The Hmong people are an indigenous group in East and Southeast Asia. In China, the Hmong people are classified as a sub-group of the Miao people. The modern Hmong reside mainly in Southwest China and countries in Southeast Asia such as Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, and Myanmar. There is also a very large diasporic community in the United States, comprising more than 300,000 Hmong. The Hmong diaspora also has smaller communities in Australia and South America.
Eau Claire County is a county located in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, the population was 105,710. Its county seat is Eau Claire. The county took its name from the Eau Claire River.
Eau Claire is a city mostly located in Eau Claire County, Wisconsin, of which it is the county seat, and with a small portion in Chippewa County, Wisconsin. It had a population of 69,421 in 2020, making it the state's eighth largest city. Eau Claire is the principal city of the Eau Claire, Wisconsin Metropolitan Statistical Area, locally known as the Chippewa Valley, and is also part of the larger Eau Claire-Menomonie Combined Statistical Area.
Vang Pao was a major general in the Royal Lao Army. He was a leader of the Hmong American community in the United States. He was also known as General Vang Pao to the people in the Hmong community.
Hmong Americans are Americans of Hmong ancestry. Many Hmong Americans immigrated to the United States as refugees in the late 1970s. Over half of the Hmong population from Laos left the country, or attempted to leave, in 1975, at the culmination of the Laotian Civil War.
Memorial High School is a public high school in Eau Claire, Wisconsin that serves grades 9 through 12. It is one of three high schools in the Eau Claire Area School District.
Vang Pobzeb was a Hmong American dedicated to Lao and Hmong human rights. For over 25 years, he was an outspoken critic of the Marxist governments of the Pathet Lao in Laos and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV) and their human rights violations, religious freedom violations, and persecution of the Lao and Hmong people.
Kristen Dexter is a Democratic Party politician and former member of the Wisconsin State Assembly, who represented the 68th Assembly District from 2009 to 2011. She defeated long-time incumbent Representative Terry Moulton in the November 2008 election. In 2010, she ran for re-election but was defeated by her challenger, Chippewa County Clerk Kathy Bernier.
Hmong music is an important part of the culture of the Hmong people, an ethnic group from southeast Asia. Because the Hmong language is tonal, there is a close connection between Hmong music and the spoken language. Music is an important part of Hmong life, played for entertainment, for welcoming guests, and at weddings and funerals. Hmong musical instruments includes flutes such as the dra, leaves also called nblaw, 2-string violin, and the qeej or gaeng, a type of mouth organ.
Larry C. Balow is an American Politician, who most recently served as an at large alderman on the Eau Claire, Wisconsin City Council. He served as a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly from the 68th assembly district from 1998 to 2004. He did not seek reelection in 2004, and was succeeded by Terry Moulton.
Kathleen M. "Kathy" Bernier is a politician in Wisconsin who serves as a member of the Wisconsin State Senate representing the 23rd district. She previously was the Chippewa County Clerk from 1998–2011, and served in the Wisconsin State Assembly for the 68th district from 2011 to 2019. In March 2018, Bernier announced that she would run to represent the 23rd district in the Wisconsin State Senate, an open seat due to the retirement of Terry Moulton. She was elected in the November election.
The 31st Senate District of Wisconsin is one of 33 districts in the Wisconsin State Senate. Located in western Wisconsin, the district comprises all of Buffalo, Pepin, and Trempealeau counties, and most of Pierce County, as well as western Eau Claire County, western Jackson County, and part of southern Dunn County. It includes most of the city of Eau Claire, as well as the cities of Arcadia, Buffalo City, Durand, Galesville, Independence, Prescott, and Whitehall. The district also contains landmarks such as Trempealeau National Wildlife Refuge, Perrot State Park, and University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire.
The 23rd Senate District of Wisconsin is one of 33 districts in the Wisconsin State Senate. Located in northwest Wisconsin, the district comprises all of Chippewa County and most of Clark County, as well as eastern Eau Claire County, eastern Dunn County, western Marathon County, and parts of northwest Jackson County and northeast Trempealeau County. The district is mostly rural, but contains the cities of Black River Falls and Chippewa Falls, most of the city of Marshfield, and part of the city of Eau Claire.
Menace of Destruction (MOD), formerly known as Masters of Destruction, is a Hmong street gang created in 1988. Today, it is active in California, Midwestern United States, and many places with large Hmong communities. It is known for murders, fights, shootings, and weapon and drug trafficking.
There are many Hmong diasporas around the world. They are widespread and living in many places such as Southeast Asia, China, the United States, France, and even Australia. The Hmong people, having fled Laos after the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, immigrated to these places in hopes of a fresh start. However, this mass exodus was not a smooth transition due to the very different lifestyle the Hmong people were accustomed to.
May Song Vang was an American Hmong community leader and activist. She was the widow of General Vang Pao, a former member of the Royal Lao Army and prominent Hmong American leader, who died in 2011. May Song Vang became a more prominent symbol of the Hmong American community in California and the rest of the United States after the death of her husband.
Hmong Americans are the largest Asian ethnic group in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Allies of the United States in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War and later stages of the Laotian Civil War, they started seeking asylum as political refugees after the communist takeover in both nations in 1975. Hmong in Vietnam and Laos were subjected to targeted attacks in both countries, and tens of thousands were killed, imprisoned or forcibly relocated following the war.
David Leo Francis "Dave" Duax was a Wisconsin politician who served in the cabinet of Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson as the State Administrator of the Division for Youth Services. He previously served as director of the State Office of Health Care. Duax was the chairman of the Eau Claire County Board of Supervisors, and served as vice president of the Eau Claire City Council.
Sophia Y. Vuelo is a Hmong-American judge for the Second Judicial District in Ramsey County, Minnesota. She was appointed by Democratic Governor Mark Dayton on November 30, 2017, to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Margaret M. Marrinan.
