cloths tell the story of the Hmong people. Some tell the story of their journey through the war, while some depict the daily lives of Hmong  people back in Laos.

While May holds onto the story cloths, Vanessa plans to learn the Hmong language.

“The language is the most important piece because if you lose the language, you lose the culture, you lose the culture, you lose the history, you lose the history, you lose your identity,” Xiong said.

Through learning the Hmong language, Vanessa hopes to continue the legacy of her ancestors and strengthen her Hmong identity.

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