Advertisement
Peng Her, a Madison resident who works as a consultant on Hmong culture, said having a Hmong name on a Madison school would be an important moment in the turbulent history of a displaced and long-persecuted people. Especially for Hmong young people — who live precariously balanced between two cultures — a name on a school would signal that this city, finally, is a place that can be called home and where they can begin to feel that they belong.
That’s why Her and others are hoping that a new Madison school can still be named for a Hmong cultural figure even if the board decides to rename Vang Pao Elementary. A controversial military leader, Vang Pao was charged last week with raising money to violently overthrow the Laotian government.
Already, some are offering possible alternatives, from ancient kings to less controversial war heroes.
“By having a school named after a Hmong figure,” Her said, “it would give Hmong teenagers an identity ... It would give a sense of pride to these young Hmong students.”
Her, who runs Taste of Asia restaurant on East Washington Avenue, was also involved in the initial efforts to bring a Hmong name to the school board.
The Madison School Board is scheduled to meet on June 18 to discuss removing Vang Pao’s name from the $12.9 million elementary school, under construction on Madison’s Far West Side. The board voted in April to name the school for the Hmong military leader after a recommendation from a committee of Hmong community members; about 60 Hmong residents attended the groundbreaking ceremony two weeks ago, many taking home clods of dirt from the event.
School Board member Carol Carstensen said last week that the board would welcome other suggestions from the Hmong community and suggested the possibility of involving Hmong students in researching potential alternative names. She said “this is a chance for us all to learn a little bit more about the Hmong people and the kind of heroes and leaders they’ve had.”
Vang Pao name was controversial
The decision to name the school after Vang Pao was controversial from the beginning because of stories linking the leader to the CIA’s secret campaign in Laos, the heroin trade and summary executions.
Others who have worked with the Hmong in the years since the first families arrived here in the 1970s said that it remains very important to have a Hmong name on the school. There are about 65,000 Hmong residents in Wisconsin. Dane County is home to 5,000 Hmong — nearly 80 percent of them under the age of 18.
Thousands of Hmong came to the United States after the Vietnam War because their people had aided American forces in their fight against communists in Southeast Asia.
The Hmong story in Madison is very compelling, said former school board member Bill Keys, who has close ties to the Hmong community and volunteers as a teacher. To understand the quiet passion they bring to this, Keys said, requires understanding the losses nearly all Hmong families suffered as they tried to escape Laos in the years since the Vietnam War.
“Almost every Hmong in this city has lost family members,” Keys said. “That’s part of the family lore.“
Madison teacher and author Sheila Cohen agrees. She wrote a book called “Mai Ya’s Long Journey,” the story of a teenage Hmong girl’s struggles to create a life in America.
“I think it is a marvelous idea to name a school after a Hmong individual,” Cohen said. “It is almost vital that these kids have a hero to look up to. And I feel there are so many wonderful heroes in the Hmong culture.”
Both Her and Cohen said Hmong teenagers, especially, struggle with depression and other problems as they try to cope with the demands of parents and family members who want them to honor and abide by their ancient culture and the pressure of fitting into the life of a modern American student. This generation of young Hmong people, after all, is among the first likely to spend an entire lifetime in a new homeland. The feeling of belonging — a feeling that would be strengthened by a Hmong name on a school — is a big part of the Hmong’s search for a new home in America, according to one noted Hmong scholar.
“Whatever their origin,” wrote Australian anthropology professor Gary Y. Lee in the Hmong Studies Journal, “the Hmong have always felt like homeless orphans, with small groups separated from each other, or villages so very often on the move, without a true home of their own, living in remote mountains away from other people, without roots and the feeling of belonging.”
Hmong passionate about naming issue
Though it is not the Hmong way to be outspoken on such issues, Her said the emotion among the Hmong underlying this matter is so strong that not having a school name related to the culture would be a very difficult thing.
“I think if the school board decided it wasn’t going to name a school after a Hmong person, the community here would be deeply hurt,” Her said. “It would be a slap in the face.“
News of Vang Pao’s indictment has shocked many Hmong residents who still consider him a hero for fighting the communists in Laos and for helping so many Hmong escape the persecution that has marked the years since the end of the Vietnam War. That persecution continues today, Her said, though it rarely makes headlines.
But, Her said, the Hmong community will abide by whatever decision the board makes.
“We haven’t decided what to recommend,” Her said. “But it would be safe to say we would support any decision the board makes. We’ve adhered to the process all along and we would adhere to that process whatever decision is made.“
Coming up with another Hmong name is not as easy as it sounds, mostly because of the nature of Hmong culture, according to Her. Individuals are not venerated as they are in Western cultures.
“The Hmong society is almost like a collective,” Her said. “Whatever affects you affects the whole group. Even if you are a clan leader, it doesn’t mean you get to make the decisions; you have to listen to your clan. It is rare for a person to achieve leadership like Vang Pao. The reason he did was the time, the war.”
Some alternatives
Still, there are storied names in Hmong history that would be worth considering, Her said. That history goes back nearly 5,000 years to the banks of the Yellow River in what is now China but was then the Hmong homeland. Invaded by the Chinese, the Hmong migrated three times, first to Northern China, then to Southern China and finally into the mountainous lands where they lived and farmed until the upheaval of the Vietnam War.
That ancient history produced at least one hero, a legendary king named Chi You, who led the resistance against the earliest Chinese incursions by uniting seven Hmong tribes. Wielding a 10-pound sword, Chi You defeated the Chinese and his legend has grown over the centuries, much like that of King Arthur in the stories more familiar to Westerners.
A number of heroes arose as the Hmong fought persecution in their new homeland in Laos, Her said. Blia Yao Lor, known as Lor Kia Tong, was one of the first Hmong to assume a role of leadership in the government of Laos in the early 1900s.
In the mid-1900s, a Hmong political leader named Touby Lyfoung rose to become a respected official in the Laotian government. Lyfoung brought respect to the Hmong people.
“Before Lyfoung,” Her said, “when a Hmong person would walk through a village that was Laotian, you would have to bow and crawl through the village. You could not raise your head higher than a Laotian person.”
Lyfoung was also deeply respected for creating schools and bringing education to the Hmong villages, Her said.
Though young Hmong people may not be familiar with such figures, Her said, the names are bright echoes from a long and couragous history.
“By continuing to keep our traditional culture and language,” Her said, “it will help us face the next 5,000 years.”
There’s risk in naming schools after the living
Is it too risky to name a school after somebody still alive?
The Madison School Board named a new elementary school April 10 after Hmong military leader Vang Pao. He was charged Monday in California with plotting a violent takeover of Laos’ communist government.
“People who are still alive obviously have time to make mistakes,” said Heidi Reynolds, a parent who lives near the new school and led a petition drive urging the board to reconsider the name even before Vang Pao was charged.
Reynolds said she will encourage the school board to rewrite its naming policy so it considers only dead people.
Madison is the second-largest school district in the state. The largest, Milwaukee Public Schools, requires a person be dead for at least 10 years before being considered for a school name.
In Racine, the third-largest district, the person must be dead at least two years. Green Bay, the fourth-largest district, does not expressly address the issue in its policy, but its practice has been to honor only dead people, said spokeswoman Amanda Brooker.
The U.S. Postal Service has a similar policy for stamps: only dead people.
Madison School Board President Arlene Silveira said she’s leaning that way. “You have a better idea of the whole picture — no surprises,” she said.
Carol Carstensen, the first board member to broach reconsidering the Vang Pao name, said she’s undecided on the dead-or-alive issue because she’s seen the value of having schools named after living people.
In the early 1990s, Orchard Ridge Middle School was renamed for Akira Toki, a decorated local World War II veteran, and Van Hise Middle School was renamed for Velma Hamilton, a local African-American community leader.
Both Toki and Hamilton are still alive and, over the years, developed warm relationships with the schools, occasionally dropping by for assemblies or to meet with students.
“The kids have been able to interact with them, and there have been some real educational benefits to that,” Carstensen said.
Ron Seely, rseely@madison.com, is a reporter for the Wisconsin State Journal. State Journal reporters Andy Hall and Doug Erickson contributed to this story.
