Hmong: targets of police brutality?

Dave Gibson writes about the selective protests of the Hmong community in Milwaukee:

The Hmong community of Milwaukee is very angry over the police shooting of a local Hmong man. Tuo Yang had barricaded himself in his house with his wife and three young children. Yang fired several shots at police which prompted the shooting. Yang died of his wounds a week later. While the death is a tragedy, it sounds as if police were justified. However, local Hmong leaders have complained of racism...What else is new?

A few weeks ago, hundreds of Hmong marched through downtown Milwaukee to protest Yang's death. The Hmong community called it the "One Mile March For Justice." Many carried signs which read "Stop The Target Practice" and MPD Trigger Happy." They also hoisted a stretcher above their shoulders which held a straw figure dressed in Hmong funeral clothes. Apparently, the lawless Yang has become a martyr for the Hmong.

The executive director of the Hmong American Friendship Association Lo Nen Kiatoukaysy told the protesters: "We implore and demand them (police) to seek peaceful resolutions before reaching for their guns, to seek community resources before taking brutal action, and to clear their hearts and mind of hatred so that individuals from minority groups and those who are mentally ill will not be the targets of police brutality."

While the Hmong community expresses such outrage over the death of a man who shoots at police officers, these same people seem to have no outrage over the shooting deaths of six Wisconsin hunters last year. The six were actually hunted down and killed one by one, by a member of their own community (Chai Vang). However, the hunters were all white and obviously not worthy of Hmong outrage.

Here are some of the problems caused by the Hmong:

The Hmong people originate mostly from Laos and Thailand. There are large Hmong communities in Wisconsin, Minnesota, as well as California. A Hmong import seems to be gang violence. Hmong gang activity in those sates has sharply increased in recent years.

There is currently a Hmong gang war taking place in Sacramento, CA. Since late November, there have been three gang-related murders in that city. The most recent occurred on less than two weeks ago. A local Hmong gang member named Pra Vang was sitting at a traffic light, when two rival Hmong gang members leaped from their car and pumped 14 bullets into Vang's car. A bus filled with children sat next to his car, as the children witnessed the brutal slaying.

Police say that 25 percent of murders which took place in Sacramento last year were gang-related. They fight over drug territory and the usual nonsense associated with gang violence. The gang members are of course mostly teenagers, most of their parents do not speak English and for the most part, do not cooperate with police. It is hard enough to enlist the cooperation of members of any community, either due to fear of reprisals or mistrust of the police. However, when you factor in the fact that many of these people speak a language with which very few Americans are familiar--controlling the violence is a daunting task indeed.

Recently, a Hmong teenager (Yatau Her) was arrested after he escaped from a California detention facility and killed a Minnesota sheriff's deputy.

The Hmong community expresses great anger and grief over the death of a would-be cop-killer. Yet they remain silent as a large segment of their children become involved in gang violence. They express no grief over the deaths of the six Wisconsin hunters, nor over the murder of a police officer. Their brand of "outrage" is in fact, simply another form of racism.

Another "benefit" of our nation's immigration policies.

In the news:

Sacramento County Sheriff's Deputies Try to Contain Asian Gang War

The Hmyth Of The Hmong

Events exposing Hmong community's internal politics

Deputy shot; suspects caught

Around the Blogosphere:

Tibetan killed in Minnesota

Nyob Zoo, Folks