MPR’s Dan Olson reports that 30 years after their initial arrival, poverty for Hmong is still an issue, but rates are down sharply, and life for many is improving. Olson talks with members of Hmong community about reasons behind the change.
Many of Minnesota's estimated 52,000 Hmong residents arrived over the past three decades as refugees. They fought for the U.S. during the Vietnam war. To escape Communist retribution, they had to leave their homeland in the mountains of Laos often with little more than the clothing they wore.