It’s very unlikely that 72-year-old Yong Yia Thao will vote in the upcoming state primaries or general election.
It’s not that Thao, who came from Thailand to America 26 years ago and is an American citizen, doesn’t want his political voice heard. It’s because he doesn’t understand the voting process.
“He said he voted for different representatives back in Laos,” said Thao’s 36-year-old son, Phillipe Thao. “In every village, there is a village leader, and when it was time to vote, the government would send ballots to the village, and the village leader would have each person’s name that was allowed to vote. Here, it isn’t the same. He (the older Thao) says that he doesn’t know where to go to vote, how to vote, who the leader is and what their agenda is.”
Those views are shared by many Hmong citizens, said the younger Thao, who works as a Hmong family advocate at Fort Howard/Jefferson Neighborhood Family Resource Center.
Yia Thao, president of the United Hmong Community Center, agreed that many Hmong don’t vote because they think that politicians make little effort to connect with Hmong residents or understand issues important to them.
More than 60 percent of the Hmong over 18 in Brown County weren’t citizens in 2000 and thus weren’t eligible to vote, according to the U.S. Census. Becoming a naturalized citizen is the first step immigrants and refugees must take to gain voting eligibility.
Of the 2,417 foreign-born Hmong living in Brown County in 2000, 258 were naturalized citizens, according to the census.
“Most of the elderly do not vote at all,” Phillipe Thao said. “One of the reasons for their wanting to obtain this (American) citizenship was to get some form of government assistance, like SSI (Supplemental Security Income) for their survival. They also want to be able to travel back and forth (out of the country). I think voting isn’t a priority for them.”
Phillipe Thao said it was unlikely that he could influence his father to vote. Despite becoming an American citizen in 1993 and earning several college degrees, including a bachelor’s degree in political science and criminal justice, the younger Thao said that he, too, has never voted.
“I know about the American laws and regulations and politics,” Phillipe Thao said. “But I do not vote because I don’t feel that these candidates really speak to the Hmong people. There are a lot of Hmong who feel the way I do — that there’s no connection between the Hmong and political leaders.”
The resolution affirming English as the official language of Brown County government, adopted in 2002, “really hurt a lot of the Hmong people,” Yia Thao said. “They said, ‘This shows that they don’t care about me, so why vote?’ The Hmong people, they know who a good leader is and who is not a good leader. For them, they want to know who (the leader is) … who will help lead the community.”
Some Hmong do vote
Voting makes other Hmong Americans proud to be Americans, said 35-year-old Mee Moua, a Minnesota state senator who became the first Hmong in the nation to be elected to a state office in 2002.
“If you look at our history, Hmong people have always been involved in the politics,” Moua said. “We were driven out of our homeland to resettle in this country. We’ve been displaced because of political unrest, so it’s in our blood to get involved politically once we become citizens.”
A Hmong running for local office would energize more Hmong to vote and encourage others to pursue political office, Phillipe Thao said. He pointed to several Hmong who are involved in politics in cities around the country, including Moua and Wausau Alderman Ya Yang.
To successfully run for public office, a Hmong candidate would need support from non-Hmong voters, said David Littig, a retired professor of public and environmental affairs and political science at the University of Green Bay-Wisconsin.
”In a close election in a particular district that has a lot of Hmong, there may be enough who can influence an election,” Littig said. “But you can’t win with just a Hmong constituency. They have to have an appeal that goes beyond the Hmong community. There are older adults here who are interested and motivated politically, but they aren’t as fluent in the (English) language as their children who are learning English in the school system.”
Election foreseen here
Littig predicts the first Hmong will be elected to public office in Brown County within the next five years.
Yia Thao shared that view, adding that he is interested in participating in local government. In December, Thao participated in Candidate Training and Campaign Management School, a seminar to train prospective minority candidates and campaign volunteers.
“It is one of my dreams to serve on the (Green Bay) School Board,” he said. “I believe that education is the key that will help not just myself but other people.”
