Univ. of Minnesota Professor Zha Blong Xiong
Reaching out to Hmong youth
Reaching out to Hmong youth
By Laura Salinger
Hmong families in Wisconsin continue to deal with a myriad of challenges. While those who arrived in the U.S. in
the ‘80s and ‘90s faced the struggles common to many new immigrants — language barriers, finding a job,
acculturation, discrimination, and preserving their heritage — second and third generation Hmong youth face their
own set of challenges. Parents, often more steeped in the traditional Hmong way of life, struggle to guide their
children, who are simultaneously laboring to preserve their own cultural identity while finding harmony in mainstream
society. Few know this struggle, and the complications that arise, better than University of Minnesota Professor Zha
Blong Xiong.
The first Hmong to become a tenured professor at a research university in the U.S., Zha Blong has not only
extensively studied the Hmong struggle in America; he has lived it. Zha Blong grew up in Laos’ largest city, Luang
Prabang. Like so many other Hmong, Zha Blong’s life would drastically change after the Secret War, when the Pathet
Lao took over the Laotian government and began to systematically persecute the Hmong population. Zha Blong’s
father, who fought for the U.S. in the Secret War, was one of those targeted by the communist regime.
In 1975, at the tender age of eight, Zha Blong and his family would flee their home and seek refuge in a rugged
Laotian mountain village. From there, the family was forced to navigate the jungles of Laos in an effort to simply
survive. In the early ‘80s, Zha Blong and some of his family members would make the treacherous trip into Thailand to
seek political asylum. Later, they would reunite with Zha Blong’s father, whom they were earlier separated from, and
eventually relocate to Minnesota in 1982.
Although safe from direct threat, the family now had to deal with a whole new set of challenges. Zha Blong would
labor to learn English and succeed in school. The family would labor to navigate a new culture with a whole new set
of expectations, traditions, and standards.
After graduating from high school, Zha Blong studied at Winona State University to earn a degree in psychology.
While attending college, he worked in the community helping Hmong immigrants settle in Winona. Later, Zha Blong
developed curriculum and programming at the University of Minnesota Extension Service focusing on family-related
issues in recent immigrant populations, particularly Southeast Asian populations. He would go on to pursue a master’s
degree in Family Social Science at the University of Minnesota where he worked with U of M professor Daniel Detzner
to create the curriculum “Helping Youth Succeed: Bicultural Parenting in Southeast Asian Families.” Now a U of M
professor in Family Social Sciences, Zha Blong recently visited the University of Wisconsin-Madison to speak on the
topic of Hmong delinquency.
According to the 2000 U.S. Census, Minnesota has the second largest Hmong population in the nation;
Wisconsin has the third largest. From 1990 to 2000, Minnesota’s Hmong population grew 148 percent.
In Minnesota, Zha Blong says that a growing struggle for Hmong families is the upward number of Hmong youth
engaging in delinquent behavior. He describes these kids as being “caught between two cultures.” While delinquent
activity grows, Zha Blong is looking to find out why. He says there are a number of factors that contribute to this
troubling trend.
“Thirty three percent of Hmong in Minnsota live below the poverty line, which is significant compared to other
population groups,” Zha Blong says. “Hmong live in some of the poorest neighborhoods.”
Zha Blong also says that racial profiling is a problem. “When you have a large number of kids who engage in this
activity, police now narrow in and really target this population.”
A lack of connection with adult figures, both at home and at school, is also a problematic trend that is common
for Hmong youth who are getting into trouble. “A lot of these kids report that they don’t have any relationship with their
teachers. They don’t feel like they belong because teachers don’t relate to them,” Zha Blong said.
This may also be the case at home. “A lot of these Hmong fathers are very busy and have limited family time. When
you don’t have the father figure present in the process of socialization for young boys, it is a problem. You may have
an intact family, but the father is psychologically absent from the family.”
At the end of the day, however, these kids who have been stamped delinquent are still just that -- kids. And there
is a growing number of them. In fact, they could be described as the Hmong baby boomer population. According to
Zha Blong, 49 percent of Hmong in the U.S. are under 19 years old. These youth, he says, need support and mainly
they need to find connections.
“We are missing a significant and important opportunity to reach people, if we miss this,” Zha Blong says. “We
need to work with these young people early on and have quality, accessible early education for these kids. We need
to get parents involved in their children’s education. We need to work with school systems to make sure they are
creating a climate where the kids really feel like they belong to the school, they have an identity in the school. They
need to create a climate where they can find an adult they can connect with. The mentality needs to change from
punishment to mentoring. Connections need to be made.”
As these youngsters balance the tightrope of two cultures, Zha Blong says it is critical that everyone reach out to
them. At the end of the day, it is not about assimilating but about wrapping this culture and their youngsters into the
folds of American society in a way that embraces their cultural heritage, while working to provide the services they
need to succeed.
Hmong families in Wisconsin continue to deal with a myriad of challenges. While those who arrived in the U.S. in
the ‘80s and ‘90s faced the struggles common to many new immigrants — language barriers, finding a job,
acculturation, discrimination, and preserving their heritage — second and third generation Hmong youth face their
own set of challenges. Parents, often more steeped in the traditional Hmong way of life, struggle to guide their
children, who are simultaneously laboring to preserve their own cultural identity while finding harmony in mainstream
society. Few know this struggle, and the complications that arise, better than University of Minnesota Professor Zha
Blong Xiong.
The first Hmong to become a tenured professor at a research university in the U.S., Zha Blong has not only
extensively studied the Hmong struggle in America; he has lived it. Zha Blong grew up in Laos’ largest city, Luang
Prabang. Like so many other Hmong, Zha Blong’s life would drastically change after the Secret War, when the Pathet
Lao took over the Laotian government and began to systematically persecute the Hmong population. Zha Blong’s
father, who fought for the U.S. in the Secret War, was one of those targeted by the communist regime.
In 1975, at the tender age of eight, Zha Blong and his family would flee their home and seek refuge in a rugged
Laotian mountain village. From there, the family was forced to navigate the jungles of Laos in an effort to simply
survive. In the early ‘80s, Zha Blong and some of his family members would make the treacherous trip into Thailand to
seek political asylum. Later, they would reunite with Zha Blong’s father, whom they were earlier separated from, and
eventually relocate to Minnesota in 1982.
Although safe from direct threat, the family now had to deal with a whole new set of challenges. Zha Blong would
labor to learn English and succeed in school. The family would labor to navigate a new culture with a whole new set
of expectations, traditions, and standards.
After graduating from high school, Zha Blong studied at Winona State University to earn a degree in psychology.
While attending college, he worked in the community helping Hmong immigrants settle in Winona. Later, Zha Blong
developed curriculum and programming at the University of Minnesota Extension Service focusing on family-related
issues in recent immigrant populations, particularly Southeast Asian populations. He would go on to pursue a master’s
degree in Family Social Science at the University of Minnesota where he worked with U of M professor Daniel Detzner
to create the curriculum “Helping Youth Succeed: Bicultural Parenting in Southeast Asian Families.” Now a U of M
professor in Family Social Sciences, Zha Blong recently visited the University of Wisconsin-Madison to speak on the
topic of Hmong delinquency.
According to the 2000 U.S. Census, Minnesota has the second largest Hmong population in the nation;
Wisconsin has the third largest. From 1990 to 2000, Minnesota’s Hmong population grew 148 percent.
In Minnesota, Zha Blong says that a growing struggle for Hmong families is the upward number of Hmong youth
engaging in delinquent behavior. He describes these kids as being “caught between two cultures.” While delinquent
activity grows, Zha Blong is looking to find out why. He says there are a number of factors that contribute to this
troubling trend.
“Thirty three percent of Hmong in Minnsota live below the poverty line, which is significant compared to other
population groups,” Zha Blong says. “Hmong live in some of the poorest neighborhoods.”
Zha Blong also says that racial profiling is a problem. “When you have a large number of kids who engage in this
activity, police now narrow in and really target this population.”
A lack of connection with adult figures, both at home and at school, is also a problematic trend that is common
for Hmong youth who are getting into trouble. “A lot of these kids report that they don’t have any relationship with their
teachers. They don’t feel like they belong because teachers don’t relate to them,” Zha Blong said.
This may also be the case at home. “A lot of these Hmong fathers are very busy and have limited family time. When
you don’t have the father figure present in the process of socialization for young boys, it is a problem. You may have
an intact family, but the father is psychologically absent from the family.”
At the end of the day, however, these kids who have been stamped delinquent are still just that -- kids. And there
is a growing number of them. In fact, they could be described as the Hmong baby boomer population. According to
Zha Blong, 49 percent of Hmong in the U.S. are under 19 years old. These youth, he says, need support and mainly
they need to find connections.
“We are missing a significant and important opportunity to reach people, if we miss this,” Zha Blong says. “We
need to work with these young people early on and have quality, accessible early education for these kids. We need
to get parents involved in their children’s education. We need to work with school systems to make sure they are
creating a climate where the kids really feel like they belong to the school, they have an identity in the school. They
need to create a climate where they can find an adult they can connect with. The mentality needs to change from
punishment to mentoring. Connections need to be made.”
As these youngsters balance the tightrope of two cultures, Zha Blong says it is critical that everyone reach out to
them. At the end of the day, it is not about assimilating but about wrapping this culture and their youngsters into the
folds of American society in a way that embraces their cultural heritage, while working to provide the services they
need to succeed.
University of Minnesota
Professor Zha Blong Xiong
Professor Zha Blong Xiong
| Laura Salinger is a freelance writer based in Madison, Wis. |
