Minnesota Institute of Public Health

The following Blog is written and offered here by Tou Lee, our Prevention Specialist.  Tou’s message is timely, important and of great interest.  Read on...

Growing up Hmong-American in Memphis, Tennessee, where the Hmong population was less than 100, I practically had to explain to everyone who the Hmong people were (most assumed I was either Chinese or Japanese).  99% of those I met or grew up with in Tennessee have never even heard of the Hmong people!

Living here now in Minnesota, it’s probably safe to say that many Minnesotans have heard of the Hmong people through the local media (both positively and negatively). After all, Minnesota is home to an estimated 60,000-70,000 Hmong, making it the 2nd state with the largest Hmong population, closely behind only California at about 80,000 – 90,000. At least 60% of the entire US Hmong population calls the Upper Midwest home since our neighboring state Wisconsin has an estimated 40,000-50,000 Hmong, 3rd state with the largest Hmong population. Despite the large number of Hmong people here in the Upper Midwest, we are not “everywhere” across this country.  In fact, there are only 250,000 – 275,000 Hmong in the U.S. (less than 1% of the entire U.S. Population).  

So why are the Hmong here in the US? Why didn’t they just remain in “their own country”? We find the answers when we travel back 35+ years ago to the Vietnam War era. My hope is that the video below will help explain why we are here.

(Edited clip taken from The Ravens: Secret War in Laos as shown on The History Channel. The entire show can also be viewed on YouTube by searching: “Ravens, Hmong”)

In short, the US C.I.A recruited the Hmong in the early 1960s to covertly fight a war in Laos.  The mission of the Hmong “Secret Army” was to disrupt and destroy the Ho Chi Minh Trail (a North Vietnamese Army supply line that ran through Laos) and to rescue downed American Pilots (The Ravens).  Even though an estimated 40,000 Hmong soldiers died (along with thousands of civilian deaths) as a direct result of the “Secret War” in Laos, not many Americans are aware of this sacrifice for the Red, White and Blue. “The U.S. put the Hmong into this meat grinder, mostly to save U.S. soldiers from fighting and dying there,” says Lionel Rosenblatt, president emeritus of Refugees International, who has followed the plight of the Hmong exile for three decades. “The U.S. had no compunction about putting the Hmong into this role, which saved thousands of American lives.”  So many Hmong lives sacrificed, yet you will not find one Hmong name among the 58,260 names on the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, DC (trust me, I’ve checked!).