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22 July 2010
I Am Hmong Scholarship Winning Essay
By Melissa Yang, Vista Murrieta High School, Murrieta, California
How do you define Hmong and what does it mean to be Hmong? Time wears down what it once was. All that can be seen are the collapsed pillars, smashed megalithic lintels bridging posts, and scattered fragments of a majestic past. The great European Stonehenge is a mysterious sight to behold. What is it, those big, weather worn, rocks sitting on the hilltop? Archaeologists have argued its origin from an ancient village to a gigantic calendar, but its history remains largely unknown. It cannot be defined. But the Hmong people can be defined in one word: Stonehenge. In today’s modern American society, the Hmong people remain as solid as those giant stones despite how time has worn them down. Families that may have collapsed in the Vietnam War, still strive firmly to leave their mark for the next generation in America. The lintel bridging the traditional language to the second generation Hmong Americans may be smashed by the American melting pot, but the contour remains. And scattered they be, in Wisconsin to Minnesota, Georgia to Texas, and Oregon to California; the Hmong continue to display a rich cultural past. I define Hmong as an ancient sacred ruin and what it means to be Hmong is to be the gatekeeper: we must protect our heritage; guard our values; and pass on our knowledge to the next generation.
How has your family background and being Hmong affect the way you see the world? As a second generation Hmong-
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