Lee Pao Xiong, a scholar specializing in Hmong studies, laid out several intricately embroidered tapestries on a conference table. He highlighted small yellow embroidered details symbolizing substances falling from helicopters and planes. Below, figures in traditional Hmong attire are depicted fleeing in various directions.
“These represent the use of a chemical agent by Communist forces against the Hmong people,” explained Xiong, founding director of the Center for Hmong Studies and its affiliated research museum at Concordia University in St. Paul. The imagery refers to allegations that yellow rain was dropped from aircraft, a claim held by the U.S. government and many Hmong survivors. The tapestries also portray the violence against refugees attempting to escape.
Xiong displayed a series of story cloths—traditional Hmong textiles known as paj ntaub. While many showcase vibrant scenes of rural life and weddings, some serve as poignant memorials of the Secret War in Laos during the 1960s and 1970s, when the C.I.A. enlisted Hmong fighters against Communist forces.
Originating in refugee camps in Thailand during the 1970s and 1980s, these story cloths were crafted to preserve family histories and provide income after the Hmong fled Laos following the Communist takeover in 1975. Xiong himself was raised in Long Tieng, a C.I.A. airbase in Laos, before escaping with his family to a refugee camp that same year.
Marking the 50th anniversary of the war and subsequent Hmong resettlement, these story cloths are displayed in homes, markets, and museums throughout the Twin Cities. Key locations include the Center for Hmong Studies and the nearby Hmong Archives and Cultural Center Museum, situated in the neighborhood known as Little Mekong—named after the river crossed by more than 130,000 Hmong refugees escaping Laos for Thailand.
