Chai Vang, the Hmong deer hunter from St. Paul who was convicted of murdering six Wisconsin deer hunters, was sentenced and had his chance to speak out about his situation. He said he was happy that he would no longer pay child support for his seven children, and he was grateful to the State of Wisconsin for housing and feeding him for the rest of his life. I'm not sure, exactly, but I think he might just have been a little sarcastic. It's hard to say, because he might in truth be pleased that he will no longer have to do a lick of work to put food on his or anyone else's table.
During the trial much was made about the 'racial slur' that was made about Mr. Vang, to wit: "I'm sick of those Mud Ducks coming into Wisconsin and taking our deer". This was supposedly said by one of the Wisconsin hunters. Actually, you should know, 'Mud Ducks' does not refer at all to someone of Cambodian ancestry at all, but rather it is a pejorative term used by someone in Wisconsin about someone from Minnesota. I have no idea about the origin or etiology of this insult, but if you're from Minnesota and I say this to you in a bar ... well, them's fighting words. Even if neither of us knows exactly why.
There is a fairly sizable Hmong community in Western Wisconsin where I now live, but I haven't had much contact with them. When I first moved back, I worked briefly at a motor factory (before I got canned) and there were a number of Hmong workers there, who were held rather in awe by the other (white) workers because the Hmongs were especially speedy and dextrous. In fact, to amuse each other they would have contests among each other to see who could be the most productive.
There was one cheerful older guy I used to talk with occasionally who found it absolutely amazing how much his white co-workers complained and tried to slack off. He thought he had it good and what to me was back breaking work, he thought was a piece of cake.
A couple of months ago I had the opportunity to visit a Wisconsin prison. This one was a minimum to medium security one, so it's probably not like the one Chai Vang's going to go to. My visit was quite a shock to me. I'd expected, I suppose, the type of prison that you see on TV and in the movies, you know, huge scowling men in a powder keg of violence hiding in the corners sharpening their shivs waiting for their opportunity to gang rape the new fish in the shower. Instead everybody was real relaxed and casual and the expected sadistic guards were rather easy-going and pleasant.
Out in the yard, the prisoners played scrabble and threw horseshoes and were going for their morning runs. And since these were Wisconsin prisoners they were nice - they smiled at you and said 'Good Morning' and held the door for you. For sure, they did something wrong to get there in the first place but they were nice wrong doers. Aside from the involuntary aspect of it, I really thought that I might take a weeks vacation and spend it there. It looked awfully restful.
1 comment:
Interesting perspective on the Hmong. Also, I hadn't heard before that Vang said those outrageous things at the trial. Still, I believe it very possible that racial epithets were used by the caucasian hunters and that that set Vang into a berserker rage. I bet that surprised those hunters who thought all Asians are docile types. I guess the lesson here is don't insult an Army sharpshooter who has a rifle in his hand!
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