To learn more about the possible impact of the proposed North Minneapolis Bikeway, On May 16, North Minneapolis Hmong families packed a van and went on a tour of Minneapolis bikeways.All the participants live on one of the proposed routes for the North Minneapolis Bikeway.The Hmong families toured four Minneapolis bikeways: Milwaukee Ave., Midtown Greenway, Bryant Ave. S., and 37th Ave. N.During their tour, the families saw all three major types of bikeways as described by the city of Minneapolis:Bike boulevard. Bicycle symbols and traffic calming features, parking and street remain. Seen by Hmong families at Bryant Ave. Continue Reading
Hundreds gathered Wednesday, May 14 to celebrate the second annual Hmong American Day in Saint Paul.The event began with an opening ceremony at the Minnesota State Capitol’s Upper Mall, featuring speeches by Gov. Mark Dayton, U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, state Sen. Foung Hawj, and a host of others.An estimated 70,000 Hmong Americans live in Minnesota. Hmong American Day, which was proclaimed by Gov. Dayton last year, honors the 39th anniversary of Gen. Vang Pao leading a mass exodus of ethnic Hmong out of Laos—marking May 14 the beginning of the Hmong American diaspora.“Hmong American Day is an important day and significant one for us because we don’t have a day, other than Hmong American New Year, to bring the community together,” says Liz Xiong, chair of the Hmong American Day Planning Committee. She added, “It’s new but exciting because it gives us an opportunity to reflect on our history and celebrate our culture together.”The closing ceremony, celebrated at the Minnesota History Center, focused on personal stories by community leaders and former military, including Dr. Pa Der Vang of Hnub Tshiab (Hmong Women Achieving Together), who emphasized the role of women in Hmong American history; and Capt. Peter Vang, vice commander of American Veterans Legion Post 1975, who reflected on why he served in the military, and the ways in which Hmong culture informed his time in the service.Dai Thao, Saint Paul’s first Hmong city council member, also rallied the crowd, highlighting the contributions and achievements of Hmong Americans in Minnesota, as well as the work yet to be done. The closing ceremony also featured performances from young people who employed dazzling dance routines, cultural attire and song, to recount scenes from Hmong American history and pay tribute to the elders.See highlights of the closing ceremony in the video above. Check the Storify below for Tweets, photos and more video of the event. [If you don’t see the Storify photos and comments below, please refresh your browser window.]Become a supporting member of the Twin Cities Daily Planet[<a href=”//storify.com/tcdailyplanet/sights-and-sounds-of-hmong-american-day-in-saint-p” target=”_blank”>View the story “Sights from Hmong American Day 2014” on Storify</a>]Coverage of issues and events that affect Central Corridor neighborhoods and communities is funded in part by a grant from Central Corridor Funders Collaborative. Continue Reading
On May 3, Minneapolis’ Farview Park hosted its inaugural Hmong flag football tournament.Eight teams vied to win the inaugural Farview Park Hmong Flag Football tournamentEight teams participated, and 300 people came to the tournament. Last fall, a brand new turf football field was built at Farview Park, with support from the Cal Ripken foundation. Farview staff wanted to increase and diversify the people coming to Farview Park. A number of Hmong flag football teams play and practice in north Minneapolis, and Farview staff asked players if they would be interested in having an inaugural flag football tournament to officially open the new field. The players gave an enthusiastic thumbs up, and members of team Termination X helped Farview staff plan the details of the tournament and invite teams to participate.On tournament day, five teams came from Minneapolis: Termination X, DOD, New Era, Outlaws, and Avengers. Three came from Saint Paul: Family, Team Central, and EliteThe flag football tournament was geared towards high school aged players.Minneapolis’ newly elected councilmember Blong Yang gave words of support to the players, and threw out the ceremonial first football. Before being elected councilmember, Blong Yang was a championship winning soccer coach for Farview Park.MPD officers Blake Moua, Kou Vang talk strategy with Termination X flag football teamMany people working with Minneapolis’ Hmong community came out for the event. MPD Hmong outreach officers Blake Moua and Kou Vang walked the spaces between the games, shaking players hands and yelling words of encouragement. Minneapolis Parks police officer Sam Xiong joined them in the afternoon.Tastiest Hmong Eggrolls this side of the PacificWhen they were not in action, players and fans enjoyed a cookout of hotdogs, Hmong eggrolls, and chips. The Hmong football players quickly proved that this was not your grandmother’s genteel flag football tournament. For six hours the players weaved and swerved, crashed into each other, and threw spectacular passes.When the dust settled, the Saint Paul Family team walked away with the first Farview Park flag football trophy, edging the gutsy and nimble Minneapolis New Era team 3 to 1Saint Paul Family, winners of 2014 Farview Park Hmong Flag Football tournamentMinneapolis New Era, runners-up in 2014 Farview Hmong Flag Football tournamentMinneapolis Termination X, who helped plan and host the tournamentMany players urged that the tournament become an annual event. And Farview staff said they were ready to continue supporting the flag footballers.Farview Park is located in North Minneapolis. Councilmember blong Yang thanks MPD officer Blake Moua for helping at tournament Congratulations to the winners Continue Reading
No community is shielded from family violence. The most recent tragedy in Maplewood where Pang Vang killed his son Chue Feng Vang, affirms this. The Vang family fell through the cracks of the Hmong and American systems meant to serve them. We can’t afford to wait for the next tragedy.We believe one necessary ingredient to developing better solutions is for leaders, service providers, and systems to better understand the problem and the context of the people who are impacted.The media coverage and responses thus far to the tragedy of Chue Feng Vang’s death magnifies the misunderstanding of what contributes to family violence and how it is experienced in Hmong American families.The over simplification of a father who kills his son over a cable bill, and the quick finger pointing often silences the many Hmong families who are suffering. It also perpetuates a culture that New American communities are not and will not be understood by the larger society. Continue Reading
The Shadow War focuses on the years leading up to, during, and after the Vietnam War, when the Central Intelligence Agency and U.S. Army Special Forces developed a secret army made up of Hmong and Lao fighters to combat the spread of communism in Southeast Asia. Playwright Amy Russell, who created the play based on her experiences growing up in Laos as the daughter of CIA operative, explained that this became a workshop project as she developed it with the Hmong community and the actors themselves, including producer and actor Sandy ‘Ci Moua.
North Minneapolis Hmong Student Surveys Hmong Families Living on Proposed Bikeway Routes During the first three weeks of March, North Minneapolis Hmong students interviewed 20 Hmong families about a proposed bike path in North Minneapolis. All 20 families surveyed live on one of the proposed routesThe City of Minneapolis has announced that plans are being developed for a greenway and bike path in north Minneapolis, and has offered three different possible routes. The Hmong families were given maps showing the possible bike routes, and then asked these questions: Did you know about the proposed bike path? Answer: 19 out of 20 families said they had not heard of the proposed bike paths. 1 woman said she had heard of the proposed bike path.Has anybody asked you your opinion of the proposed bike path? Answer: All twenty families said that nobody had asked them of their opinions of the proposed Bike pathBased on the map, do you want to see the bike path go in, or keep your street the way it is? Answer: 19 ½ families said that they prefer to keep the street as it is. At one house the younger sister said she wanted the bike path, her older brother said that he wanted to keep the street as is.Many Hmong families surveyed mentioned losing parking as a top concern. They said that many Hmong households have a lot of family members and several cars, and need to be able to park their cars on the street in front of their house. Several surveyed Hmong families also said that they frequently have gatherings with many guests, and they need the street parking to accommodate their guest’s vehicles. One student surveyor said his family just bought a new car for his sister to get to work, and his family doesn’t have space in the back to put the new car. Continue Reading
On January 9, 25 North Minneapolis Hmong family members met with Minneapolis Hmong outreach police officer Kou Vang. They met at University of Minnesota UROC on Plymouth Ave. N. The meeting focused on reducing crime and making their neighborhoods safer.Councilmember Blong Yang and Minneapolis Outreach Police Officer Kou VangThe Hmong families also got a surprise visit from newly elected councilmember Blong Yang.Much of the conversation focused on two problems: bike stealing, and staying out of fights at school.The Hmong students said that at school they can be the targets of hitting and bullying and racist comments by other students. And they said the zero-tolerance policies of some school systems can end up punishing the victims of bullying.The Hmong students asked how they can get help to avoid fights without risking suspensions or expulsions.In one example, a Hmong girl was jumped by four other girls after gym. The other girls knocked her down, got on her back, and pulled her hair and punched and kicked her. No adults were around. When the Hmong girl attempted to defend herself, the school suspended her and told her if she did it again she would be expelled.In another example, some other boys walked up to some Hmong students, called them racial slurs, and started a pushing match. The Hmong boys were afraid there could be a full scale fight behind the buses the next day, and went to the vice principal to ask his help to prevent the fight. The vice principal responded by suspending the Hmong students for pushing. Officer Vang suggested that the Hmong students talk with a trusted teacher about what was happening, in detail and right at the beginning of problems before they get really serious. The teacher is not going to suspend the students, and if necessary can talk to the administrators to head off fights without using student’s names and putting them at risk of suspension.Many north Minneapolis Hmong youth also complained that they they often get their bikes stolen, sometimes out of their garages and porches, and sometimes by other kids pushing the Hmong kids off their bikes and riding off. Hmong students reported that sometimes they see other families with their bikes, and often when they go to the families and/or the police to get the bike back, the other families will simply repaint the bikes and claim it was always theirs.Officer Vang told the Hmong kids that when they get bikes, they should always take pictures of the bikes and write down the serial numbers, so even if the bike is repainted the Hmong kids can prove the bike was originally theirs. The Hmong kids can also take the seat off, write their names on a piece of paper and stick it in the hollow of the steel tube, and put the seat back on. Officer Vang also said that when the Hmong kids play and ride bikes outside they should go in groups, that usually Hmong kids get knocked off their bikes when riding alone.Officer Vang also said that the Minneapolis police department was getting a lot of calls from northside residents speaking Hmong.Hmong families thank Councilmember Don Samuels (photo by Don Samuels) While the Hmong families were having their meeting with officer Vang, A celebration for outgoing councilmember Don Samuels was going on in the next room. The Hmong families went over to the celebration and thanked Don for working hard to get a Hmong outreach police officer. The Hmong families had campaigned with Don samuels for three years to get the Hmong police officer.During the meeting everybody enjoyed pizza and pop.Flaming Hot Cheetos – the officially endorsed snack of Hmong soccer players Continue Reading
This year marks the 38th Annual Hmong New Year in Saint Paul. Prior to the Hmong arrival in the United States, the New Year’s celebration was held after the rice harvest. The tradition continued as Hmong people made Minnesota their home.The event is open to all, and includes entertainment, pageant competition, food, arts and craft, and dress.Want to learn more about Hmong New Year? Here’s a 2010 article by Phyllis Louise Harris, originally written for Asian Pages and republished in the TC Daily Planet, and a Wikipedia article.The photos below were captured during the three-day Hmong New Year celebration at St. Paul’s River Centre.Neng Lee, Hmong New Year Program Coordinator giving a speech to welcome community members.Local Hmong artists about to perform a song “All This and More” by Chael Young and PK Yang. Continue Reading
Farview Soccer Shout-Out: “Yeah Blong Yang!!”North Minneapolis Hmong soccer players have some special reasons to cheer the election of Blong Yang as Minneapolis’ first Hmong councilmember: not only is he their new alderman, he is also the founding league coach for their Farview Park soccer team.As the van picked up Farview soccer players Saturday for indoor soccer, they were asked what they thought of Blong Yang’s election.“I think Blong Yang will be a good councilmember, because he was a good coach,” says Ab Vue.Je Yang gives his thumbs up to Blong as councilmember “Because he is a Yang like me.”“Blong will have some new ideas,”, says Yeng Vang, “and he speaks Hmong, so he can talk with my parents.”Tou Wang Lee is proud that “Blong is the first Hmong elected in Minneapolis.”Coach Blong Yang with 2006 Farview Park 14u soccer teamIn 2006, Blong Yang coached the Farview Park 14u soccer team. This team literally came out of nowhere: 18 months before, all but one of the players were living in a Thai refugee camp. The players were small and scrawny, and the players from the other teams towered over them: But with Blong’s drive and guidance, they won their first game 6-1, and went on to an undefeated regular season and league championship in the Minneapolis Parks Soccer League. Coach Blong talks strategy with his soccer playersBlong coached Farview teams for three more years, and each year his team won the league championship. As their coach, Blong heard about the many problems his refugee players had in their schools: getting hit, lack of bilingual teachers, overcrowded classes. And he also heard about criminal attacks suffered by the refugee families: doors busted down while the families were inside, a robber pointing a gun at children in their house and threatening to blow their heads off, assaults on the street, thefts and car break-ins. Two Farview soccer players were hit with stray bullets – both survived. Blong also knew that these refugee families spoke very limited English and would face challenges getting their voices heard. Blong Helps refugee families explain to Minneapolis Public Schools officials that a 45 student classroom is too bigHe came to meetings and supported families when they said their 40+ student classes were overcrowded and needed to be cut. Continue Reading
University of Minnesota tutors and volunteers took a group of 25 North Minneapolis Hmong refugee youth out trick-or-treating last Thursday. The tradition of taking Hmong refugee kids out trick-or-treating started in 2005. A group of Hmong refugees had just arrived in the United States from a Thai refugee camp. One day they reported hearing the strangest story: That one day out of the year, they could walk up to someone’s house, mumble some noises, and the person would throw candy at them. These Hmong refugee students said that of course they were way too sophisticated to believe such a ridiculous story. We told them it was true, and took them out for their first Halloween trick-or-treat in their lives. Every year since then volunteers have taken Hmong refugee students out for Trick-Or-Treat. This year, 25 refugee youth put on face paint in the basement of St. Olaf church, then went over to St. Olaf Trunk-Or-Treat.Minneapolis police gave out candy at Saint Olaf Trunk-Or-Treat Finally they then headed out to the Plymouth home of the University of Minnesota’s Jeff Corn, and visited his neighbors. Most of the Hmong refugee trick-or-treaters play soccer for Farview Park.Enjoying their new soccer balls, donated by the Sanneh Foundation The refugee trick-or-treaters got two chances to celebrate Halloween this year: the Saturday before, the Sanneh foundation came to Farview Park and held a combination Halloween party and soccer clinic. 25 soccer players participated. There was a contest for the best costume/face paint, and the Sanneh foundation gave all the participants soccer balls. Thanks to all who helped. Continue Reading
