It isn’t about naming a park, and it isn’t about heroin; it’s about a people, the Hmong people.

As a Hmong student on this campus, the most difficult part of the controversy surrounding professor McCoy’s claim Hmong Gen. Vang Pao was involved in the drug trade has been hearing people condemn Vang Pao, while at the same time saying it is not a claim against all Hmong people.

However, I don’t think it is that simple. People don’t know what it is like to be Hmong. They don’t realize how we regard Vang Pao. They don’t know that my people — my relatives — died fighting for America.

I would ask if we have forgotten the Hmong were crucial to the survival of so many American soldiers during the years before and after the fall of Saigon. However, I myself forget that in history classes in this country, students do not learn about the role the Hmong played in the war.

If you haven’t already assumed it was the Vietnam War, you may be asking, “What war?” But I’m not referring to the Vietnam War. I’m talking about the Secret War. The one most Americans don’t know about. It’s the war that led to the resettlement of the Hmong people in America. We lost an entire generation to the Secret War. My people would not be here today if the CIA had not asked Gen. Vang Pao to help American soldiers navigate the jungles of Laos during the Secret War.

The Hmong do not regret fighting for America, never have and never will. But to hear people defaming and condemning him — well, Herald columnist Bryant Walker Smith was on the ball when he compared Vang Pao to George Washington. Many Hmong regard Vang Pao in the same way Americans regard the president of the United States.

Even so, I still don’t think this comparison does any justice to those Hmong veterans who have come to campus to protest. Those men have little left except for their families, their culture and the pride in knowing that they fought for democracy for America and for Americans. They fled their homeland because they fought for America. They came here as political refugees, not immigrants.

I am a Hmong woman and I was born here in Wisconsin. I can relate to those veterans, but only as a Hmong, not as a veteran. I cannot imagine the betrayal they must have felt when they read these accusations against Vang Pao.

I can’t say I have read professor McCoy’s book or evaluated his research, but I will reiterate this isn’t about naming a park or about heroin; it’s about a people, a people who have fought hard for recognition and for respect. There is a saying that many of us know:

First they came for the Jews

and I did not speak out

because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for the Communists

and I did not speak out

because I was not a Communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists

and I did not speak out

because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for me

and there was no one left

to speak out for me.

— Martin Niemoller

I can only reaffirm Smith’s editorial: “[McCoy] is not attacking a reputation — he is defining one.”

See Vang ([email protected]) is a sophomore majoring in political science.