Subject: Menomonie peace group cleans up racist graffiti / Rice Lake reconciliation efforts Date: Sun, 5 Dec 2004 20:28:06 -0600 Message-ID: <B14120EE5C432443B21102F7925DAD0201420171@COKE.uwec.edu> From: "Grossman, Zoltan C." <GROSSMZC@uwec.edu>
From: Marion Lang [mailto:marionlang@charter.net]
Sent: Sun 12/5/2004 11:48 AM
To: wispeace
Subject: [WisPeaceInfo] Clean-up Accomplished/ Healing Words Spoken/
The work is done. The trailers are clear of grafitti.
Thanks to Barb Thomas for organizing the crew before hand and on site,
and for the impeccable work done by Hank Thomas , Katie and Robb
Wilson, Debbie Wright, Penelope Michler, Jody Slocum, Mary Riordan, Jo
Rucker, Marion and Warren Lang. Thanks to Jean Biggs for initiating the
project. Thanks to Pao Vang, Hmong American Community Association for
helping pave the way. Thanks to Korgers for the paint donation and
Danielle Adams for requesting the paint donation.
While we were there we met several members of the three Hmong-American
families effected by this unfortunate incident. Everyone was kind
about what happened, non-blaming of the wider community and
appreciative of our efforts.
Before leaving we gathered with one of the residents, Kao Vang, who
videotaped the clean-up process. Another neighbor, a high school
student, translated his moving remarks, with respect, dignity and with
care for every word. Here are some of Kao Vangs remarks:
" We are all as one because we live here in the United states and we
should all love each other.If we followed this we would be stronger as
Asians and Americans together. I am recording this to show that we are
all like family and I want everyone in Wisconsin to see how we all
love each other. From now after seeing all the cooperation, I feel we
are one."
In the days ahead people will be making visits to the families to
continue to show our concern.
After the clean-up we talked about continuing to be involved in the
resolution of this problem. Ideas include contacting the DA, exploring
the possibility of restorative justice. It would be good to read news
accounts carefully and call editors about information that increases
racial tension
and divides the community.
Let me know if you want to be involved in this continuing effort
Marion
marion lang
314 11th Street E
Menomonie, WI 54751
marionlang@charter.net
715.235.5686
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/10336220.htm
Sun, Dec. 05, 2004
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Rice Lake healing quietly
Local leaders poised to thwart racism, but community has been calm after
the storm
BY ALEX FRIEDRICH and KEVIN HARTER
St. Paul Pioneer Press
RICE LAKE, Wis. - An uneasy peace has settled over the forests and towns
around Rice Lake in the two weeks since six deer hunters were killed in
a shooting rampage in the nearby woods.
Exhaustion from the recent string of funerals and visitations has hushed
some of the talk about Chai Soua Vang, the St. Paul man accused of
killing six local hunters and wounding two others Nov. 21.
Local leaders are thankful for the relative calm, but they say
continuing efforts are needed to blunt any racist rhetoric, particularly
as Chai Soua Vang moves through the court system.
Robert Jauch, who represents the area in the Wisconsin Senate, said
clergy and other community leaders must continue to speak out against
any attempt by residents to take out their anger toward Chai Soua Vang
on Hmong people in general.
A group of local ministers and laypeople held a service Tuesday at which
they asked the crowd of about 900 people gathered at Rice Lake High
School to soften their hearts and resist bigotry.
No other similar services are scheduled, ministers say, but they're
ready to hold them if tensions surface.
"I guess the worst thing we could do is pretend it's over," said the
Rev. Gary Anderson, pastor of Bethany Lutheran Church in Rice Lake.
"It's far from that. As the trial unfolds, it'll be followed very
closely, and we need to keep in tune with that. That doesn't mean we'll
do it every Sunday, but we'll keep pace and watch for signs."
What concerns local authorities most is how the community would react if
Chai Soua Vang were acquitted or if the public felt he received a
lighter sentence than he deserved.
Chai Soua Vang, 36, is due in court Dec. 29 for a preliminary hearing.
The next step is arraignment, where he will enter his plea. Motions
could be made at any point for things such as bail reduction and change
of venue, and it is uncertain when a trial might begin.
Jauch said he's "confident the justice system will work," but he said
he's concerned that a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity would
not allow the wounds ever to heal.
"The worst thing, I fear, is if he were found insane, the outcome would
be cruel and unusual punishment for the rest of society," he said. A
successful insanity defense is unlikely, according to prominent Twin
Cities defense attorney Ron Meshbesher, who said such a claim is "very
difficult to prove."
Greg LaFrance, sales director for a manufacturing firm in Rice Lake,
said many people initially assumed a conviction for Chai Soua Vang - who
reportedly admitted to investigators that he shot the hunters - would
come quickly and allow the community to move on.
"Then these high-profile Milwaukee attorneys (the defense team) got
involved, and all of a sudden people are thinking this isn't fair. This
should be a slam dunk - what if they somehow get him off or drag this
out forever?"
With only 8,500 residents, Rice Lake itself has no discernible Hmong
community, and most here are quick to separate the people from the
alleged killer. Hmong representatives from Eau Claire and Menomonie say
they feel fairly safe and are starting community discussions about the
shootings to foster understanding.
On Saturday, about a dozen Menomonie residents gathered to clean up the
graffiti painted on the homes of the three Hmong families. Other
residents say they'll visit them over the coming weeks to make sure they
feel welcome. The efforts involve two local organizations - the Red
Cedar Peace Initiative and the Neighbor to Neighbor program.
"We're all one community," said Barbara Thomas, a Red Cedar member who
helped organize the cleanup. "What happened wasn't right."
Pao Vang, 45, executive director of the Hmong American Community
Association in Menomonie, said he and local leaders recently discussed
the shootings and ways to preserve harmony in the community.
"We're working together as a team," he said. Dunn County, where
Menomonie is located, has 1,287 Hmong residents, according to the 2000
Census.
Joe Bee Xiong, head of the Hmong Mutual Assistance Association in Eau
Claire and president of the umbrella organization for 17 such
associations throughout the state, said he's trying to gather elected
officials "to talk about it so the community can understand the
incident." Eau Claire County has 2,959 Hmong residents.
Hmong leaders in St. Paul - which has the largest Hmong population of
any U.S. city - held a news conference two days after the shootings to
call for calm as well.
Many minority residents around Rice Lake have said they face little if
any discrimination, and no more than they would anywhere else. They
don't like the idea that anyone would paint the town as a backward burg.
Rice Lake has never had a report of a racially motivated hate crime or a
case of racial harassment, according to local police.
Tim Jubie, general manager of Link Brothers Ford and Mercury, where one
of the slain hunters worked and one of the survivors is employed, says
he has tried to nip in the bud any racist rhetoric he has heard.
"There was a guy the other night, talking loud and saying stupid stuff,
and I told him to shut up," Jubie said. "We're not a bunch of bigots up
here, and no one should think we are."
But racially stoked tempers have flared before in this region. In the
late 1980s and early 1990s, white fishermen in northern Wisconsin
clashed with American Indians over the Indians' practice of
spearfishing. The dispute gave birth to signs such as "Save a Walleye.
Spear an Indian."
Rallies to protest Indian treaty rights to spearfishing were held around
the region, including one in Rice Lake in April 1989 that drew 3,000
people.
It's that sort of regional history that has prompted one local
instructor to hope the public sees justice being done in the trial.
If it didn't, "not only would Chai (Soua) Vang become a focus, but the
Hmong as well," said Renee Gralewicz, an ethnic studies instructor at
the Rice Lake campus of the University of Wisconsin. "I can see the
Native American community getting attacked again (or) anyone not
Euro-American being a target."
Three families have already been targeted. A day after the shootings,
police say, a resident of a mobile-home park in Menomonie painted the
word "Killers" across the front of three mobile homes and a truck
belonging to three of his Hmong neighbors.
The suspect, who is white, was arrested in connection with the vandalism
and was expected to face three counts of criminal damage to property.
"It does kind of bother me," said 17-year-old Si Kong, who lives in one
of the mobile homes. Since the vandalism, he said, "I've been up late
watching for him."
Other signs of discontent are noticeable.
Students have said they hear of racial jokes in school. And around Rice
Lake, if there's one word on the lips of people, it's "anger." Anger at
Chai Soua Vang, anger at the killings, anger at increasingly having to
share their fall hunting ritual with outsiders.
"We're being overrun by Hmong," said Harry Kapaun, a Rice Lake hunter.
"They've ruined hunting."
Even a nonhunter, 48-year-old Pat Brantner of Rice Lake, saw
reconciliation as unlikely.
A few days after the shootings, he said, "There can't be any forgiving.
No way. Too many people are dead."
One joke making the rounds is that what ought to be done with Chai Soua
Vang is to "turn him loose on 40 acres" and let the hunters wipe him
out. "You don't know how many times I've heard that," said Iver Cross,
68, a retired sheriff's deputy in Barron.
It is those kinds of feelings that ministers and civic leaders say
they're monitoring. They say they will be ready to intervene if they
feel intolerance might take hold.
Gralewicz, of the University of Wisconsin, said the local leaders have a
good track record. The day after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11,
2001, she said, they were asking instructors to educate the community
about Islam, and the area saw no racial incidents.
"They're very good at pre-empting," she said. "And I think our leaders
would do that again."