It is very interesting how Councilman Dai Thao took us on an adventure that most of us never expected!
At first, in September 2021, he stated that the Mong Leng term “Moob” is not a standard word. He rallied the community to come together in November 2021 to try to tear down the use of “Moob” on the art stone at Phalen Lake. In December 2021, he tried to fool his fellow councilmembers and other non-Hmong by explaining the meaning of Moob in a very ridiculous way that it is not inclusive of both Mong Leng and Mong Der.
Mong Equality Committee (MEC) finally organized in February 2022 and issued their response to Councilman Dai Thao on their website and at a press conference. In early March 2022, the St. Paul Parks and Recs decided to not change the writing on the art stone, and Councilman Dai Thao attempted to claim the credit. He was called out on his failed attempt to suppress Mong Leng on March 5, 2022 at a press conference held by MEC. On March 9, 2022, he reached out to the MEC wanting to meet to issue a public apology. He led MEC on with various delay tactics and finally said that he no longer wants to meet with MEC at the end of March 2022.
Since Councilman Dai Thao shut the door on MEC, with no other choice, MEC decided to proceed with a demonstration in front of City Hall that was held on 4/12/2022. Now that Councilman Dai Thao is pushed back to a wall, he came back out swinging with claims of having been threatened and a few other outrageous claims of the City of St. Paul having misused funds for MEC to pursue some sort of nation-state formation. He indicated that the FBI and Attorney General’s Office will be requested to investigate.
Wow!
What an adventure! Never thought that one of our very own public officials would do this to our community, but we must accept and acknowledge that our community is not as united as we would like non-Hmong to view us. Deeply rooted within our community is the disease of discrimination and bigotry. We could see these malicious derogatory comments surfacing lately with all of our social media posts.
Dai Thao has no face to come out and publicly apologize to the Hmoob/Moob community so instead of doing the right thing, he dug his own grave by lying once again and saying that he and his family received threats. He has no prove. The only prove he had was a snapshot of someone’s making a threat, but it didn’t say who made them. For all we know he is making a fake email with these threatening words to scare MEC and the Moob/Hmoob community. Everything that he accused MEC, he has no solid evidences but everything that MEC accuse him, they have solid prove/evidences. Let’s see if Dai will continue to sabotage his image or not.
MEC, thank you for defending and raising the status of Mong Leng. You have solid evidences here to prove that both Dai Thao and Kong Sue Xiong along with their supporters were wrong. Your proofs clearly show that what they said, written, and how they betrayed you were all forms of racism and discrimination, and it has nothing to do with the writings on the rocks.
But be warned, though, that this isn’t the first time or will it be the last. Over two decades ago in California, Mong Leng fought a similar battle over the word “Mong”; they requested that the word “Mong” be added to “Hmong” in a state sponsored bill, AB78, to teach Mong history during the Vietnam War and Secret War in Laos. The Hmong group just couldn’t accept this so they changed the title of the bill to “Southeast Asian” and, then, blamed Mong Leng for it.
To Dai Thao and Kong Sue, this is the 21st century and Mong Leng are not going to sit back and take abuses from people like you no longer. We value our diversities and believe it is our strength, not our weakness. Our name and how we spell it isn’t for sale, for your negotiation, for a public vote, or for you to make fun of. Thanks for showing your true color; you ought to be ashamed of yourself!
As a white Hmong, I can never understand why nobody will accept this type of spelling “H/Mong” so it will include both dialects.
Also, Hmong or Mong should be inclusive!
When I see Mong I will not be offended and know I am included, the dialect is just the one I don’t prefer to speak in but it’s easy enough for me to understand. Vice versa for green Hmong, when they see the word Hmong they too will not be offended and can understand they’re included.
Dai is unfit to be a leader. Instead of teaching everyone to unite he tries to create segregation.
His call for FBI investigation will only bite him back. He is a top player in the Yor Health Pyramid Scheme. If he cares so much about what goes on those stones, he should do it right the first time. During a pandemic like this, he sure has lots of money to throw on fixing stones. Not only the Hmong community will kick him out, everyone pays taxes so nobody is happy about him wasting resources to fix these stupid stones. The Green Hmong are not fighting for these freaken stones. He’s the one fighting for these stones, and the one who funded the garden. Green Hmong are only fighting for their existence because of the offensive words he said about them. I, a White Hmong is greatly offended as well. I assume he knows Hmong culture way more than I do. White Hmong only originated from Green Hmong, so Green Hmong are like the parents of White Hmong. You talk shit about Green Hmong, that’s the same as talking shit about White Hmong because we are one. Saying Green Hmong is not inclusive? LMAO! Don’t you dare to call yourself Hmong. Go home already.
Someone please the little clown “Hmong” is not written anywhere in history but “MONG” was in Chinese history text. http://mong.us.com/
Not sure where “Hmong” came from but MONG migrated from China into Laos maybe his “Hmong” are the slaves that carried our Mong grandparent’s stuff when they migrate.
One disagreement on http://mong.us.com/
San Miao is the kingdom/country/place Miao once lived. Miao is the main group, and it has many subgroups. While Mong can be Miao, not all Miao might be Mong because they can be other subgroups. The proof is the language because the similarity is close. Even to this age, a Hmong born American will be able to understand what a Hmong Chinese whose family and ancestors never left China for thousands of years.
Watch Yang Geli speaks in Hmong, also explain what Miao means, the definition is sprout/medicine/plant. Many Hmong got mislead that Miao is a bad name. I think the famous singer Ayouduo can also speak in Hmong but she also knows another Miao dialect that is completely different from White/Green Hmong. That’s why it is said, not all Miao will be Mong/Hmong, but you can say, Mong are definitely Miao.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAISxtKBex0
For Mong vs Hmong, they are not subgroups of each other at all but one and the same. Along the way when migrating, some Mong decided to change dialect to match Thai and Laotian. They rename as White Hmong because they like wearing white skirts. The Green Mong dialect sounds kind of Chinese, Vietnam is close to China and influenced by China for a long time, Hmong Vietnamese’s dialect are also very similar to Chinese. The White Hmong dialect sounds more modern.
I like speaking in White Hmong and I prefer it, and I never got discriminated by any Green Hmong forcing me to speak what was original, so I will never have a face so thick to say Green Hmong dialect should disappear.
I hope everyone will respect each other, don’t discriminate an entire group only because of one bad person.
Dai Thao goes to Saint Paul Hmong Alliance Church in Little Canada, MN; a church founded by Moob leej; I wonder how they feel to have this guy coming to church pretending to love everyone but secretly hate moob leej in his heart.