U.S.A.
August 20, 2018
THE ASIAN REPORTER n Page 9
Wisconsin Hmong leader emphasizes cultural understanding
By Lauren French
The Leader-Telegram
E
AU CLAIRE, Wis. (AP) — When
Vincent Xiong was in college, one
of his professors asked him a
question he couldn’t answer.
“Who are you?” his professor asked.
Xiong casually replied, “I’m Vince.”
His professor pressed further: “Yeah,
but who are you? Do you know your
culture, where your parents came from?
Can you speak the language? What
religion do you practice?”
Xiong has some memories of the Thai
refugee camp in Nongkhai that was his
home from age five to eight-and-a-half
years old: the smell of sewage running
down the middle of the street, expired fish
for dinner, violence against women and
other refugees who tried to cross the fence,
and fear.
But mostly, Xiong has memories of
growing up in Oklahoma City and later
Appleton, where his family was among the
first Hmong families to arrive after fleeing
Southeast Asia in the aftermath of the
Vietnam War. Xiong’s family was one of
only two living in Oklahoma City when
they arrived in December 1979.
As the eldest son in his family, Xiong
began working at an early age to help his
parents and siblings fight through
poverty. As the years went on, Xiong
adapted to U.S. culture, and his ability to
speak Hmong and Thai slipped. He later
went to the University of Wisconsin-Stout
in Menomonie to study mental-health
counselling.
“After that conversation I had with (my
professor), I struggled to identify who I
was,” Xiong told the Leader-Telegram
after reflecting on his upbringing in the
U.S. “... I don’t want the kids nowadays to
go through that. I want them, as they grow
up, to be able to say, ‘This is who I am, and
this is who my parents are.’”
Xiong hopes his new role as executive
director of the Eau Claire Area Hmong
Mutual Assistance Association will help
make sure that happens. As he looks
toward the association’s future, he sees
education — for the young Hmong
community and the Eau Claire community
at large — as a powerful tool for
understanding.
In his first couple weeks, Xiong said, he’s
working to put a stop to a high employee
turnover rate and build a solid foundation.
KEEPING CULTURE. Vincent Xiong stands
near the Eau Claire Area Hmong Mutual Assistance
Association office in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Xiong is
the association’s latest executive director. He first be-
gan working with the association in May as the com-
munity engagement coordinator. (Elena Dawson/Eau
Claire Leader-Telegram via AP)
In the long run, he’d like to see the
association hire an in-house counsellor for
Hmong community members who can’t
speak English, add a human resources
department, and turn the agency into an
educational culture center.
With plans for a larger location in the
works, Xiong is starting with projects
easily transferable.
In the current entryway to the Eau
Claire Area Hmong Mutual Assistance
Association, visitors can see some physical
evidence of the agency’s background and
purpose.
But Xiong wants it to be obvious when-
ever someone walks into the building.
“From the moment you walk in the door,
you can really see this is a Hmong agency
because it has all these representations of
what the Hmong culture is,” he said of his
hopes for the organization’s building.
Some examples include displays of the
clothing worn by cultural subdivisions of
the Hmong people — such as White
Hmong, Green Hmong, and Striped
Hmong — and traditional instruments
such as the ncas, which is used for
Continued on page 13
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