Missing the Hmong: A Need for More from Asian American Legal Studies
![handle is hein.journals/asiapalj18 and id is 123 raw text is: Asian Pacific American Bar Association Education Fund:
Robert T. Matsui Writing Competition 2012 Winner
Missing the Hmong: A Need for More from
Asian American Legal Studies
Kia Xiong-
I though[t] to myself and said sorry to my wife and family that I have done
something to defend my self [sic] and my race, but I'm [sic] will disappoint
them, that I may or maybe [sic] able to be with them again.
- Chai Soua Vang,
Letter to Chicago Tribune Reporter Colleen Mastony
INTRODUCTION
The murders of six hunters in Wisconsin in 2004 shocked the nation and
made headlines across America. When it was revealed that a single Hmong
hunter, Chai Soua Vang, killed the six hunters in response to racial slurs, the
Hmong community and the racial element of the crimes became the center of
discussion in the Midwest. Less than two years later, a white hunter murdered a
different Hmong hunter, Chai Vang, in the Wisconsin woods. Racial tensions
resurfaced in the surrounding Midwest community as the media speculated
whether the latter murder was a hate crime. These two incidents forced the
affected communities, the media, and academics to grapple with how race played a
part in both cases, as well as the impact of the crimes on race relations between the
Hmong and the communities in which they live.
At a basic level, the violent and tragic outcomes of the incidents in Wisconsin
arose because of race discrimination. In the Chai Soua Vang case, the white
hunters had allegedly used racial slurs, including gook and chink.' In the Cha
Vang case, the white hunter's animosity towards Hmong Americans was a possible
motivation for committing the murder.' Understanding and explaining these race
issues from a legal perspective was difficult because there was no robust foundation
of legal scholarship examining the Hmong as a race and their relationship with
* Kia Xiong is a 2013 graduate from the University of St. Thomas School of Law. She would like to thank
Professor Virgil Wiebe for introducing her to Critical Race Theory and for his comments on the first drafts
of this paper. She would also like to thank the editors and staff of the UCLA Asian Pacific American Law
Journal for their thoughtful comments and careful editing.
' Chai Vang's March 8 letter to a Chicago Tribune Reporter, STAR TRIB., June 9, 2005,
http://www.startribune.com/locaV1 1576531 .html?refer=y.
2 Transcript of Proceedings at 1237, Wisconsin v. Vang (2005) (No. 04CF141).
State v. Nichols, No. 2008AP940-CR, 2009 WL 818983, at *4 (Wis. Ct. App. 2009).](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/asiapalj18&div=12&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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Missing the Hmong: A Need for More from Asian American Legal Studies
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