The hunter murders, the Hmong, and a stronger Northwoods

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel today looks into the cultural differences that separate the Hmong and the white hunting communities in Northern and Central Wisconsin. It's an excellent article which illustrates why conflicts occur between the two groups. It was the final lines of the article that brought to mind a little recent history:

Meanwhile, Hmong leaders in Eau Claire, Milwaukee and Minneapolis-St. Paul have begun talks on educating Hmong and longtime Wisconsin hunters on each other's cultures.

"This is something that we all should take a look at," said Joe Bee Xiong, of the friendship association in Eau Claire.

The topic it brought to my mind was Chippewa spear fishing. The Chippewa are a prominent if invisible minority in Northern Wisconsin. Beginning in the 1970's, the Chippewa bands in Northern Wisconsin began their fight for the right to spear fish in what is called the ceded territories, which is roughly the area north of Highway 29. By the 1980's they had won the right to spear fish in the courts, and when they began to practice their rights in the late 80's, all hell broke loose. A lot of walleye fishermen and resort owners were very, very upset that the Chippewa would be spearing walleye, period, but even more upset that it was being done during the spawn. For many years, the boat landings on lakes the Chippewa speared were very, very ugly places to be. This was mostly because the protestors understood neither why the Chippewa had this right, nor that they had a common interest with the Chippewa in conserving resources. For 6 years or so, the spring nights turned ugly, and Wisconsin was fortunate no one was killed. Then things seemed to calm down, almost inexplicably.

The protestors, in my opinion, never really came to understand why the Chippewa had these rights. What they did come to see was that they and the Chippewa had a common interest in ending the ugly protests and also in conserving resources. The court rulings ended up giving the Chippewa some influence in conserving the waterways of Northern Wisconsin, and their muscle proved invaluable in halting copper mines which could have harmed water quality as well as native fish species.

What does this have to do with the Hmong and white communities in Northern/Central Wisconsin? The Hmong community is a large and significant minority in the North, and also very visible. They have only begun to melt into the larger communities in which they live, however. Hmongs tend to live in very homogeneous neighborhoods. The larger communities as a whole do not really understand the Hmong communities yet, and the Hmong communities do not fully understand the white communities, either. Language barriers are part of the problem. Limited interaction is another. What occurred last week in Sawyer County is a terrible tragedy, and Vang should be held fully accountable for his actions, regardless of whether or not the hunters hurled racial taunts at him. If there is any silver lining to this cloud, it is that the white and Hmong communities now have a point of contact for communication and improved understanding: Hunting. With any luck, outdoors organizations in Wisconsin will develop programs which will further this communication. This interaction should be a good starting point for understanding between the two communities, and also mutual acceptance. It is a process that will have its hiccups, but which should create a stronger Northwoods as the talents of individual Hmong find a larger and larger role in the community.