LONG VUE was born on a military base camp in Laos at the height of the Vietnam War and remembers little of a traumatic childhood spent largely underground, hiding in a bunker from the North Vietnamese while his father earned 10 cents a day from the U.S. government to patrol the Ho Chi Minh Trail and North Vietnam border. After the war, Vue was shuffled to refugee camps in Laos and Thailand with no toys or education and little food before landing in Kaukauna in 1980. Vue, who calls the Fox Cities home to this day, spoke to Insight about his latest work as executive director of NEW Hmong Professionals — an organization working to build strong, healthy identities and communities for individuals of Hmong heritage in Northeast Wisconsin.
Insight: At more than 52,000, Wisconsin has the third-largest Hmong American population in the United States. What is the history behind that?
When the Hmong came to this country [as refugees] they had to have a sponsor; in Wisconsin you have a large population here because the Catholic Diocese was one of the main sponsors. You also had the second migration of Hmong refugees resettled here, moving from other smaller pockets of Hmong in different states because of access to resources, support networks and good jobs.
What was the experience like for Hmong refugees coming to Wisconsin in the 1970s and 1980s?
I call my generation a forgotten generation. We grew up without any identity and didn’t learn how to read and write. Furthermore, American society did not do a good job of educating the general public about the Hmong or how to help them. The Hmong were just seen as Asian and the enemy, even though we fought in this war helping the Americans. But people literally hated the American soldiers, too. They had trauma, and coming back they were not being welcomed as heroes. They were literally spit on. For the Hmong, being yelled at walking down the street, being spit on, being bullied became normal activity.
COVID-19 brought with it a new wave of hate crimes against Asian Americans. How did that affect Hmong people in Northeast Wisconsin?
All that trauma has resurfaced again. Hmong will be walking down the street and people will yell at them. This is beginning to happen again because we are creating an environment where hatred is tolerable. What we experienced in the early ’80s, we are reliving those experiences right now. It’s sad to live through this kind of trauma again.
How did NEW Hmong Professionals come to exist?
When we first started it was just a network of Hmong professionals — teachers, lawyers, doctors, social workers and engineers — who wanted to meet and share our talent, elevate each other, find a space where we can empower each other. In [fall 2019] there was a murder-suicide that happened to a Hmong couple in Appleton that really set it off. Then the pandemic hit and we did a couple of sessions virtually to talk about mentoring and mental health, helping the students at different schools. We are all volunteers; we had no intentions of becoming a 501(c)3 organization. Then we realized that the emerging needs of the Hmong were much greater than just us volunteers so, lo and behold, [the volunteers said they wanted to] fundraise and secure funds to pay [me] to lead this organization. I have been in this position not even a year yet, but we have secured more funding, and now I actually have two full-time staff besides me on this journey together.
What are the goals of your organization?
Our motto is “meeting the Hmong emerging needs to become resilient leaders.” For Hmong professionals, we are all in this transformation of finding our identity, finding who we are as we become the elders in the community, the leaders in our community. So this journey, for us, is finding who we are but also giving back to our communities.
What are some of the projects you’re working on?
One of my staff is working on an elders project. Our elders through this pandemic have been isolated; they’re scared to go out and they don’t have a place where they can go. We are working on transportation, volunteer and wellness opportunities. One other project we are working on is creating a “warmline” for youth. The suicide rate among our youth is much greater than ever before. I don’t have a counseling major, but I realize now that our youth are having an identity crisis of their own; I’m still looking to find my place, but for the youth it’s much harder. Also, I am working on a hydroponic agricultural farming incubator to allow our farmers to grow their produce year-round. We are trying to, in the long run, create a little wealth for them and make a difference in the community. It’s not just creating wealth for you, but you’re also creating wealth and health to the community at large.
Why are you passionate about NEW Hmong Professionals?
I want to look out for protecting the Hmong. My dad, I really appreciate what he said now. He always said, “You are just like the sun rising; you have a lot of opportunity and things to do. But for my time, the sun is setting.” And I didn’t understand what he meant at the time. But now, if I don’t step up and be a leader, take on this responsibility, help my community, who is doing that? My sun is setting. So one of my roles with this organization is to really give back to society and meet the needs of the Hmong. I can’t do that without these volunteers; they are a tremendous asset because we can work together and find a way to really connect. For so long, we didn’t have a place where we could get to know each other.
