Hmongs are often a favorite target of KQRSMS

Despite hardships, the Hmong are irrevocably changing the face of Minnesota.

Twenty-five percent of children in the St. Paul School District are Hmong. Some Twin Cities' factories have assembly lines that are up to one-third Hmong. Dozens of Hmong have enrolled at the University of Minnesota; several have earned Ph.D.'s. The state Legislature is appointing citizen organizations to help the Hmong thrive in their new home. The first Hmong elected
official in the United States sits on a Minnesota school board.

The Hmong are also fighting against racism and discrimination. After Barnard's radio comments, community leaders organized. They marched, protested, demanded an apology.

The next week, some of Minnesota's biggest corporations -- Perkins Family Restaurants, U.S. West, Kinko's, Prudential and the mammoth Mall of America --pulled their advertising from Barnard's station, KQRS.

KQRS executives tried to rectify things -- without a public apology. Barnard was not fired, but the station offered to donate money for Hmong college scholarships and to air $150,000 worth of Hmong-community public service announcements.

Hmong leaders said no. Say the word "sorry" or lose more advertising dollars.

On Nov. 5, two days after former pro wrestler Jesse Ventura stunned the nation by becoming Minnesota's governor, the radio station caved.

"KQRS and the morning show staff recognize that comments made on our June 9,
1998, broadcast were insensitive to the Hmong community," Mark Steinmetz, ABC Radio Group president, said on the air. "We apologize for these comments."

Many white locals never understood the uproar. As Campian said, "What did Barnard say that was so bad?"

But for the Hmong, the day someone publicly dared them to assimilate or get out
was a defining moment. "The Hmong experience in Minnesota really is the melding of two
cultures," Yang said. "It has not been seamless and no one would have expected it to
be. But the good news is the Hmong demanded respect and change after Barnard's comments, and that gives our people great hope."

In a local newspaper, a Hmong student at the University of Minnesota described
being treated as "a parasite" by locals. Others spoke of growing up in white
middle America and regularly hearing elementary classmates call them "gook" or
"slant-eyes."
"I grew up in Wisconsin, and every time I heard one of those names it did
something to me," Yang said. "People threw rocks at our windows. People yelled
on the street. It was very painful. Ask yourself: What does that do to a child?"

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Last fall, another 13-year-old Hmong girl made the newspapers. This time she
was the victim. The headlines screamed: "More deaths stun Minnesota Hmong
community: White teens held."

According to a Hennepin County police report, sixth-grader Pa Nhia Lor had met
three young men, Michael S. Medin, 18, Shea C. Holt, 17, and Johnnie L. Rhodes,
17. In a suburban park, the girl was raped, beaten and stabbed. The
girl was then carried to a nearby garage, where she was slowly asphyxiated to
death ,police say. "You look at something like that, and it is hard to not think that it
was a hate crime that was committed against a little girl simply because she
was Hmong," said Ilean Her. "Many people in the Hmong community say that.
They say, `Why else would they hurt her so, torture her so badly, if they did not
hate her for some reason?'

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People like Tom Barnard seem to perpetuate and enjoy such misfortune.