BY MAREA HIMELGRIN
ST. PAUL, Minnesota - More than 500 chanting and cheering
protesters marched from the Lao Family Center to the State
Capitol here August 22 to protest racist remarks directed at
the Hmong community and culture on a June 9 radio broadcast by
the KQRS Morning Show.
The most popular chant along the march route was in Hmong and went "Who are we? Hmong! Who's a racist? KQRS!"
The protest was organized by Community Action Against Racism (CAAR), which was formed two months ago in response to the radio broadcast. The show, which featured local "shock jock" Tom Bernard, made fun of Hmong culture while relating gory details of the case of a 13-year-old Hmong girl in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, accused of killing her newborn son.
In a tape recording of the broadcast played at the rally, Bernard can be heard exclaiming "That's a lot of egg rolls!" after noting that the Hmong teenager faced a fine of $10,000 if convicted on the charge of hiding a corpse. Summing up his views, Bernard told listeners that the Hmong should, "Assimilate or hit the god- road!"
The Hmong, a tribal people who lived as farmers in the hills of Laos, were recruited by the CIA during the Vietnam War. After the victory of the Vietnamese revolution, the Hmong faced persecution in Laos and many fled to refugee camps in Thailand. Thousands eventually came to live in Minnesota, sponsored by religious groups.
KQRS was invited to send a representative to the rally but declined. On the air, Tom Bernard said, "Light it up all you want, have all the rallies you want. You're a bunch of god- liars!"
Since radio station representatives refused to appear at the protest, organizers invited a costumed Tom Bernard character dressed in altered KQRS bumper stickers to speak. He told the crowd to cheers, "It's not really me-it's the big money. I'm just a puppet." KQRS is owned by the Walt Disney Corporation. A popular sign at the rally read "KQRS- Disney's Racist Radio Station."
A poster listed the demands that CARR had sent to KQRS. They included removing "Tak," a recurring parody of an Asian, from the morning show; printed apologies from KQRS; air time for members of the Hmong community; and a written public policy specifying punishments for on-air racial remarks. Station Manager Amy Waggoner rejected all the demands, telling the press she found them "puzzling."
Numerous elected officials and Democratic Party candidates spoke at the rally, including U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone and U.S. Congressman Bruce Vento. Socialist Workers Party candidate for Minnesota Governor, Tom Fiske, told the crowd that he "saluted the magnificent demonstration" and urged people to "continue to rely on our own numbers and solidarity."
The most enthusiastically greeted speakers at the rally were representatives of Black community groups. When Chris Nisan, speaking for the NAACP, told the crowd that he was going to quote from Malcolm X, he was greeted with cheers.
While the protest was multiracial and multigenerational, it was primarily made up of Hmong youth. All the CARR organizers who spoke were in their teens and early 20s. Politics in the Twin Cities Hmong community in the past has often been dominated by right-wing Hmong military officers who fought for Washington in Vietnam.
Marea Himelgrin is a member of the United Steelworkers of America.