I gotta be honest, at first when I read the headline, I was thinking to myself "Wow, that's great. Good for them, I need to do a quick post." And then - being the honest person that I am I'll also tell you - when I read about the numbers (600 Hmong students) and why it was instituted in Milwaukee versus Madison I was like - shit - that doesn't seem like a lot - but you know what?
Fuck me and Fuck Me again because that's 600 Hmong Asian American students who decided to not let their voices be drowned out. That's 600 Hmong Asian American students who told their administration that guess what - they wouldn't go unnoticed - and that's pretty damn cool.
Btw - here's someone from Madison - who doesn't have a Hmong Studies Certificate program:
Ger Yang, a UW-Madison junior and facilitator for the Hmong American Student Association, said the program should have been done when they started talking about it in 2007.Numbers? Sometimes numbers don't mean shit - it's what you do with the numbers that count.
“There’s a general misconception about Hmong people — where they’re from, what they’re doing now, what issues are current with the Hmong American community,” Yang said. “There needs to be a new perspective.”
Vang said she was surprised UW has not started a Hmong Studies program but believes they are moving in that direction. Without adequate resources and tenured track professors, however, Vang said it’s almost impossible. “It would be great to have a Hmong Studies program at Madison. There’s a lot of resources that could benefit not only the Hmong American students but also the community,” Vang said.
