A sad history of my people.

I am Hmong, pronounced huh-mong. I little history of what we are. Hmong historians speculate that our ancestors originate from Persia or Babylon before migrating to the mountains of China. Early records show that our ancestors had blond hair and slightly blue eyes but since the migration to china, a interbreeding took place. I don’t know how much of this is true but there are pictures of blonde hair and blue eyed Hmong people but our language resembles much of the Chinese. Laofamily.org showed that there was a Hmong kingdom establishment in China, where only the rulers and men can vote. Unfortunately, the Sung dynasty conquered the kingdom, which has returned them to wonder for land.

By the 1800’s, the Hmong migrated again to northern Laos, where they would reside for years to come. Eventually Laos fell into French, where Hmong favored the French, but soon after they regained their independence, they took out their revenge on the Hmong people. Many men, women, and children perished.

In the 1960’s the Vietnam war with US broke out. This war was known as the secret war. U.S. troops recruited and trained many young Hmong men to stop supply lines on the Ho Chi Minh Trial from the North to South Vietnam and to help rescue any downed U.S Air Force Pilots and/or injured soldiers because due to the Geneva Treaty, U.S. troops were prohibited from entering Laos. For the help of Hmong men, U.S promised food and land in America. When the war was over, U.S troops pulled out of Vietnam leaving the Hmong to survive on their own with only the weapons that was given to them. Till this day there are still some with the same weapon hiding in the jungles of Laos.

Laos was overthrown by Pathet Lao ( a communist party) that favored Vietnam. They began the Hmong genocide, prosecuting men, women, and children for aiding U.S troops in the war. This was a really tough time for them. Many hide out in the jungles of Laos in hopes of not being captured. Till this day, I still hear stories. If anyone wants to know more, there are videos on youtube showing what happened. This was during my parents time. I remember hearing stories from my mom how they would hideout in the jungle and traveled through the nights to get to the Mekong river (this river separated Thailand from Laos) where they would swim across it to Thailand. She told me that they would poison wimping babies and toddlers to the point of death because they posed as a risk of getting the migrating group capture. Hearing these stories and seeing that it’s still going on today brings tears to my eyes. I just can’t believe how cruel the governments are back then. Thanks for reading this blog.