Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Fresno Is the Heart of California's Tight-Knit Hmong Community
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 5 years ago on
November 20, 2019

Share


Listen to this article:

“Obviously, everyone’s in shock. Fresno is the old stomping grounds for many of us who are spread all over the state.” — Steve Ly, the first Hmong elected mayor in the country in the city of Elk Grove
The central California city has the nation’s second-largest concentration of the ethnic minority group from East and Southeast Asia — about 34,000 people — and is home to a festive weeklong Hmong New Year’s party that draws tens of thousands of Hmong from around the country every year.
“Obviously, everyone’s in shock,” said Steve Ly, the first Hmong elected mayor in the country in the city of Elk Grove. “Fresno is the old stomping grounds for many of us who are spread all over the state.”
Police have not determined a motive, and no suspects were identified in Sunday’s shooting that killed four and wounded six others. The gunmen targeted the house where some 16 men had gathered outside to watch football on television, police said. Women and children were inside the house and were not hurt.
The dead include Xy Lee, a Hmong singer and musician whose videos on YouTube have been viewed millions of times. Also killed were Phia Vang, 31; Kou Xiong, 38; and Kalaxang Thao, 40, all of Fresno.
Three others remained hospitalized in serious condition, hospital officials said.

Hmong Fought for the United States During the Vietnam War

Fresno police say they formed an Asian gang taskforce and were worried about possible retaliatory violence leading up to the Hmong New Year’s celebration. But friends and family say the victims had no such ties and are sensitive to the shootings being dismissed as gang-related or promoting stereotypes.
“We don’t want this to be a stain on the people,” said Bobby Bliatout, 42, the child of Hmong refugees who is now campaigning for the seat of U.S. Rep. Devin Nunes.
Hmong fought for the United States during the Vietnam War. Recruited by the CIA in Laos to fend off communist forces, they guided U.S. bombing missions and rescued downed American pilots, often at risk to their own lives.
After the war, Hmong refugees moved to Minnesota, California and Wisconsin. In California, they settled in the Central Valley, where sponsors hoped they could find work given their agricultural background.
There are about 300,000 Hmong in the U.S. — California has the most of any state, while Minneapolis-St. Paul in Minnesota has the most of any metro area. About 72,000 Hmong live in the Twin Cities, about 34,000 in Fresno and about 31,000 in Sacramento, according to a 2017 Pew Research Center report.
“They’re a very humble and respectful community, and it’s a tragic situation to experience,” said Miguel Arias, a Fresno city councilman. “They literally ran away from a war-torn country and sought refuge here, and for them to experience the same tragedy they ran from is heartbreaking.”

Hmong Americans Struggle With Poverty More so Than Most Other Asian American Ethnic Groups

Arias was an aide in Congress in the 2000s when he was tasked with helping relocate a last wave of Hmong refugees from Thailand. He worked with the elders, who serve as the community’s spiritual and cultural leaders and who fought in the Vietnam War.

“This shooting, this killing, is having reverberations not only in Fresno or in the Central Valley, but throughout the country. It is a significant population.” Karthick Ramakrishnan, associate dean of the University of California, Riverside, School of Public Policy
The Hmong community in Fresno has flourished, Arias said, with children growing up to be doctors, lawyers, teachers and elected leaders. The community has done better than other ethnic groups in graduating from high school and avoiding gangs, he said.
Hmong Americans struggle with poverty more so than most other Asian American ethnic groups, said Karthick Ramakrishnan, associate dean of the University of California, Riverside, School of Public Policy. But the community also has a strong sense of solidarity and high rates of political participation, he said.
“This shooting, this killing, is having reverberations not only in Fresno or in the Central Valley, but throughout the country. It is a significant population,” he said.
Paula Yang, a community advocate who is serving as a family spokeswoman for two of the four victims, said the deaths are devastating.
“I can’t get over what happened. These are innocent people who wanted to do better,” Yang said.
She was among the initial wave of refugees who came to the country as a young child in 1976.

Fresno, Which Has About 525,000 People, Is Only 5% Hmong

Yang said her father had served with the famous Hmong general Vang Pao and that when the general told him to move to the Central Valley, the family left Orange County for Merced, 60 miles (96 kilometers) north of Fresno. They tended a strawberry farm, she said.
“We live like sheep herders. You go from one town to the next, and everybody sticks together,” Yang said.
Fresno, which has about 525,000 people, is only 5% Hmong but has numerous markets, retail stores and other businesses catering to the broader Hmong community in the region.
And every year, tens of thousands of Hmong flock to Fresno for the annual New Year’s celebration from Dec. 26 to Jan. 1. They wear traditional dress bursting with colors and dance and sing. They have soccer and volleyball tournaments and a beauty pageant.
Arias, the councilman, said it appears no group of Americans can escape the terror of mass shootings.
“The sad irony of this tragedy is they were doing the most American of traditions: Watching a Sunday night football game over a barbecue,” he said.
By JANIE HAR Associated Press
[activecampaign form=25]

DON'T MISS

Automakers to Trump: Please Require Us to Sell Electric Vehicles

DON'T MISS

President Biden Welcomes 2024 NBA Champion Boston Celtics to White House

DON'T MISS

Ohtani Makes History With 3rd MVP, Judge Claims 2nd AL Honor

DON'T MISS

Trump Chooses Pam Bondi for Attorney General Pick After Gaetz Withdraws

DON'T MISS

Average Rate on a 30-Year Mortgage in the US Rises to Highest Level Since July

DON'T MISS

Cutting in Line? American Airlines’ New Boarding Tech Might Stop You at Now Over 100 Airports

DON'T MISS

MLB Will Test Robot Umpires at 13 Spring Training Ballparks Hosting 19 Teams

DON'T MISS

Death Toll in Gaza From Israel-Hamas War Passes 44,000, Palestinian Officials Say

DON'T MISS

Jussie Smollett’s Conviction in 2019 Attack on Himself Is Overturned

DON'T MISS

Fresno Council Lowers Speed Limits on Friant and Audubon

UP NEXT

Fresno Doctors Will Pay $2.4 Million to Settle Kickback Allegations, DOJ Says

UP NEXT

These Fresno Schools Are Unsafe and in Bad Condition. And No One Is Complaining

UP NEXT

What Will Happen to CNBC and MSNBC When They No Longer Have a Corporate Connection to NBC News?

UP NEXT

Bulldogs Stack Double-Doubles Like Burgers on a Plate to Beat Prairie View

UP NEXT

Major Storm Drops Record Rain, Downs Trees in Northern California After Devastation Further North

UP NEXT

Fresno County Men Arrested in Armed Robbery Near Sanger High, Sanger Academy

UP NEXT

Newsom Heads to Fresno, a County That Voted for Trump

UP NEXT

Conservative Professors and Students Are Beating CA Community Colleges in Court

UP NEXT

Suspect Arrested After Oakhurst Crime Spree Leaves K9 Injured

UP NEXT

With or Without Lockridge, Can Bulldogs Get Out of Their Own Way to Become Bowl Eligible?

Trump Chooses Pam Bondi for Attorney General Pick After Gaetz Withdraws

1 hour ago

Average Rate on a 30-Year Mortgage in the US Rises to Highest Level Since July

2 hours ago

Cutting in Line? American Airlines’ New Boarding Tech Might Stop You at Now Over 100 Airports

2 hours ago

MLB Will Test Robot Umpires at 13 Spring Training Ballparks Hosting 19 Teams

2 hours ago

Death Toll in Gaza From Israel-Hamas War Passes 44,000, Palestinian Officials Say

3 hours ago

Jussie Smollett’s Conviction in 2019 Attack on Himself Is Overturned

3 hours ago

Fresno Council Lowers Speed Limits on Friant and Audubon

3 hours ago

How About an Honest Conversation About the Range of Light Monument Proposal?

4 hours ago

UConn Coach Geno Auriemma Breaks NCAA Wins Record With 1,217th Victory

4 hours ago

Fresno Doctors Will Pay $2.4 Million to Settle Kickback Allegations, DOJ Says

4 hours ago

Automakers to Trump: Please Require Us to Sell Electric Vehicles

Three of the nation’s largest automakers, Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, are strategizing with other car manufacturers on how to make ...

29 minutes ago

President Joe Biden with Mary Barra, the chief executive of General Motors, at the Detroit Auto Show, Sept. 14, 2022. President-elect Donald Trump has promised to erase the Biden administration’s tailpipe rules designed to get carmakers to produce electric vehicles, but most U.S. automakers want to keep them. (Doug Mills/The New York Times)
29 minutes ago

Automakers to Trump: Please Require Us to Sell Electric Vehicles

33 minutes ago

President Biden Welcomes 2024 NBA Champion Boston Celtics to White House

53 minutes ago

Ohtani Makes History With 3rd MVP, Judge Claims 2nd AL Honor

Former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, speaks before Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump arrives to speak at a campaign rally at First Horizon Coliseum, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024, in Greensboro, NC. (AP/Alex Brandon)
1 hour ago

Trump Chooses Pam Bondi for Attorney General Pick After Gaetz Withdraws

2 hours ago

Average Rate on a 30-Year Mortgage in the US Rises to Highest Level Since July

2 hours ago

Cutting in Line? American Airlines’ New Boarding Tech Might Stop You at Now Over 100 Airports

2 hours ago

MLB Will Test Robot Umpires at 13 Spring Training Ballparks Hosting 19 Teams

3 hours ago

Death Toll in Gaza From Israel-Hamas War Passes 44,000, Palestinian Officials Say

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend