Nearly 30 years later, as another wave of Hmong arrives, many of the first refugees and their families are attaining higher education levels and better jobs and embracing economic opportunities that residents and leaders predict will continue to grow. But success still will elude many who do not speak English.
“Compared to other refugee and immigrant groups, the Hmong have come so far in a shorter amount of time,” said Sao Vue, 30, who came to Green Bay from Thailand in 1983. “We have Hmong with Ph.Ds, who are teachers, lawyers and doctors, Hmong who are involved in public office.”
The 2000 census counted 2,417 Hmong in Brown County. While only 2 percent of those 25 and older had obtained bachelor’s degrees — compared with 16 percent of whites in the same age group — enrollments for Asian and Southeast Asian students at area colleges and universities remain steady or have increased.
Of the 5,601 students attending the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay in fall 1998, 56 were Asian or Southeast Asian — which include Hmong. In fall 2003, 98 of the 5,468 students were in that ethnic category.
At Northeast Wisconsin Technical College, 486 of 40,810 students enrolled in all programs in 1998 were Asian. The number dropped slightly, to 421, in 2003-04, but so did overall student enrollment.
“A lot of our kids are in college,” said May Kaying, who came to the United States when she was a child. A graduate of Green Bay East High School, Kaying has a degree in marketing management from NWTC. She now works as a technician for Procter & Gamble.
“My younger sister is a pharmacist and my two brothers have degrees in computer science,” Kaying said. “If we lived in that country (Laos), we would still be farming.”
Homeownership continues to become a reality for many Hmong. Of the 436 homes occupied by Hmong in Brown County in 2000, about 34 percent were occupied by their owners, according to census data. That compares with 68 percent among whites.
Learning English
But despite their successes, learning to speak English remains the biggest challenge for many Hmong.
Of Hmong ages 5 and older in Brown County, 112 didn’t speak English at all in 2000 and 420 listed themselves as not speaking English well, according to the census. Combined, that was 25 percent of the population.
“They (new refugees) will be happy to live in the United States, but they need English to get a job,” said Chang Lor, who came to America 24 years ago and now lives in Green Bay. Lor, who is married to Kaying, also works as a technician at Procter & Gamble.
“They will learn that if you have an education, you can have a good job,” he said. “If you don’t have an education, you will not have a good job.”
Yia Thao, president of the United Hmong Community Center, shared Lor’s sentiments and noted that many Hmong who don’t know English are stuck in low-paying jobs.
“A lot of the Hmong parents work two or three jobs so they can survive,” Thao said. “That’s something that people wonder about, if they lost their jobs. A lot them are working on production lines and industrial jobs. They earn minimum wage, and that’s not enough. The economy is very bad now. Some of the Hmong people are laid off, and it’s hard for them to find something else.”
A number of unemployed Hmong and their families are moving to larger cities in hopes of finding better job opportunities, he said.
“If we don’t have jobs here, they are going to go where there are jobs and where there is a Hmong community,” he said. “We can’t afford to lose good people because they don’t have the opportunity to work here. Businesses and government must do more to bring jobs here.”
Cultural identity
Aside from economic worries, as many Hmong look ahead, they see their community continuing to assimilate into American society and are concerned about preserving the Hmong culture for future generations.
“I came here when I was 12 years old and I knew the (Hmong) history,” said Chay Xiong, a 40-year-old father of two children. “My children speak 60 (percent) English and 40 (percent) Hmong. Kids who are born here, by middle school, they will try to speak English more than Hmong because they want to fit in.
“I think that it (learning to speak English) is a right thing to do, but they still need to realize their own culture,” Xiong said. “But English is also very important. To be successful, you need to be fluent in reading and writing” in English.
