Transcript for the Piece Audio version of Bridging the Shores: The Hmong-American Experience

BRIDGING THE SHORES: THE HMONG-AMERICAN EXPERIENCE

Open (2:00)

(Music: Gavin Bryar's Allegrasco, from After the Requiem, ECM New Series 1992.)

SGA: "In Madison, Wisconsin, hundreds of Hmong protesters rally outside the capitol building, demanding an end to the persecution of their relatives back in Southeast Asia...

[RALLYCUT: "No more genocide in Laos!" ("No More Genocide in Laos!")]

SGA: "While in Sacramento, California, a more solemn occasion is marked by a Hmong musician, playing a bamboo-reed instrument called the qeej [kheng] at an elder's funeral..."

[QEEJPLAY: HOLD UP FOR A BEAT AND FADE UNDER]

SGA: "And in St. Paul, Minnesota, Mao Vang makes a curious discovery at Concordia College's Hmong Archives....a photo of her just after she escaped into Thailand, by crossing the Mei Kong River...

[MVANG01: "I'm on the front cover of this book! And I was carrying my little baby brother, and I was about seven at the time, and people capture this picture and I think they think that?s a smile, but that?s a - -a fearful look!" (:13)

SGA: "Although it's been more than 30 years since thousands of Hmong left their homes in Laos, many still try to hold on to their time-honored traditions as they make new lives in America...here on the other side of the vast Pacific Ocean.

"I'm Sheryl Gasser, and you're listening to "Bridging the Shores: The Hmong-American Experience." In the next hour we'll explore some of the challenges -- and triumphs -- of Hmong people, told in their own voice.

"It begins with an ending.........."

[FALL OF SAIGON/END OF VIETNAM NEWS CLIP]

SGA: "Spring, 1975. The last helicopter leaves the U-S Embassy in Saigon, Vietnam, in a frenzied and chaotic evacuation. The Communist North Vietnamese shortly occupy the city, and pledge to peacefully reunite citizens after decades of fighting.

"While most Americans knew the Vietnam War was over for their troops, very few knew of the Hmong guerilla fighters, scattered through Laos and Cambodia. They'd been recruited by the C-I-A to disrupt Viet Cong convoys and save downed American pilots. For this, the Hmong now faced persecution unless they escaped to America.

Segment A-1: Reflections of Escape (Starts at 2:00/Ends at 6:11 (4:09))

SGA: "Glen Moberg shares the story of one man's journey...."

=============================================
In 1977... Chang Yang had to flee his homeland by swimming with his friends and family across the Mekong River... past the boats and the guns of North Vietnamese soldiers.

(Interview excerpts between Chang Yang and Glen Moberg)

Yang: "Before you cross over the Mekong River, you have to have a very good swimmer, and then we tie each other together, and a good swimmer could pull five or six people, at one time."

Moberg: "How deep is the river?"

Yang: "The river is about 50 to 100 feet deep."

Moberg: "You had to tie people together to get across, you had to swim across, and you had a good swimmer in front."

Yang: "That's true, yeah."

Moberg: "You had people being shot as they were swimming across?"

Yang: "We had a lots of people who got shot as they were swimming across. Pretty much, it was a moonlight trip, it was easy to see in the river, and the baby are crying, and people are drown, and they're yelling for help, and the North Vietnamese soldiers had a boat that they circled around, looking for these people, and whoever they see either they shot the group, or the individual and or they pulled them out and took them back to Laos."

Moberg: "So you've got groups of people tied together, crossing the river, six at a time, you've got children who are screaming and crying, and the enemy soldiers in their boats, looking for them, listening for the sounds, and then shooting them before they could get to the other side."

Yang: "That's right."

Moberg: "How many people died on the way across? Did you have friends who died?"

Yang: "I had lots of friends that died, I had a family member that died in the Mekong River. When we were crossing through, my mom was, got caught, and they took her back to Laos and I didn't see my mom for ten years after I got to the United States."
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For refugees like Chang Yang, if they survived the swim across the Mekong River, their next stop was usually a refugee camp in Thailand, where they waited for the chance to move to America. Keith Uhlig, a reporter for the Wausau Daily Herald, visited one of the biggest of these camps, Wat Tham Krabok, in 2004... when the camp was holding as many as 15,000 people inside its razor wire walls.
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Uhlig: "There's no grass on the ground. It's a completely bare ground everywhere, because people are walking everywhere, driving their little moped motorcycles everywhere, carts, that sort of thing, so it's all brown, dirt, dusty. The houses, from a western point of view, they're shacks. They're made out of concrete, bamboo, corrugated steel."

Moberg: "What did the camp smell like?"

Uhlig: "That's another hard to describe thing. I've described it in my writing as a mixture of campfires, of food cooking, of open, raw sewage if you've ever smelled that. There's a lot of that all around. The dust has a unique smell to it. It all mingles. It all mingles into your senses, and you know, at times you just become overwhelmed and you say, I don't know if I can stand this any more."

Moberg: "Now, you mention the smell of raw sewage. You've got a lot of people stacked up, in a confined area, are there health concerns there?"

Uhlig: "I talked to a doctor. The greatest health concerns are respiratory ailments because of the dust. There's mining, limestone mining and marble mining in the mountains surrounding the camp... and so that picks up a lot of the dust. I actually saw sort of a dust storm blowing across the field, and it... you know, it chokes you."

"What kind of medical care do these people have access to?" "Very basic medical care. So there's one doctor there that provides primary medical care and he sees about 400 people a week."
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Reporter Keith Uhlig visited Wat Tham Krabok just as many of its residents were getting ready to leave for America, during a late resettlement push. As for Chang Yang, he arrived in the Midwest on a cold January morning in 1981, still wearing his tropical clothes, and knowing nothing about the language or the customs of his adopted homeland.
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Yang: "When I came to the United States, I didn't know how to read A-B-C's, I didn't know how to read and write, I couldn't speak English at all."

Moberg: "How do you feel about America now?."

Yang: "I feel very good. I think this country has opportunity for each. Even if you come from a different country, you had a hard life, the only thing you have to do, you have to work hard, to reach your goal, you will have a good life in this country because it's the country of opportunity."
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Today, Chang Yang is married, with four children, and is the past President of the Wausau Area Hmong Mutual Association. He is also the Human Resources Communications Specialist for Great Lakes Cheese... one of the largest cheese processing plants in Wisconsin.

For Bridging the Shores, I'm Glen Moberg in Wausau.

Music bed: (:24) Ending Theme from Trigun soundtrack by AKIMA & NEOS (1998)

Segment A-2: Transitions (Starts at 6:34/Ends at 11:18 (4:44)

"The newly-arrived Hmong refugees got a mixed reception when they set foot in America. While host families gave them food, clothing, and support, many residents in the homogeneous, largely-white communities were wary of the newcomers. Racially-charged confrontations, suspicion, and resentment were common. Gil Halsted reports on the difficult transition Hmong arrivals had to make in Wisconsin's Marathon County....
==============================

The city of Wausau was the least ethnically diverse city in the nation in the 80's and 90's, when waves of Hmong refugees began settling there. One of the biggest obstacles they faced was that most locals didn't know that the Hmong had been recruited by the CIA to fight the communist North Vietnamese during the Vietnam War. All most people knew about these newcomers was that they looked Asian and had come from somewhere near Vietnam.

Phyllis Bermingham ran the county job training office and worked closely with the Hmong community. She says that lack of knowledge was enough to create an atmosphere of distrust

PBermingham: "It must have been in the early 90's....and the woman who cut my hair said "Phyllis can you tell me why these people came here?"

Over a decade, the Hmong population ballooned from a few hundred to more than 5-thousand. By 1995, the Hmong made up 20 percent of Wausau's population. That year, a bitter debate developed in the community over a plan to bus Hmong children to largely white schools to increase their chances of learning English more quickly It got national media coverage from Morley Safer from CBS's 60-Minutes. The report highlighted the negative side of Wausau's struggle to integrate the Hmong.

60MinutesExcerpt: "They are workless, on welfare, in Wausau ( you wanna take cash today?) they may lack technical skills they may claim to primitive custom but they've gained a perfect understanding of how public assistance works and they know that Uncle Sam never misses a pay day ( have a good day) and neither do they."

Peter Yang, director of the Wausau Hmong Mutual Assistance Association was disappointed.

PYang : "I thought it was very one sided story it just talked about immigrants being on welfare and talked nothing about the contribution or the positive aspect of the community."

The report included comments from community leaders like Fred Prehn, then the chair of the school board, blaming U-S immigration policy for causing Wausau's problems.

FPrehn01: "Give us the time to breathe give us the time to get over this conflict. Immigration is the lifeblood of America, to stop it I don't think would be right. Just slow it down."

VHer01: "To me that is just racist."

That's Hmong community leader Vilai Her told telling "60 Minutes", that slowing things down was the wrong approach.

VHer02: "There's never too many. The United States is for everybody, never did it say that a town can only hold so many people or so many of this kind."

But since 1995, racial tensions have eased and the Hmong have become an integral part of the Wausau community. Peter Yang says overt expressions of racism against the Hmong no longer occur. He says that's largely because the Hmong have proven themselves to be contributing members of the community.

PYang: "All the able bodied adults in the community are working and as a result we estimate about 70 percent of the Hmong families in Marathon county are now owning their own homes".

But it's not only that. At least some of the changes are the result of outreach projects like "Tapestry" a play written in the mid-90's by a Wausau school teacher. Through performing it a multi-racial cast tried to educate the community about the Hmong and the challenges of racism they faced.

TAPESTRY01: "Stupid chink! Why don't you go back where you came from! Yeeaaahh!!"

Tapestry ends with the cast holding up a traditional story cloth with images sewn onto it depicting Hmong History from their creation myth --- up to their arrival in America.

TAPESTRY02: "We are a 4,000- year- old people! This is our story cloth for America...."

Despite efforts like these, the Hmong are still a segregated minority in Wausau. But Peter Yang says he's working with the city on a leadership development program to encourage Hmong professionals to join local civic organizations.

PYang: "Unfortunately, we have not been very successful in increasing that number in a visible way. We need to keep pushing and encouraging people to get involved"

And Phyllis Bermingham, who's worked to forge ties between local businesses and the Hmong community, says things have improved even tough it's been gradual. She recalls a Hmong woman ten years ago who was about to enroll her child in kindergarten.

PBermingham: "And she said, `Well...at least he won't be spit on Iike I was.... What a heartbreaking thing to say?.`At least he won't be spit on."

There is less tension in the Wausau schools these days at least partly because Hmong children now have the opportunity to be taught by Hmong teachers.

For Bridging the Shores, I'm Gil Halsted in Madison.

SGA: "Coming up later, as Bridging the Shores continues...efforts to comfort the spirits of Hmong refugees whose graves were desecrated."

Break 1 at 11:26 -- musical interlude for local break/promo (:29) (Ib Txoj Kev by the Kong and Shu Project, 2007 Evolution Records)

Segment B-1: The Generation Gap (Starts at 11:54/Ends at 16:39 (4:45)

SGA: "You?re listening to "Bridging the Shores: The Hmong-American Experience", I'm Sheryl Gasser.

"Much like waves of immigrants before them, Hmong must walk the line between adapting to American society while embracing the traditions and values they brought from home. This is especially tricky for younger Hmong who grew up in this country but live with elders who grew up in a completely different culture in Laos. Patty Murray has a look at the generation gap, Hmong style...
=======================================

Lee Lo Yang is cultivating a two acre plot along a rural highway outside of Green Bay...

("Pepper, eggplant, sweetpea....")

Speaking through interpreter Lia Lor...Yang describes what she grows...and it's just about everything. It's also similar to the large gardens she tended in Laos before she came to this country nearly 30 years ago. Back then families depended on their crops for food. Here, they sell produce at farmers markets.

(sound of hoe-ing....)

Lor tries to preserve traditions at home, and she encourages her children to learn the meanings behind different rituals...especially Hmong religious beliefs.

("hmong...She says if they don't preserve the traditional cultures then they will probably turn all Christian and just go to Church.")

(Music: Hells Bells....")

Meanwhile...a few hours south of Green Bay and seemingly a world away...20-something Addison Lee is at a bowling alley with his friends.

ALee: "The gap in generations between the youth and elderly is pretty broad, whether it's religion, weddings, how you deal with certain issues.")

Addison was born in the US...and says his parents encouraged him to fit in with the larger society. That meant going to a Christian Church, but still taking part in traditional Hmong ceremonies based on shamanistic beliefs.

Lee came to an uncomfortable intersection recently. In the summer of 2007 his girlfriend Mahalia Xiong went missing after a night out with friends. After a few chilling weeks, Xiong's family and friends were told her car had been found in Green Bay's Fox River. She was dead.

Lee says traditionalists told him he must get rid of remembrances of Mahalia...and he should change his name.

ALee:"I was born with this name and I'll live with it 'til it's my time to go. They'd tell me stories like we had a cousin or something and his girlfriend passed away and a couple months later he went missing. It's kinda like after I'd hear stories like, 'Your cousin's uncle's brother's sister's half brother was talking to a ghost,' or something. I'd be oooookay. That doesn't make any sense at all.")

It's that line between embracing western ways while respecting the old ways that many young people walk. And it's not *just* an issue between young and old. Ray Hutchison chairs the department of Urban and Regional Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Green Bay. He says with the Hmong one's calendar age isn't the only thing that determines how a person fits into society. It's more about when a person came to America.

RHutchison01: "So you can look at Hmong of adult age some have just very recently been in the US. Others essentially were born and have grown up here. So we're running into some very interesting patterns that are quite distinctive from most other immigrant populations."

Once in this country, Hutchison says Hmong eagerly pursue an education for their kids. 15 years ago he surveyed Hmong elders about what they want preserved...and even though they see the importance of learning English, they cited their language as something they don't want to disappear.

RHutchison02: "For the Hmong there's both the importance of learning English and the importance of education and schooling but also the desire to keep the language and knowledge of traditional culture. Family and Clan is also very important."

Family and Clan meetings can involve elaborate feasts...and 17-year old Candy Vang says she's expected to help cook and wash dishes.

CVang01: "It's like one of the main roles us women have to do..I wish I'd get a break from it!"

When she does get a break Vang does what most teenage girls do...she hits the mall.

CVang02: "I got a pair of high heels here before. Really high too! I can't walk in those...."

Many Hmong people understand the value of an education. So When she's not helping to prepare and clean up after elaborate feasts Vang says she's expected to get very good grades. And that pressure can be hard to cope with. Vang says she tries to explain the American education system to her parents, but wonders if they "get it."

CVang03: "They want us to be educated but they need to understand it's hard for us too. And it's like we don't think the same as when they were in Thailand. They get mad at me when I tell them this."

(AMBI: rural highway, birds, people talking Hmong)

In her garden among the plants and birds Lee Yang sums up what she wants for her children in this country.

(She wants her kids to get an education and a good job.")

So it turns out despite the differences between cultures and the differences between the generations, some things are universal.

For Bridging the Shores, I'm Patty Murray in Green Bay.

Music tail (:16) "Exodus" from the AKIRA soundtrack, performed by Geinoh Yamashirogumi, JVC Musical Industries, 1990.

Segment B-2: Hmong Music and Dance (Starts at 16:56/Ends at 20:14) (3:18))

SGA: "Sometimes the generation gap isn't so much seen, as it is heard. While many elder musicians play the traditional qeej [KHENG!] or sing Laotian folk songs, younger performers are moving toward contemporary American music such as punk or hip hop. But a rapper in Fresno, California likes to weave the old and new together in his work. Gil Halsted has the story....
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opening ambi and fade with rap beat and queej underneath

Meng Lee calls himself DJ MP3. He studied flute in high school but quickly decided hip hop was the musical form he wanted to use convey the Hmong story of struggling against adversity. He faced racial discrimination in school in the form of teasing chants his classmates harassed him with.

MLee01: "I remember going to school the first time just hearing "ching chang chong" . It was like really the injustice was really heartbreaking. It was hard because my mom couldn't speak English they would disqualify her make fun of her or tease her."

Lee's mom now has a bachelor's degree she earned while she was raising her family. Something he says he' very proud of. That pride in the value of struggle is something that Lee tries to express through his music. He says he grew up listening to the famous hip hop star Tupac Shakur.

MLee02: I really like hearing people tell struggle stories how hard it is but don't give if you give up you let'em win . It's motivation music...

Hmong pride song -- bring up music

Lee uses his music to tell the struggle story of the Hmong but he's added something to his music that other young Hmong rappers have been reluctant to do. He uses sounds of traditional Hmong instruments like the qeej.

(a little taste of qeej)

He lays down a track of qeej behind his hip hop beat and then records lyrics like these about his people's history over the top.

bring up "Hmong Pride" song

Lee says his father forced him and his brother to study the qeej but he says both of them spent only a day at a traditional music school in Fresno.

MLee03: "It was very strict it was very harsh my dad took us out of it but my cousin had an instrument and I had told him to teach men how to play it and I just looped it...?

Lee says some in the Hmong community have criticized him for mixing the qeej with his rap beats. But he says he sees it as a way to blend the old with the new.

MLee04: "They don't know the backbone about Hmong people that we came from genocide and we come to America and we take it for granted we don't know our parents stories our grandma's that came form Thailand. I put that out there just to give faith and hope that Hmong people are still Hmong".

Making uniquely Hmong American music is important to Lee. And for him that means rapping about the difficulty of being an immigrant.

MLee05: "I want music about injustice and overcoming poverty and having people realize what's really going on instead of that life that everyone claim to have but doesn't exist but only superstars or people with big money".

fade closing ambi music up then down

For bridging the shores I'm Gil Halsted, in Madison.

Segment B-3: Higher Education (Starts at 20:15/Ends at 24:33) (4:48)

SGA: "Naturally, not every effort at education involves music. Often it all comes down to hitting the books. But while Hmong students are quick to join their peers in reading up on the American Revolution, the Civil War, and the Space Race, many can't help but feel like their own chapter in U.S. history is being ignored...and they want to change that. Brian Bull reports....
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On a brisk winter day last year, about 600 Hmong packed Wisconsin's capitol building in Madison. [AMBI: "Good morning!" ("Good morning.")] They came to support the Hmong Migration Education Act, which would encourage school districts to teach about the Hmong's support of U.S. forces during the Vietnam War, their persecution by the Laotian government, and their exodus to America beginning in the 1970s. The bill's main sponsor, Donna Seidel, and advocate ChaSong Yang, spoke to the assembly.

HmongMigEdAct01: "Our goal is that this legislation will create an environment in our state, of mutual respect and tolerance." (Seidel) "Therefore we ask for everybody's support to make sure that the bill will not be put away, but passed and the Governor will sign into law" (Yang) [APPLAUSE] (:20)

That ?environment of mutual respect and tolerance? referred to several bloody and racially charged confrontations in Wisconsin, including the murder of a Hmong man by a white sportsman, which made statewide headlines.

WPR NEWS CLIP: ?Authorities found Cha Vang?s partially concealed body in the Peshtigo Harbor wildlife area. The Hmong hunter had been shot once and stabbed six times?? (:08)

But the bill -- like one introduced before it in 2005 -- sat and died in the legislative pipeline. Mai Na Lee, the first Hmong woman to teach at the University of Minnesota, says many Hmong are upset by the lack of action in including the Hmong immigration story in classrooms.

MNLee03: "This is part of the desire of the community for their children to know about their history, and for the mainstream community to know about their history, and I think it comes out this desire in the Hmong community to construct themself as a unique immigrant, with a unique history."

JohnnLy04: "Well, it's definitely been difficult growing up, not knowing who you are." (:03)

Johnny Ly is a recent U-W Madison graduate. He's among those who'd like to see more written about the CIA's "Secret War" during the Vietnam conflict, where Hmong recruits led by General Vang Pao fought Communist soldiers and saved downed American pilots. Those who didn't die in combat were persecuted after the war...which Ly says is why the Hmong people are here in the first place.

JohnnyLy02: "Your parents tell you the Hmong were allies of the U.S., we fought together, we were hand-in-hand. And then you go to school and you don't hear anything about yourself." (:10)

And what students do hear sometimes is unsettling. Last year, several claimed that a U-W Madison professor stereotyped Hmong men as violent. And another professor's criticism of General Vang Pao helped change the minds of a local school board who had planned to name a new grade school in his honor. Several Hmong community representatives said they felt ignored or belittled during the debate.

Professor Chia Vang of the U-W Milwaukee, says while those controversies have quieted down, many Hmong still fear they?re seen held to old, misguided stereotypes.

CVang02: "Colonial, administrative descriptions of Hmong. Missionaries trying to convert Hmong to Christianity. And a lot of that information is used by policy makers, educators, who have authority. If there is no genuine opportunity for people to dialogue, then we will continue to perpetuate those kinds of negative experiences for a lot of people in this growing community." (:23)

[FADE UP CLASSROOM AMBI FAST, HOLD UNDER TRAK AND CUTS UNTIL BEFORE SOC]

Another person who supports more early teaching about Hmong history and culture is Bao Thao, a freshman here at the U-W Madison campus. She says something like the Hmong Migration Education Act would help her white classmates better relate to her culture, and perhaps stop mistaking her for Chinese or Korean. But Thao says such legislation would also benefit her Hmong peers.

BThao03: "Because a lot of Hmong people are becoming more Americanized and not being very traditional so I think it would help them and encourage them to get education and to keep their tradition going. And if we don't practice and keep it now, then we will just lose it." (:13)

Legislators who've introduced two Hmong Migration Education bills already say they're going to keep at it, to help stem future cultural conflicts and honor the Hmong's role in the Vietnam War.

For Bridging the Shores, I'm Brian Bull in Madison.

SGA: "Coming up next as Bridging the Shores continues...the rocketing career of the nation's most prominent Hmong politician."

Break 2 at 24:41 " Musical interlude with weather, time, promo (:29) "Winnie Remembers" from the Secret Agent soundtrack by Phillip Glass. Nonesuch Records 1996.

Segment C-1: Hmong and the Political Process (Mee Moua Profile) Starts at 25:10/Ends at 31:15 (6:05)

SGA: "You're listening to "Bridging the Shores: The Hmong-American Experience..... I'm Sheryl Gasser.

"One area where Hmong want a bigger presence is politics. Decades after the first Hmong immigrants came to America, they've struggled to develop their political voice, and get representatives elected to office. But that's beginning to change, and one Hmong woman is leading the way. Glen Moberg reports....
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CapitolTourAmbi: "... There's a reddish pinkish stone around the third floor, that thin band, that's pipe stone"

Politicians hustle past a tour group under the opulent Minnesota state capitol dome. Among the most important is a person who sometimes feels out of place... the chair of the senate judiciary committee, and the highest elected Hmong official in America, Senator Mee Moua.

Moua01:"When I walk into this magnificent building I have this weird, out of body experience that in another parallel universe I am strapping a big basket onto my back and walking barefoot on a dirt path to the rice paddies.

That parallel universe is Mee Moua's childhood home, half a world away in the jungles of Laos, and two centuries removed from the present.

Moua01"We lived deep, deep in the mountains, in a bamboo hut with a thatched roof. We cooked by firelight, no running water, no electricity. But even more important than the village in Laos, I lived for three years in a refugee camp in Thailand."

It was the late seventies, and the eight year old Moua had fled with her family to the Bahn Vee Nye camp, where she lived on a dirt floor, and played in a garbage dump. Her father had been a medic, helping the U.S. in the Vietnam War. It was the family's ticket out to a different world.

Moua01"It was very hard, but I think I was blessed to have come to the United States when I was only nine. You know, I grew up poor. We never went on vacations, we never went anywhere. But every Saturday I would spend hours and hours at the public library where I was transported to worlds that I had never been before."

And soon, she would be transported to the world of state politics.

RallyAmbi: (bang bang bang), Hmong speech, then ?everyone know why we're here?" we are here to put the first Hmong American in the Minnesota state senate."

It was January of 2002... a special primary election for a vacant senate seat on St. Paul's east side. Mee Moua was an improbable long shot, one of four Democrats competing in a blue collar, predominantly white district. But she showed a knack for politics and organization.

CanvassingAmbi: (knock knock knock) "Good morning." "Good morning." "How are you." "Fine." "My name is Mee Moua." "I know who you are. I'm glad you're running"....

Moua and her supporters went door to door, distributing 20,000 pieces of literature, and registering hundreds of new voters. At a Hmong New Years celebration, she attracted the attention if not the endorsement of a powerful mentor, U.S. Senator and progressive icon Paul Wellstone.

Wellstone01: "Here's what I would say, she's wonderful, she's great!"

On Election Day, a shaman prayed with incense and divined the future over the horns of a bull.

Shaman 00:05 "(chant in Hmong)

The prediction... Mee Moua would win. And defying the odds... she did.

Cheers 00:02

Moua01"Those of us who are only recently immigrated to this country, we have the deepest appreciation because the contrast is so stark, and that deeper appreciation translates into a very fierce sense of patriotism, that it could only happen in this country."

Moua has immersed herself in the day to day grind of state politics, compromising, and working out deals behind the scenes.

Hearing01: "I wonder if there's been a discussion, of if that discussion ever took place. "We certainly did discuss that issue..."

And Minnesota Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller says Moua HAS taken the lead on at least one sensitive issue.

LPogemiller:"I traveled with her to Thailand several months ago to deal with the exhumation issue of Hmong graves. It was interesting to watch how a person who had gone through as much as she had, handled that kind of pressure, dealing with the Thai government, and with various religious leaders in Thailand, and it was very impressive."

In Thailand, Moua was confronted with old memories of the refugee camps, and was angered by the desecration of Hmong burial sites. Her delegation confronted the Thai government...and the government backed down. Moua's passion for the issue was evident in her keynote speech at the Wisconsin Hmong Annual Conference in Wausau.

Moua01"They thought they could get away with destroying Hmong graves. It never even crossed their minds that Hmong people would have the will or the ability to protest their action."

And Moua told the young people in the audience ... that they too needed to stand up for their heritage, even as they embrace their new homeland.

Moua01"We Hmong are a proud people. We have great hopes and dreams. We have been chasing those dreams and hopes through many valleys and mountains, through wars, death and starvation, crossing countless borders, and our souls have searched through the centuries of time. And here we are today living in the greatest country on earth, the United States of America."

The speech had the desired effect on three young women... sisters Mai Lao and Nhia Xiong, and their cousin, Bao Xiong, all of Oshkosh.

Nhia Xiong: "It was a really inspiring and great speech she made. I'm really happy that we have a powerful Hmong lady like this."

Mai Lao Xiong: "There was a very powerful, strong, story going through my head the same time she was presenting her speech, I think that it was excellent."

Bao Xiong: "I thought it was really powerful, and she's a great leader. America gives us opportunities to rise up and beyond."

And what opportunities lie ahead for Mee Moua?

Moua01"People ask me facetiously whether I want to be President some day, and that's such a compliment, but technically I can't qualify to be President because I was not born in this country." "Alright, so the presidency is out. How about Governor? Do you want to be Governor" "(laughs) Oh you know again, I really enjoy policy making at the state level..." "You're not answering the question" "Most young people say that you never say no. Even contemplating being Governor of the State of Minnesota is not out of the question."

Mee Moua wants a new generation of Hmong leaders to know that for all of them, nothing is out of the question.

For Bridging the Shores, I'm Glen Moberg in Wausau.

Music tail (:09) "Private Universe" by Crowded House, from the 1996 Capitol Records album, "The Very Best of Crowded House".

Segment C-2: Hmong Funerals and Repatriation (Starts at 31:26/Ends at 36:33))

SGA: "While younger generations of Hmong find new ways to honor their culture, elders prefer to hold on to the tried and true. At the Hmong Cultural Center in St. Paul, Minnesota, many older Hmong visit the archives to reconnect with their past. Director Lee Pao Xiong says sometimes they do that in unexpected ways....

HmongArchivesTale: "We had an elderly woman that borrowed one of the tape about the Hmong in Vietnam. A week later she came back and she started crying. And I said, 'Why are you crying, Grandma?' And she said, 'You know, we left Laos in 1975. And we thought that my youngest brother died. And so we did all the ceremonies and everything, and I just saw him in this video'. (laughs). And so I told her, 'Well, Grandma, now you know where he?s at, go and find him.' (:30)

SGA: "Not everyone is so lucky to have a lost relative turn up alive. Many Hmong in the U.S. left friends and loved ones buried back in Southeast Asia, though complex funeral rituals were done to ensure the deceased a prosperous spirit journey. But an incident at a Thailand grave site has shocked many Hmong-Americans, who thought their loved ones would remain at peace. Brian Bull reports...
=============================
[FAST FADE UP WITH QEEJ, DRUM, AND WAILING]

At most Hmong funeral services like this one in St. Paul, musicians play a drum and a bamboo reed instrument called the qeej {KHENG], near the body of an elder. Several women stand close, wailing. The elder's body is wrapped in ornate robes, and a crossbow at her side provides protection for her spirit. The family has slaughtered a rooster and cow, to give her soul guidance and a dowry in the ancestral world. At her grave, they?ll also burn gold foil -- symbolizing money -- to make sure she doesn't go back poor.

[ENDING DRUMBEAT OF FUNERAL ]

Such heartfelt and painstaking dedication to the funeral tradition is why many Hmong-Americans were horrified when video footage appeared a few years ago, of nearly a thousand Hmong graves being exhumed at the Wat Tham Krabok refugee camp in Thailand.

[CLIP OF EXHUMATION: AMBI OF DIGGING, OFFICIAL ON BULLHORN, ETC.]

The footage shows Thai workers unearthing and breaking apart caskets, revealing the bodies of Hmong buried at the camp?s temple. One body's clad in thick robes, signifying a prominent elder or leader. The workers unceremoniously strip the body, then cut it apart with knives.

[BRIEF CLIP OF CARVING AND SCRAPING]

Kor Xiong is the Wisconsin coordinator for the Hmong Grave Desecration Committee.

KXiong01: "The families really honor by giving a lot of clothes, and this person probably have many family that really loved that person. You can see that, in the video, it really drive us sick. It just tear apart." (:15)

The committee represents 19 states. Members dispute claims from Thai officials that the bodies were a threat to the local water supply and had to go. Xiong says many Hmong Americans are distressed over the eventual cremation of their relatives' remains.

KXiong02: "The Hmong believe that if the body burned, the body have a hard time going back and finding the spiritual worlds. So it's very hard for the family, it's like a lost soul." (:10)

Xiong says a lost soul can cause illness and ruin for relatives, even those now living in the U.S. The National Hmong Graves Desecration Committee is working with the Thai government to buy land in the country for a reburial. Committee members have met several times, including at this 2007 conference in St. Paul with human rights advocate Barb Frey.

HGDCmeetingAmbi: "this may be the last time that any government in this world or any other people think that they are justified in digging the graves of Hmong people." [HMONG REMARK, APPLAUSE, FADE UNDER] (:16)

The U.S. State Department, United Nations, and politicians like U.S. Senators Herb Kohl of Wisconsin and Norm Coleman of Minnesota have tried to help. Hmong leaders hope to eventually rebury 211 remaining intact bodies by 2009, with the help of a qualified shaman.

Such preparations won't be easy. Chia Vang of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee?s history department says there are very specific rituals a shaman must do to safeguard the soul, even if the initial burial is successful.

CVang01: "A year later, there's a ritual to call them back, to respect them and to remember them. So, death is very important in life. So because of the traditions and the ancestral worship, it's very important to continue to worship people even though they're no longer here." (:18)

Vang says the complexity of the practice has discouraged many from taking it on here in the U.S.

CVang02: "Only people who are invested in preserving the culture will learn." (:05)

So even as Hmong delegates fight to properly bury relatives left behind in Thailand, others strive to simply preserve the funeral tradition here in America. Both attempts will depend on the community's dedication to those traditions.

For Bridging the Shores, I?m Brian Bull in Madison.

Music tail (:19) "The Old Tower of Lobenicht" by Gavin Bryars, from the 1992 album, After the Requiem.

Segment C-3: PTSD Starts at 36:54/Ends at 41:19 (4:25)

SGA: "Death and hardship are recurring issues for the Hmong who fled Southeast Asia after the Vietnam War. The loss of home, friends, and family....the fear of being captured or killed by North Vietnamese....and being uprooted from their ancestral homeland has caused post-traumatic stress disorder in many refugees. A unique, culturally-sensitive treatment center in Madison, Wisconsin called Kajsiab [gah-SHEE-ah] House has helped many victims, though budget issues may force the facility to close. Gil Halsted reports.....
==========================
open with chattering Hmong gathered for a breakfast

Every morning more than a hundred Hmong senior citizens gather for a mid morning snack in a large room in this non descript one story institutional building. called Kajsiab House. Men and women are clustered in small groups sipping coffee and munching on donuts. The atmosphere is warm and cozy.

SVang01: " Many of the elders because they usually can't sleep well they get up at 4:30 or 5 in the morning and then they wait Kajsiab house to pick them up so they eat breakfast at about 5 or 6am..."

Shwaw Vang is a clinician at Kajsiab house. He says the word "Kajsiab" means "relief from the stress of worrying about the safety of loved ones". With Shwaw vang translating, 70-year old Xao Her Xiong says that relief means a brief respite from the real physical pain she suffers from post traumatic stress disorder or PTSD.

SVang01: "When she comes to Kajsiab it's a feeling like, when you see the sun rise over the horizon. When she comes here, the pain in her back in joints arms and hands disappears, so it's a place of healing for her."

That healing comes mainly from sitting and chatting with other elderly Hmong refugees who suffer the same kinds of pain. Pain that Vang says comes from their experiences fighting with Americans on the losing side of the war in Vietnam in Laos 30 years and then decades of living in stark conditions in refugee camps in Thailand.

cut bring up vachou

66-year-old Vachou Vang says he fell down from the pain he was feeling when he first arrived in the U-S again Shwaw Vang translates

SVang02: "He went to the doctor and he had physical pain but they couldn't find anything wrong with his body. Since then coming to Kajsiab house talking with staff here helped to explain the reason why he had those pain. "

Vachou Vang says another source of mental stress for older refugees is watching the traditional clan system disintegrate as the next generation of Hmong born in the U-S lose touch with their parents traditions.

CUT many of the young children here were getting involved with gangs and drugs and that was a sadness for him and caused much pain to see the community in such disarray.

But Shwaw Vang Says Kajsiab house offers a place to heal those wounds. Xao Her Xiong says without Kajsiab House many Hmong elders would have given up on adapting to their new life in America.

CUT She hopes that the community will continue to support Kajsiab house if there's no place like this she thinks that a lot of the leaders would have passed on already."

In a daily group meeting a Kajsiab house an intern translates for a psychiatrist who runs a group therapy session where people talk with each other about the stress of living with their past in an unfamiliar culture. Today the topics are people's fears about ending up in a nursing home and then the group tries to comfort a woman who just got news that her brother has died in Laos and she can't afford to go to the funeral.

cut

Vang says despite the fact that the center is now a model that Hmong communities in Minnesota and California are trying to duplicate, federal funds are drying up so now a county funds, Medicaid payments and small grants from local industries are just barely keeping Kajsiab House afloat . Vang says he's inspired by working with the elders and the center has also become a place for young Hmong to come and reconnect with their traditions.

For Bridging the Shores, I'm Gil Halsted in Madison.

SGA: "Coming up later as Bridging the Shores continues...helping some Hmong husbands celebrate-or at least, accept -their wife's role as breadwinner."

Break 3 at 41:19 -- weather, promo (:29) Music: Kuv Leej Muam by the Kong & Shu Project, Redroom Studio/Evolution Records Entertainment 2007

Segment D-1: Hmong Courtship & Weddings Starts at 42:46/Ends at 47:13 (4:27)

SGA: "You're listening to "Bridging the Shores: The Hmong-American Experience". I'm Sheryl Gasser.

"It's a given that romance is as much a part of Hmong life here as it was in Laos. The main difference being that some customs have changed. ..

[FADE UP SINGING AND AMBI OF BALL TOSSING GAME]

SGA: "Take for instance the ball tossing game, a common courtship event at Hmong New Year celebrations like this one in Madison. While an elder sings a traditional love song as couples shoot a ball back and forth to each other...there's a modern twist. Yee Why Thao explains....

YWThao01: "The shooting ball game is where you're supposed to come and find your date, and men usually come out and find their wife but not today, all the marrying womens are shooting balls, it's a new tradition for Hmong America..." (:15)

SGA: "Now mostly a game between the girls, the boys -- including some sitting on the sidelines -- prefer getting dates through online chat rooms, friends, and parties over playing ball. As Brian Bull reports, weddings are also seeing some changes...
===========================
[FADE UP FAST ON DINING]

In the basement of a Madison apartment building, a group of girls serve a wedding feast of pork boiled with ginger, to roughly 30 men at a long table. The men pass small paper cups of beer from one end of the table to the next, a ritual that will be repeated through the evening. Guest Fuechou Thao explains:

FThao01: "So I'm going to bring it to you. The culture is that we notify the next person that the drink is coming. If you don't do that they will say (Hmong phrase)...they will make you drink an extra cup.... (laughs). (:20)

Near the table stand bride-to-be Pawoua [POW-wuh] Vang, and her fiance, Kahamla Thao [KAHM-lah TAO]. He wears an embroidered vest with geometric designs. Pawoua is dressed in a traditional Hmong gown and turban, mostly black with a green sash and silver trim. They say tonight is the Hmong portion of the wedding.

PawauKahamla01: "Tomorrow it'll be all Christian, until Sunday... (Kahamla) "There's going to be like a priest there, and walking down the aisle, and it's just up to me what I want.." (Pawoua) (:11)

In the middle of the table sits a wedding negotiator, called the mej koob [may-KONG]. He bears an umbrella, which represents protection, luck, and wealth for the couple. He and another mej koob will discuss the suitability of the couple with Pawoua and Kahamla's parents later tonight.

PawuaKahamla02: "Well, they're going to talk about what I did wrong or right, what I'm supposed to do...(Kahamla)"This can last until 5 o'clock in the morning if it's horrible, but if it's good, nice and simple, just until midnight or 1.... (Pawoua) (:15)

As the couple and several friends and relatives prepare to leave for the negotiation, the mej koob concludes the dinner with a song.

MejKoobSong: [BRING UP FOR A FEW SECONDS, HOLD UNDER UNTIL WAGNER MUSIC]

The song informs the couple of their responsibilities to each other, and blesses their union.

The next day, the ceremony continues on a different tune....

[CROSSFADE HMONG SONG WITH WEDDING MARCH]

At a local banquet hall, Pawoua and Kahamla approach a Christian minister, who waits for them under a trellis decorated with flowers. Pawoua wears a white dress, while Kahamla sports a tuxedo. They're followed by bridesmaids and groomsmen. Traditional vows are exchanged, and then the minister -- to the delight of everyone -- tells Kahamla that he may now kiss the bride.

Pt. 2, 39:00 "Wooooooo!!" (applause)

Pawoua is happy. Which is good, considering last night's negotiations between the mej koob and the couples' parents went past three o'clock in the morning.

Pawua02: "I didn't really know why they were negotiating very long, but it took awhile because the parents have to agree with one thing and another...." (:10)

Crystal Lor is a friend of the couple. She says more Hmong couples are doing half Hmong, half Christian weddings these days.

CLor01: "My side of the family, we're like Hmong culture, we're shamans. And then my husband, he's Christian, so I kind of like it being both, it's pretty cool. I guess it's just love." (:09)

One aspect of the Hmong wedding -- known as the bridal dowry or nurturing charge -- is still widely practiced...and widely debated. That's money that the groom's family pays for receiving the bride. Mai Zong Vue is a community liaison who says this practice has gone out of control in the United States:

MVue01: "In the 80s when we first got here, we're looking at 3, 5-hundred dollars of nurturing charge. And now we're looking at averaging about 5-thousand (dollars). And people start to put a price on their daughter's head." (:14)

Vue says she'd like Hmong families to go back to the traditional payment of three silver bars as used back in Laos. She adds critics say the payment dehumanizes the bride, to the point where she's seen as a possession. But as weddings become more Americanized, this controversial custom may disappear.

[FADE UP SOFT ROCK LOVE BALLAD SUNG AT RECEPTION]

As for Pawoua and Kahamla's wedding, it's all good. As the party swings into full gear, the couple smile next to an immense, three-tiered cake. Pawoua says she and her husband are ready to settle into married life, start a family, and embrace everything that goes with it.

Pawua03: "Oh yes. It's the biggest day of my life." (laughs) (:04)

For Bridging the Shores, I'm Brian Bull in Madison.

MUSIC TAIL (:29) "Glass, Concrete, and Stone" by David Byrne, from the 2004 Nonesuch Records album, Born Backwards.

Segment D-2: Marital Problems (Starts at 47:44/Ends at 52:15 (4:28)

SGA: "The American lifestyle often requires married couples to share the responsibility of being breadwinners. This has caused tension and suspicion among some traditional Hmong men, who fear their wives will become unfaithful outside of the home. Education efforts and counseling are trying to alleviate these fears, before they manifest into separations or domestic violence. Steve Roisum reports...
===========================

[OPEN WITH TODDLER AND MAI VANG PLAYING--FADE UNDER TRAK]

Mai Vang plays with her two-year old daughter, Jailie (jeye-lee-ah) on the toy-covered carpet of their La Crosse apartment. Jailie's language bridges two worlds -- English and Hmong. And vang has crossed her own bridge, from being a submissive wife to a single parent with a job, who gave birth to her daughter (jeye-lee-ah) out of wedlock.

Vang wanted to be a good daughter for her parents when she gave the married life not just one chance, but three. Vang says it was her third marriage that convinced her she deserved better. Her last husband was violent and controlling, because he didn't like her working outside of the home.

MVang01: "He hit me, he kicked me, he was so jealous. I was working at first federal savings bank in Minnesota. I would be talking with my co-worker, he says why don't you come home, it's late. oh my gosh, I'm in a monthly meeting. pull me out, got too jealous, I quit that job."

Despite the jealousy and abuse, Vang stayed in the marriage. But then one day she asked her husband whatever happened to his ex-wife. He responded by pulling out his ex's drivers license, green card, and social security card and setting them ablaze on the kitchen floor in front of her. Vang fled to a shelter, and filed for divorce.

Vang's dilemma is a rare, extreme example of a problem in modern Hmong culture. Some men have trouble with their wives having a job of their own. They often fear she'll find someone else, maybe a boyfriend on the side, or someone she can run off with.

72-year-old Hmong elder Pao Xiong, speaking through an interpreter, says today's Hmong wives are confused. They want to go to school and start careers, while still being wives and mothers. Xiong says in America, Hmong women must remember to respect their husbands outside of the home.

PXiong01: "woman when she goes to work has to remember she's married, she has a husband, and she has to come back to home. she cannot act like she is single."

Yeu Vu (zer vu) is the family strengthening coordinator for the Hmong mutual assistance association in La Crosse. It helps Hmong refugees adapt to life in America.

Whether its infidelity, past abuse, or other reasons, it's Vu's job to step in when Hmong marriages are on the line. Vu says sometimes the husband worries that the wife is enjoying too much freedom. It's Vu's job to make sure the husband and wife understand each other.

YVeu01: "Myself, I try to stay neutral. I don't take woman or man side. When I talk to the woman she feel good about that too."

Vu says the police are called if it's a case of domestic abuse. But one husband told him that if he had talked with Vu before, he wouldn't have wound up in jail twice for hitting his wife.

Hmong couples in Vu's area are encouraged to attend what Vu originally called domestic abuse training. When no one came, Vu changed the name to leadership training. His 60- hour course helps couples learn to communicate with each other. And it also features guests who speak on topics such as how the local legal system works...for example, what does a district attorney do?

YVeu02: "DA say 'I'm the district attorney, if you're good, I stay on your side, if you hit your wife, I say on her side. If your wife hits you, I stay on your side. If both of you are good, i don't want to know you."

Thai Vue is the executive director for the Hmong Mutual Assistance Association in La Crosse. Vue says most traditional Hmong men are coming around to the idea that their wives should be treated as equals, and can seek an education, and land a good job without jeopardizing the marriage. Vue's own wife runs a custom tailoring business, and all three of his daughters are college graduates.

Mai Vang hopes her next husband -- if there is one -- is also open to her going to school. she says since escaping her third husband, she's happier living on her own with her daughter, Jailie. Vang has since joined a Christian church, and turned her life over to god.

[FADE UP FAST ON ROCK BAND, CLAPPING?AFTER A MOMENT, HOLD UNDER TRACKS]

Here at the packed Hmong Faith Alliance Church, Vang is among over a hundred other worshippers clapping along as a rock band kicks the service into high gear. She says everything has happened for a reason.

MVang03: "He did answer my prayer -- if there is a God, I will be pregnant one day and boom, one day I got pregnant . There is a God for me"....

Vang says it took a while for her parents to accept her new life out on her own. But, Vang says they see she's happy. Vang hopes to marry again someday, this time for love. For Bridging the Shores, I'm Steve Roisum.

[FADE OUT CHURCH MUSIC]

Segment D-3: Hmong Spirituality (Starts at 52:15/Ends at 56:25 (4:10))

SGA: "Christianity is becoming more prevalent in the Hmong-American community. Even an old-world style replica of a Hmong hut on Madison's east side reflects this.

[FADE UP OF DOORS CREAKING, BRIEF DESCRIPTION HERE]

SGA: "Shaw Vang opens the door, and points out various features inside. And while it's largely traditional in its design, a modern element can be found here at the home?s altar...

SVANG01: "To be appropriate, Hmong people who are both follow ancestral spiritual worship and Christian converts, both cross and shaman altar in room, way to respect them....

SGA: "Even so, some Hmong - including the newer generations -- still hold on to their traditional faith. Glen Moberg reports...
==================================

Ying Lee 00:14 "The gong is used to call the spirit world and let them know that the shaman is on his way and needs their help."

Ying Lee bangs a gong... while sitting next to their father, Khousa Ge "Jay" Lee, a 52 year old immigrant from Laos who is also a shaman.

The panel discussion on shamanism is taking place at the University of Wisconsin Marathon County... focusing on how Hmong Americans balance the conflicting demands of a new country... and an old culture. It's a question that is troubling Ying Lee's brother... and Jay Lee's son... Jim Lee.

Jim Lee 00:10 "As I got older, I just kind of looked into the mirror, and started questioning, who I am, where we came from and what is our religion."

Jim is a 26-year old student at UW-Stevens Point who has made an important, conscious decision... he has rejected his western Christian upbringing to embrace instead the animist spiritual beliefs of his ancestors... a belief in Shamanism.

Jim Lee 00:18 "I believe I was baptized very young. I just kind of grew into it, not knowing much about it, just learning the books. I don't think it was so much Christianity that made me think it wasn't for me, it was more of an identity search."

sound up, factory

The identity search is being facilitated by Jim's father, Jay. We find the 52 year old shaman, family man, and entrepreneur huddled over his sewing machine in a small shop with other Hmong workers. The company he owns is making boots for the U. S. military.

Khousa Ge lee 00:10 ""The workers in there, they work for you?" " Right, they work for me. Right now I have fifteen employees."

We sit down in a back room with Jay and Jim, to find out more about their religion, and its continuing hold on the Hmong community. Jim translates for his father.

Khousa Ge Lee 00:10 "As long as there is still Hmong in the community, then there has to be a shaman. But if there is no shaman, there will be a lot of sickness in the Hmong community."

When someone is sick, and western doctors have not been able to find a cure, the shaman is called... in a practice that involves chanting, divining, and sacrificing an animal.

Khousa Ge Lee 00:08 "There are horns that the shaman uses, and when tossed to the ground by the shaman, it tells the shaman the direction of where the soul has been"

Khousa Ge Lee 00:14 "A pig must be sacrificed, and what happens is after the shaman finds out where the soul is, then the shaman uses the soul of the pig to take the place of the lost soul, and the shaman can guide the soul back."

Jim Lee 00:35 ("Do you really believe that your dad when he goes into a trance, can help bring a person's soul back into the body, using the soul of a pig? Do you believe that?") "Yes I do." ("Why?") "Because, I've seen a couple of the shaman ceremonies, for the people who are sick, within days, they're just happier, they do feel better, they're alive, they want to eat, they want to do things, and they just... you can see the energy in them."

The Hmong people hang on to the old ways because they seem to work... curing the sick, and providing a stable framework for understanding life as they adapt to a strange, new world. Jim's father says that's the way it should be.

Khousa Ge Lee :"He believes that whatever your ethnicity is, your background, your culture, wherever you came from you should hold on to that."

And for many in the Hmong community... holding on to shamanism has proven essential... for it means holding on to their identity as a people.

For Bridging the Shores, I'm Glen Moberg in Wausau.

Music bed for :06 -- Opening theme for Hakkenden, soundtrack by Takashi Kudo, 1993.

Segment D-4: Conclusion (Starts at 56:30/Ends at 57:59) (followed by credits and closing music until 59:00)

SGA: "In the past hour, we've heard only a sampling of perspectives from the Hmong-American community. While experiences vary, perseverance and adaptability seem to be common threads among those who've successfully made new lives in America. Peng Her, who was only five when he came here from Laos in 1976, reflects on what he?s learned as a community leader and father in Madison, Wisconsin...

"Being in the United States, I always tell my kids that anything is obtainable if you work hard. There's going to be times in life when you'll face challenges and obstacles will come your way but persevere and you?ll get through it, like many of us Hmong who had to persevere through a war, coming to a country...not speaking the language, not knowing the culture. Now, 30 years later, we've got doctors, lawyers, politicians, now even?

"When I was working on the exhibit at the Childrens Museum, we posed the question to 5th graders, "Who are the Hmong?". And a little boy in the back of the room raised his hand and goes, "I know I know! The Hmong, he's my doctor." And we really didn't connect until we realized yeah, the Hmong are your doctors, your teachers, your lawyers in the community. So we are becoming part of the fabric and I think that in 30 years we will have a nice marriage of both Wisconsin culture and the Hmong culture in which we can both coexist in a nice harmony.

"That speaks highly to the Hmong and its ability to adapt and live in many cultures. It doesn't matter where you are, as long as you remember you're Hmong you're going to succeed. Having a pride in who you are, your culture, your language, where you came from, that's what being Hmong is." (1:06)

[FADE UP MUSIC, HOLD UNDER CREDITS] (Music: Gavin Bryar's Allegrasco, from After the Requiem, ECM New Series 1992.)

SGA: "You've been listening to Bridging the Shores: The Hmong-American Experience", a joint production of Wisconsin Public Radio, and the U-W Marathon County.

"Special thanks to U-W Colleges and UW-Extension for their funding of this program, and Fong Heu, of Digital Motions, L-L-C for archival footage.

"Learn more from our online project, at w-i-i-p-p-s-DOT-o-r-g. Project lead is Eric Giordano.

"Community liaison is Mai Zong Vue.

"Radio producers are Gil Halsted, Glen Moberg, Brian Bull, Patty Murray, and Steve Roisum.

"Executive Producer is Brian Bull. I'm Sheryl Gasser."

(Music tail out)

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