Transcripts

LEE PAO XIONG: When we arrived in Indiana, we were sponsored by Amish-- by a Mennonite church and small town in Indiana. When we arrived, I think my mother was using the toilet water. [LAUGHS] So we weren't used to those type of things. So that just an example of how far behind we were in terms of technology. We jumped over 100 years of our time when we came to this country.

So it was very difficult for adjustment. And I think by the end of 1996, we're expecting about 3,000 Hmong coming from the camps here because of the fact that all of the final camps will be closed by the end of this year. And many of the individuals coming will be individuals that were born in the camps. So they have no sense of having this self-sufficiency thoughts. It's always dependent. They're always depending on United Nations for giving them clothes and giving them food.

CHRIS ROBERTS: 3,000 coming to the US or 3,000 coming to Minnesota?

LEE PAO XIONG: 6,000 coming to the US and we're expecting about 3,000 coming to Minnesota.

CHRIS ROBERTS: That's a lot.

LEE PAO XIONG: It is a lot.

CHRIS ROBERTS: Are we better prepared this time to deal with this influx?

LEE PAO XIONG: Yes, and no. I think we are better prepared in terms of the social service organizations, the social service system. But I think as far as statewide, I don't think we're prepared. In fact, I recently met with folks from the Department of Economic Securities and saying that here we have a unique opportunity to help these people become economically self-sufficient because of the fact that we've learned over the last 20 years what it takes to be economically self-sufficient and not to be dependent on public assistance the minute we arrived.

They didn't get it. And so I think that as far as the state's ability to be able to absorb these people, I don't think that we're ready. But I think the community is ready to help the folks coming in.

CHRIS ROBERTS: Explain how the clan structure governs the Hmong community. I don't know if a lot of people understand that.

LEE PAO XIONG: Clan and family ties within our community is very, very important. My clan is Xiong, X-I-O-N-G. That's my last name. That's my clan name. I think clan is what brought us together. I mean, in the early '70s, the United States refugee policy was to disperse these people all over the place and place them in an isolated area where there was jobs and all that stuff. They all came together anyways because of that clan.

They don't understand the sense of family and the sense of clan. A Hmong person is never a one person. We're a large group of people and we're a clan. And I think that's why here in Minnesota you have the three largest clans. You have the Xiong, the Vang, and the Yang. Because we all recruited our clan members or family members to come and live here so that we have-- whenever there's conflict within the community, the clan leaders would--

And the clan leaders are not appointed people. They're clan leaders because of the fact that they operate fairly and they're educated or they're fair, I would say. And so you have this elder person who served as a leader of the group. And this elder person-- I think within our community, the older you become, the more prestige you will get. And so age come with prestiges. Within the mainstream community, I think the older you get, the more likely you'll be pushed into a nursing home and be forgotten about. We see age as wisdom.

CHRIS ROBERTS: For a young man, you have had quite an illustrious career so far. You founded an agency called the Hmong Youth Association. You went on to become executive director of the Hmong American Partnership, one of the premier mutual assistance agencies helping the Hmong in Minnesota. And now you're the head of a state agency, the Minnesota Council for Asian and Pacific Islanders.

So you have quite a unique vantage point in which to analyze how the Hmong community has progressed thus far. So I will ask you this. What do you think are the main problems facing the Hmong community in 1996?

LEE PAO XIONG: I think the main problem is, first of all, we got to come together. I think we're divided for way too long. Another thing, I think we need positive role models for our young people. I mean, we've seen a rash of gang conflicts within our community, young people causing trouble.

But even though we're seeing this, the Hmong community are the most crime-free folks of any other communities. But we're starting to see our young people moving away from the community and starting getting in trouble and getting the community in trouble. But I think that the main thing that we need within our community is leadership within our community.

We are like a community without parents. When you don't have parents within the household, you have people all over the place. And we need to have parents within our community. We need somebody to say, we need to go this way. We need to go that way. And we need people to respect those individuals. So I think in order for us to resolve a lot of the issues, such as economic self-sufficiency, we need a leader within our community that would say, get off public assistance. Go to work.

We need somebody that'll scream and yell. And I think back then, it was General Vang Pao. And now I think that people don't really-- a lot of the people don't really affiliate with General Vang Pao anymore, so they don't respect him anymore. So I think we need to have some strong leaders and people to teach people about new ways of life in this country.

I mean, what our young people are going through right now is they're going through the teenage years. Parents have no clue because back in our country, in our culture, we have no teenage years. The minute you learn how to walk and talk, you're automatically giving responsibility and you're an adult. And you're supposed to act like an adult and you're supposed to talk like an adult. And so when you have a new culture to deal with, of course, you're going to see parents and children having conflict. I think if you go and talk to the Hmong and ask them about, what is the number one issue, it's about young people.

CHRIS ROBERTS: You've worked a lot in your career with young people and young people affected by violence every now and then. And this has touched your family. I think it must be over a year ago, there was an incident outside a funeral home in Frogtown and your brother was there along with his girlfriend, and his girlfriend was shot and killed after an altercation with some other people. And your brother was paralyzed by a gunshot. How has this affected your outlook?

LEE PAO XIONG: I think it makes me work harder. I think I'm a very positive person. I'm a very positive person and I want to try every option before I decide to quit. And I think it has made me stronger and it has pulled us, our family together. And it certainly it makes me question my commitment as well because for a time, I was thinking to myself, I was like, by golly, this is-- I worked so hard and this is what-- I don't want this type of things to happen. And yet it hit me. And maybe I should--

My wife was saying that maybe I'm trying to save a community that does not want to be saved. I told my brother that whenever he's ready, I like him to go out to the community and bring this message of non-violence and of resolving conflict without violence.

I remember during the old days, I mean, when we have conflict, we use our fists. Nowadays, they use guns and knives. And I think we need to bring compassion back to people and we need to treat people as human beings rather than just a thing. And we need to give young people hope because a lot of the young people, I mean, they do not have any hopes. They do not have any dreams.

And we need to stop being so critical of people and we need to give them opportunity, and we need to give them chance. And there are-- obviously, there are people out there that are not salvageable. No matter how hard you try, it's not going to help. But I think what happened with my family, I mean, we've received a lot of support from the community and from mainstream as well as non-mainstream. We're very thankful and fortunate to have friends like that.

But I think it has impacted my family. And sometimes when I talk about it, it brings tears to my eyes. But I think, again, it hurts. It hurts. Yeah.

CHRIS ROBERTS: What do you think your destiny is? Are you going to continue to work in the social service realm or-- you were talking about how your community needs leadership. Lee Powell. I can't think of a better person.

LEE PAO XIONG: Sometime I--

CHRIS ROBERTS: And I know you are a leader, but I guess maybe I'm talking about politics. Is that in your future?

LEE PAO XIONG: I've thought a lot about that. I think that in the future, I'd like to get into that, have an opportunity to do that because too often, we react to policies. And one of the reasons why I took this position as a director of the State Council on Asian Pacific Minnesotans is because here we have an opportunity to influence policy.

When I was in the social service sector, we were reacting to policy. We're putting out fires. We're saving people that were drowning. And when you have a whole community that's drowning, you can save people all you want. I mean, there will be people drowning all the time.

And here, this agency, we have an opportunity to say, those policies are going to affect our people this way and we don't think it's a good policy. And if there are things that are not being addressed, we have the opportunity to develop policy, to create policies that would say, by golly, we're going to change this. We're going to create this so that it will help our community. So that's what motivated me to take this position.