Assignment #8

Hey everyone and welcome to another week of blogging with yours truly!! Well we're almost done with this quarter which is unfortunate because there's still so much more stuff I wanted to find out and share with you guys. This weeks assignment is pretty cool because even though I can't give out some of the visual images due to lack of technology (well my lack of technology in itself), I can have a creative mind about it and explain to you guys what I'm imagining. I'm multi-tasking at this moment writing the blog and watching the Lakers game. As of right now they're losing and I'm loving it because I just hate the Lakers thus putting me in a even better mood to do this assignment. So let's get this started.

Idea #1














Remember in assignment #4 when I posted this picture up saying I was going to talk about it later on? Well I think this week's assignment is the perfect time to do so. There is a story to this statue which I will tell you guys right now.

Origins "One day around 2440 b.c., the battle between Ping Huang (Ping Wang), the emperor of China, and the King Kao (Kao Wang) was not going well. The emperor offered the hand of his third daughter in marriage to anyone who could chop off the head of his enemy. Many tried, but the only one who could manage it was P'an Hu (King Pan), a three-colored dog who hung around the emperor's court. Although the emperor was not happy, he fulfilled his promise and gave the dog his daughter. Then the dog and the emperor's daughter went away to live in the far-off mountains. They had six sons and six daughters who became the forefathers of the twelve clans of the Iu Mien." This may sound a little ridiculous, but that's actually what we believe in. I think this is a good starting point to this blog because it kinda tells how the Iu-Mien clan originated from in terms of folktale. I think it'd be super cool if I could somehow transform a dog into King Pan for people to see it visually. Idea #2 I was thinking of showing just how the Mien people, and Southeast Asians in general struggled just to get to the Thailand Refugee camp. Just think of a group of family members of all ages with no food, barely any clothes and lack of weaponry to fend of the communist soldiers walking on foot to Thailand. This is just to show how before these people could even immigrate to the U.S, they had to fight for their lives just to make it to the Refugee camp. Of course I would like to include how the Refugee camps were like in Thailand. My uncle explained it but I want to see a visual image or experience of it just like the rest of you guys. Idea #3 This idea was inspired by my uncles story. I was thinking of letting people do role play. Say you was the oppressors of the communist regime and you had just reached Thailand, but was denied entrance to the refugee camp. You have no home, and no place to go so you have no choice but to live in the jungles of Burma like my family did. I want you guys to experience what living in the jungle with little to no resources available to you while dealing with the treacherous weather, potential diseases and of course the wild animals out there. I don't want people coming into this thinking that they're going to actually live in the jungle because that could result in a lawsuit. I want them to experience what one of our classmates was talking about when you feel like you're in the war feeling and hearing the grenades going off but not getting physically or emotionally hurt. Idea #4 I wanted to rebuild the image of the neighborhoods that the Southeast Asians lived in when they got to the Bay Area/U.S between the years of 1975-1982. This is to show how Asian Americans were treated by the native people and I can tell you that not all were kind as I pointed out in those articles about the Vietnamese refugees and my uncles interview. This is not only to show how tough life was adjusting to a new culture of living, but also to show how far the Bay Area/U.S has come to accepting the Asians as one of their own. This can also be said for all immigrants of any race. Even though there were much negativity towards the Asian immigrants, there were also a lot of positives. School is a perfect example, as many tutors helped the immigrants learn from basically scratch as they knew little to no English. If it's possible to show the school atmosphere with the neighborhoods, then I think that would be a great idea showing integration of different cultures. Idea #5 I think a great idea would be to show you guys a religious ceremony of our Iu-Mien culture. I actually have home video of an actual ceremony being performed but I don't know if my family would want it to be shown as it's very sacred. It would be pretty cool though to show how and why we do these ceremonies as it takes many hours to complete so it takes a lot of preparation and work. I've come to acknowledge many different cultures and religions and I'm pretty sure you guys would be interested in seeing an actual ceremony by the Mien people. The shaman who performs it really amazes me because it seems like they memorize everything by heart and says his prayers for many hours in the Mien language, plus I think the traditional clothing is pretty cool to show off. So these were some of the ideas I was thinking of. By the way, Lakers lost!!

Assignment #7

Before I begin, I just want to say that this History research class has opened up my mind to a whole new way of learning. Normally, I would sit down and just listen to the instructor talk about past history. Even though I'd normally do well in my previous History classes, I can't say that it was the most entertaining classes to attend. This class actually lets us find out history that we didn't know existed. I love the fact that we could choose our own topic to research on and that just opened up so many possibilities to venture on. To be honest, before taking this class, you could say that I didn't put in the effort to learn about my family's history to go along with the Iu-Mien race in general. I'm glad to have taken this course because it reminded me of how I got here. My family sacrificed a whole lot for my generation to get to the United States and ultimately excel in a environment that gives us the opportunities that my parents, uncles and grandparents could only dream of back in their days. Now let's get to this week's blog!!

What is the significance of your research, of your story, outside of the fact that it happened? What bigger story does your research help us understand?

When I first started doing this research, I really didn't know what to expect. I knew that I wanted to find out some history about the Mien people, but never did have a clear understanding of why my story is of any significance to you readers. Even now I don't think that I have a definite answer but it has become a little clearer as I've did more research. I think my research is significant because it I found out more about my personal identity which can also relate to most of you guys. What I mean by that statement, is that yes, this may seem like a simple history research for a letter grade but it's much more deeper then that. I can't speak for everybody but the environment that I grew up in, I've learned that most kids in my generation don't really know anything about their family's history or how they're able to live the life they're living right now because of those who made that all possible including myself. All of my life I always knew that my parents, uncles etc all had a tough past but I never really paid much attention to it because they've complained about nothing. Everything came in full circles when I interviewed my uncle. The stuff he said they went through just to get to Thailand really got to me. The struggle and fight they endured really gave me a reality check because they've never once complained about any of this and we (my generation) complain about little things like class being too long. Anyways this is the point I'm trying to make. You can find out your personal identity by learning about your family's history (not everybody of course). Your family's past could be one of great accomplishments, struggles or tragedy all of whom play a part of who you are. My example is that my family worked so hard to get to the U.S and worked even harder when they were in the U.S. From that, I try everyday to better my life and further my education because I know none of them had any realistic chance of attending college due to their circumstances. Look into your family's past, ask you parents or just do a random Internet search for what it's worth. You are going to find out more about your family and yourself then you may expect to.

Historical context: what does your research reveal about the era in which it took place? How does the era in which your story took place shape our understanding of the evidence you’ve found?

I may be stating the obvious, but my research reveals that during this era, it was a major struggle for immigrants (and even today with the Arizona ruling which will be appropriate to talk about in another course). It was a struggle just for the people to survive in a Communist driven country and arguably just as hard when they got to the U.S. As my uncle stated, the refugee camps were not the best of living conditions to go along with thousands of people bunched up together. Then there was the case of those people getting randomly chosen to get a chance to get out of Thailand and to the United States. The lucky ones who got to the U.S had to face racism and discrimination from the natives on a daily basis to go along with language barrier and lack of money. Overall from 1965-1982, the immigrants in the U.S and in particular the bay area were fighting for their lives everyday and endured a lot just to get to the U.S. There was no time for rest and even had to adopt to a whole new world if they were the lucky ones to immigrate here.

· In what ways is your story a Bay Area story? Is it unique to this area? What else have you learned about the Bay Area’s past that helps you understand and contextualize your work? Consider the themes we’ve discussed in the reading…

I think this is definitely a Bay Area Story because many of the immigrants came over to the Bay Area during those waves. Many of those immigrants furthered their lives here in San Francisco, Oakland, Hayward etc. including my family. My family's story isn't really in the city of Hayward but in San Francisco and Oakland. I did however find numerous news articles about Vietnamese refugees in Hayward which did relate to that of my uncle's story and could possibly relate to Mien people in all. I found this research to be interesting because of numerous reasons but one in particular. Not too many people know of the Mien people and there aren't that much history on my people. So it is most definitely the case that there was history left out that should of been recorded. That reminded me of the Chinese immigrants article that we read about. Usually when we talk about agriculture in the U.S, we don't talk about how the Chinese helped with the cause but how the White people did all the work. That as we found out, wasn't the case as the Chinese helped a whole lot with the evolution of agriculture. That got me thinking like what if the Southeast Asians who immigrated here helped with something significant here in the U.S that we don't know of? I'm sure due to the pressure of the natives and to preserve American History with it's consistent run thus far (history mainly being told by Caucasians), there were positive things left out about the Southeast Asians.

What questions are you left with? What has your research uncovered, and remains to be discovered?

I'm left with SEVERAL questions!! Quite frankly, there's much more research to be found about my topic. I don't really know how to find out more due to the lack of sources but I'm sure there are ways to find out.

Assignment #6

Good evening everybody and welcome to another blogging session with yours truly. I'm particularly excited about what I'm going to do with this blog just because it involves one of my heroes in life, my uncle. This is a man who I basically consider to be a father figure to me for so many reasons. He's well respected in the household as well as in the Mien community. He took my siblings and I in at a time when my father couldn't support us all financially and I can't thank him enough for it.
As you can see this is a man who has done a lot for me in my life as well as many others. I'll be conducting an interview with my uncle Leo Saephan, because he's gone through the Southeast Asian immigration first hand so I thought he'd be a perfect candidate.

Me: Do you remember your time living in Laos? If so, explain.
Uncle: In Laos, majority of Mien people are working as farmers. The most Mien people live in the Highland areas.

Me: How were the living conditions in the Highland areas?
Uncle: The living conditions are way different then the U.S. There is no public health, no schooling. There was a lot of uneducated people in the Highland area. There were opportunity for education but you had to be wealthy and living in the city.

Me: How did you guys go by day by day?
Uncle: It was a struggle. It's not easy at all. We had to fight diseases constantly because there's no public health as I pointed out.

Me: Do you remember the communist invasion in Laos? Explain.
Uncle: I remember a little bit but I was still young. I remember because my uncles and my older brothers were fighting for the U.S CIA. The U.S was there and they had the Laotian and Mien people involved fighting against the Communist but the CIA just pulled out of Laos. That left all the people fighting for them there with no firearms or support.

Me: DO you remember leaving Laos?
Uncle: Yes. The majority left in 1975 to Thailand, but we left in 1977. We were put in the refugee camp.
Me: Can you describe the refugee camp?
Uncle: In the camp, pretty much we don't have no rights. We were kept in the camp, not allowed to go out in the camp. There were certain rules we had to follow like curfews. The living conditions in the camp is a little better then back in Laos because they had health care there which is provided by the Thai and American government. They provided basic care in the camp. Hmong, Laotian, Mien, Vietnamese were all in the camp. Most people were there for five years, but we were in there for only 1 year. We were very lucky.
Me: How was the refugees picked out to immigrate to the U.S?
Uncle: The U.S government has the program to allow the refugees to come here. At first, they only picked the people who served under the CIA in Laos. They got priority over everybody.
Me: How was you guys treated when you first came to the San Francisco airport?
Uncle: I mean we were in a brand new world and we didn't speak no English. I can't really say they treated us good or not because we didn't understand nothing they were saying.

Me: How did you find your very first apartment/house?
Uncle: Our relatives were here first and they were helping us look for apartments. We were supported by the refugee settlement program which was provided by the U.S government helping us financially.

Me: Did you guys have any sponsors?
Uncle: Yes. It was called IRC. It's like financial aid, it's one program set there, and whoever meets the guidelines can qualify for this program. The agency helps us financially, as well as other programs which allows us to go to school to learn the basic skills.

Me: Speaking of school, since you didn't go to school in Laos, how did you learn
Uncle: I started 7 months of school in Thailand which taught me basic alphabet only. When I came to San Francisco I attended Wilson High school in the 9th grade without knowing nothing but my alphabets. I just had to self learn, stay after school, come before school starts because I obviously really needed the tutoring.

Me: Did you face any racism?
Uncle: When we first came here, there weren't that much Asian people here. We couldn't make out what they called us but it didn't seem good.

Me: How was the community like?
Uncle: It was mixed races. We were put in the poverty gutter because we couldn't afford nothing. That's the only way we would've came up to stay with the cost of living.

Me: Overall, how do you compare life in Laos with life in the U.S?
Uncle: Here, I think it's much more better, because we have much more opportunities to do and be what we want. There's very small opportunities in Laos. If I had a choice to go back to Laos or stay in the U.S, I would stay here simply because it's a better life. It's better to raise your kids here. Of course Laos is still communist which makes my choice easier.

After conducting the interview, my uncle told me a story.
Uncle: When we first arrived to Thailand, the Thai officials kicked us out and wouldn't let us in the country. For what reasons I don't know because I was simply too young to understand. We ended up on a island next to or on Burma I'm not sure. There we walked 3 days without no food or water to a city for comfort. Your father (my dad) was only 5 years old and was all walking in the jungle without any weapons or any sorts of protection for that matter. We stayed 8-9 months in the Burmese jungle before the refugee camps opened up for us to go back to. We went through so much and that's why I want you guys to cherish this opportunity in the United states to better your lives. We never had the chance to go to college or receive the proper help, and you guys do. Your grandma walked up the mountains in the pouring rain just to get fresh water for the family.

I learned a whole lot about how the Mien people, and immigrants were treated by conducting this interview. Although my uncle was young during most of these events, he still remembers most of what happened to him and the family. I hope you all enjoy what he had to share. I know some information was a little vague but overall, I think he did a very good job at answering my questions.

Assignment #5

Hey everyone and welcome to another week of blogging!! In the beginning, I found out that there were more historical information about the Iu-Mien people then I previously thought it would have. It was a nice to find out some history about my own race but then reality hit. As the weeks went by, my research has come to an almost complete halt trying to dig in for more information. A perfect example of this frustrating process was illustrated in the book "Social Work Practice with Immigrants and Refugees" by Pallassana R. Balgopal. In the book it shows a graph depicting the total number of Asians and Pacific Islanders in the United States in 1990. It recognizes the Chinese, Filipinos, Japanese, Asian Indians, Koreans, Laotian, Cambodians, Thai, Hmong and Other for the Asians side. I'm pretty sure you caught that, but if you didn't then you should see that the Mien race isn't included in this graph. I guess I'm to be considered as "other" huh? This is an indication that the Iu-Mien people aren't exactly paid attention to nor or they well studied like the other Asian races.
OK now on to my journey as you may call it. So this week I emailed Diane Curry of the Hayward Area Historical Society to set up an appointment which was to take place on Thursday May 6, 2010 at 2pm. After getting lost for a little bit I finally found my way to the Museum with the help of some friends although I arrived a couple minutes late (sorry Diane!!). As soon as I came in, I realized that Diane had already pulled out some articles for me which awesome of her I might add. Well here's some of the articles I looked at and analyzed.


(The Daily Review Hayward, CA
Wednesday Sept 21, 1977)
In this picture just above me, it shows a Vietnamese mother caring to her baby who both just recently arrived to San Francisco. 113 Vietnamese refugees arrived at San Francisco airports helped by Anemy Delaney of Hayward who sponsored 40 Vietnamese refugees during the original airlift in 1975. Ms. Delaney described the refugees treatment at the SF airport as handled poorly and all the documents would've been handled in a better manner.
(The Daily News Review Hayward, CA
Thursday June 12, 1975)
This article above me describes how some churches in the Hayward area chose to sponsor Vietnamese refugees in trying to give them a better way of living.

This article above me is pretty much self explanatory. Vietnam refugee students were described as having very limited English as expected but more then willing to learn.
This article by Jane Abbott describes how the refugees coming over to the United States were received with mixed reactions by the natives. Some people were quoted as saying "our own people need help" which essentially meant that U.S officials should worry about bettering their nation before going out and helping out others. Ken Labonte of 45365 Churchill St. San Leandr0 said "Yeah it's a good idea (talking about refugees getting aid), they'd be killed where they are now (referring to the refugees home country). Then there are those who are quoted as saying "those people have been fighting for 2000 years and they'll be fighting for 2000 more years in the future" referring to the refugees.

So as you can see these articles didn't necessarily have anything on the Mien people, but it did give me some things that might indicate how they were treated. For instance, refugees were handled horribly at the airport when they first arrived, which may mean the Mien people were treated in the same manner. Most of these articles were on the Vietnamese refugees which was reasonable considering it was the fall of Saigon which was their country. All immigrants undoubtedly were faced with racism and discrimination which I'm sure the Mien people faced as well.
As I wrapped up my time there, Diane even acknowledged to me that these aren't necessarily helpful to my topic, but I appreciated her pulling out some stuff on Asian immigration anyways. She did mention that I should check out UC Irvine due to their Asian American Immigration Archive work which I'm looking into now. She also mentioned to look at Microfilm the Daily Review at the school library. I'm not really sure what that is but she mentioned that this may include the 1979 wave of immigrants which included the Iu-Mien people. All in all this week was helpful in sorts but again, it's getting harder to find out information about my topic. I'm looking to do interviews and possibly record some religious ceremonies in the next blog or two.