What’s in a Name? For Hmong Disappointed by Bill, Everything

A bill designed to improve the self-esteem of Hmong students by encouraging the teaching of their history in California schools sailed through the Legislature and awaits the governor’s signature. There’s just one problem: The word Hmong has been excised altogether, leaving disappointment in the very community that sought the legislation after a rash of Hmong teen suicides.

Along the way toward the bill’s passage, the diverse Southeast Asian group, just beginning to build its political muscle, got a bracing lesson on the give and take of American lawmaking.

The imperfect outcome stemmed from the Hmong community’s inability to agree on how to define itself. The culturally distinct Mong Leng -- who speak a different dialect -- demanded that their group be mentioned separately in the language of the bill.

Also known as the Blue or Green Mong, the Mong Leng were generally less educated and less affluent in their native Laos, so their dialect has taken a back seat to Hmong Der, or White Hmong. The Mong Leng thought the legislation presented an opportunity to right generations of wrongs.

Hmong leaders acknowledged the age-old division and said more should be done to respect the Mong Leng dialect. But they view “Hmong” as an umbrella term, and they said the legislation to finally recognize their community was not the place for such internecine soul-searching.

The author of the bill, Assemblywoman Sarah Reyes (D-Fresno), agreed. Her office feared that making the distinction between Hmong and Mong in the bill would open a Pandora’s box for other communities to demand recognition of cultural and linguistic subgroups.

If the Hmong could not find a compromise, she told them, she would alter the bill. The legislation now advises school districts to teach students about the role of “Southeast Asians” in the Vietnam War. It does not name the Hmong at all.

“The bill still refers to the secret war in Laos, which is the Hmong people,” said Reyes, who characterized both factions as politically naive. “We saw it as a good compromise that will allow the discussion by the Hmong/Mong to happen within their community. The state Legislature is not the place” for it.

Those who pushed for the bill to heal a deep-rooted sense of cultural confusion among Hmong youths say they remain grateful to Reyes and plan to honor her.

But the irony of the change -- which leaves out the name of the very group seeking to resolve its identity crisis -- is a bitter one.

“The community is just disappointed that the word Hmong was taken out,” said Doua Vu, a Fresno educator who helped craft the bill. “Nothing has really been said about the Hmong role in the Vietnam War, and we were thinking this would be something at the forefront to push for that.”

Vu feels that the current bill is inclusive but said many older veterans are upset.

Meanwhile, the Mong Federation, a small organization that pushed for the word “Mong” to appear in the bill next to “Hmong,” is receiving hate mail from Hmong Der, who blame them for the bill’s now-obscure reference to their people.

“We support the bill, but it is not what we wanted,” said Paoze Thao, a linguist who serves as the Mong group’s president. “We are being blamed as the ones who struck out the word ‘Hmong.’ We never recommended that they do that. We just wanted to be recognized on an equal basis as Hmong.”

Thao testified against the bill at a Senate hearing last month as about 200 uniformed Hmong veterans festooned with medals looked on to support it.

As many as 40,000 Hmong were killed while fighting on the U.S. side in the CIA’s secret war against Laotian communists in the 1960s and 1970s. Survivors settled in the United States as refugees, congregating largely in Minnesota, Wisconsin and California’s Central Valley.

The scene in the state Capitol offered an unusual glimpse of an internal conflict in a community whose cultural diversity -- Blue, Green, White, Striped and more -- is largely unknown to non-Hmong.

But many hope the pain of the public dispute will sow the seeds of healing.

Vu is encouraging the community to hold a forum to discuss the rift -- with participation from Hmong Der and Mong Leng parents, students, community leaders, educators and scholars.

Vu said the opposition to the bill blindsided her. Thao never approached her directly about inserting “Mong” into the bill, even though the two serve together on a state advisory group to improve educational attainment for all Hmong. Instead, the Mong Federation took its demands directly to Reyes.

“Trust me, I want to understand this whole issue of Hmong and Mong, because I don’t want to hurt any particular group,” Vu wrote to colleagues and friends after the bill was altered.

“Perhaps I tried too hard, and in the end I’m the one who is hurt the most,” she added.