Why Hmong Don’t Want To Be East Asian

Why Hmong Don’t Want To Be East Asian

in viral news the American census has categorized M people as East Asian but a lot of M Americans disagree with that let’s delve into this yeah let’s run the clip M call for racial reclassification in the US Census for the first time in 27 years the US government updated its categorization of race and ethnicity in March to more accurately reflect the population while this recategorization has been widely celebrated in the aanhpi community it has also created tension among excluded groups like The mung the US Census Bureau categorized M as East Asian after the 2020 census this change itself has been criticized since a group was persecuted in China as an ethnic minority before they mostly migrated to South East Asian countries as a result many M feel that they should be reclassified as Southeast Asian the East Asian classification also races concerns about hiding socioeconomic disparities between M and other Asian households m households have a per capita income of $26,000 according to the 2020 American Community survey and other Asian households have a per capita income of $53,000 by classifying M as East Asians many are concerned that the socioeconomic disparity will be dismissed and overlooked the Census Bureau is reportedly working with the m Community to improve their classification M people live in the mountains of Southeast Asia their culture is very different from others and has been around for hundreds of years though Mong came from China and traveled through mountains forests and rivers on a fantastic trip that shaped their culture language and way of life such as their past traditions and art and how hard it is for them to keep their identity in a world that is changing so quickly the Hong have roots in old China where they lived in the mountainous Southern China for thousands of years however the Hong were persecuted and there was political instability so large groups of them left and settled in place like La Vietnam Thailand and Myanmar in Southeast Asia people from the Hong tribe now live in Western countries like the US France and Australia boom listen people are talking about this on the internet on Reddit groups urge census to reclassify Mong people as Southeast Asian not East Asian and we are going to talk about why the government got confused what can be done to change it because Andrew guess what the census was taken in 2020 the next one’s not till 2030 people want to change it but the US government’s like uh guys are bad but I don’t know if I can really shift it in the middle right all right so guys we got a lot to cover so please hit that like button check out other episodes of the hot poop boys hit the super thanks if you enjoy these videos um basically so long story short I’m just going to give you my answer and my opinion I think that M Americans should be classified as Southeast Asian if the majority of them identify as that that makes sense and obviously knowing M People it is close it feels close to Southeast Asian culture and the experience in America correct right right for sure so but but David the US Census we just want to talk about why they why the US Census classified them as East Asia right basically they said based on a stakeholder feedback and guided by the original people’s language and the standards set by the US Office of Management and budget in 1997 we categorize Mong people for the very first time they even had a Mong category in the East Asian zone They Bas it because Mong is considered a Sino Tibetan language historically so you’re saying they’re basing it more on the language family yeah yeah yeah so basically they didn’t consult a lot of people they I could see how the US government got it mixed up and now they’re kind of like yeah our bad we’ll change it for 2030 but I don’t know if I could change it right now but cak has said that ultimately the East Asian classification is in congruous with the history and identity of Mong Americans so this is what a Southeast Asian uh activist group has said right right and OB I mean you know just a quick ancient history the reason why also so uh the Mong language is considered a Sino Tibetan language meaning that it’s kind of what does Sino Tibetan mean is like it’s just a language family that includes like all most Chinese or Han Chinese languages as well as Tibetan right right not saying Mong is a Chinese language by the way but what I mean is that M People ancient from ancient times thousands of years ago were from Central or northern China right but over time and most recently in the past couple hundred years they got pushed down south to Southern China and then you know CU oh no no they were in southern China for a thousand years right sorry they were in southern China for for a long time they were probably from Mongolia 3,000 years ago right and then most recently last couple hundred years they migrated to Southeast Asian countries to preserve their culture and their most recently have been in La Thailand and Vietnam so you anywhere from like 150 to like 500 years right and there are some mong people AKA meow people in China is what they call them ethnically uh CH uh M people that are in China still right right in the unan region but they are considered ethnic minority by the way though I did do some research Andrew the one city that has the largest Mong population in La is called L prang and that’s where you can get all the deep cut Mong Foods right now I’m going to go into the reasons of why M people in America don’t identify as East Asian and there’s multiple reasons for this but first I want to play some David Yang who is a m artist in Minnesota cuz he has some really cool songs out for [Music] [Music] boom I mean yo honestly I think the mang language sounds pretty nice and I got to tell you David Yang is underrated I mean I know he I don’t think he does as much English songs anymore but that man is a beast beast uh anyways guys Point number one and we’re just going to go through these quickly because I think it kind of makes sense to people where like most parents and families that are among in America are from Southeast Asian countries and they’ve been there for some time at least multiple Generations right you referring to La number one I believe Vietnam Thailand but uh the D Mong diaspora around southeast Asia is sprinkled everywhere right yeah and you can see it from these maps and stuff and uh also culturally I think kind of even foodwise and just culture-wise they just kind of more identify with the Southeast Asian Community obviously most M people that I know they grew up around other Southeast Asians as well it was a refugee experience post uh all the wars in Indochina right yeah I think uh some M people uh fought on the side of the Americans against in the Vietnam War do you think that the US government should have consulted them more considering that the reason a lot of Mong people were able to come to America was because they went on the side of the US in multiple Wars yeah yeah that would mean like yeah you should have asked somebody yeah just I think you should have asked like some of the community leaders I guess you know like uh Point number two uh obviously you know among people historically they did get pushed down by by Han Chinese people at the time you know and so of course that’s in their history and they a lot of M people know that so it’s kind of like well if the you know the Han Chinese push us out then why why identify with that yeah no for sure I mean there was a lot of uh movement in ancient times in a lot of ways and who knows maybe I don’t know if the Mongolians pushed out out out of that the steps into Southern China IND right uh I would say even like M people in China which are the meow people as we mentioned they are considered a minority group in China so if if you’re M from China though maybe they those m from China might identify n nationality wise as Chinese but the MS who made it to America that are from Southeast Asia they’re more removed from China yeah I mean I think that they would have a optionality and I don’t think that these like categories of East Asian Southeast Asian these are just like American categories they don’t fully make sense because if you go to Bangkok Thailand there’s a ton of people there who might be like 100% Chinese blood but they’ve been in Thailand for like 200 years 300 years they only speak Thai you know like what do they check like so when like for example Chinese Thai or Chinese Malaysian people or of Chinese descent Malaysians come to America they might still mark down that they’re just Malaysian on the census they’re not going to write down oh I am of Chinese blood but I am Malaysian this is actually really complicated because right now Andrew Brazil they do not get classified as Latino because they speak Portuguese Haitians do not get classified as Latino because they are mostly black looking right um U Middle Eastern People are classified as white but you could be black you could be any racist theoretically from the Middle East and then Armenians because they’re Christian they classify as white even though they’re put under Middle East so basically the US Census did has a bunch of complexities right it’s a getting complicated mind it’s getting complicated I mean Andre can you imagine there’s some like 80 year-old white guy who’s been working at the US Census he goes you know it was way easier in 1965 now I’m getting real confused guys I feel I’m trying my best but I’m getting it wrong yeah I mean the last reason is that a lot of M Community leaders feel that M people being classified as East Asian is not going to help the group because uh it’s going to like they’re going to get clumped in with the East Asians that are considered to have higher income and all this stuff and that’s not the experience of among people so then they’re not going to get possibly the budgeting help if there is any of that for uh more underrepresented groups for sure for sure it’s totally logical and um it’s interesting because man East Asian has almost become I almost want to has it become like a an experience identity because if you just base things off blood Quantum or 23 Aman Hao groups then different people like like I said what’s a Tha Chinese guy or a Chinese Malaysian G to get CL you know what I’m saying and then like M they’re living in Southeast Asia living in Southeast Asian American experience but then if they’re like tracing Hao groups back to Northern China 3,000 years ago then it’s like super complicated yeah and also I do think a lot of people associate the word East Asian with essentially either Chinese or Han Chinese or like Japanese and Korean so you talk about valerant Boba K-pop but but actually it’s funny cuz I don’t know if East Asian only means those three countries you know I mean because Mongolian is technically they look some Mongolians look even more Asian than everybody to be honest because they got the Siberian look but their income stats are not like you know not with the valer like you can’t go up to a a Mongolian guy be like you nerd that plays valerant and eats Bo drinks Boba he probably wrestle you be like no I’m just kidding that’s that’s that’s the Mongolian uh throat uh singing But what I mean is that yeah like would Mongolians be Northern Asians then because you know how you have South Asians which are you know the brown Indians and then you have Southeast Asians and you got North Indians but you have listen man I got a full breakdown I’m just pop up the chart right here this is the confusing thing about Asians but people also identify like experiences with these different levels there’s Siberian Asians there’s East Asians there’s taai and then there’s austronesian and interestingly enough Mong to be honest from what I did my research they’re like a mixture of all four wow that’s why it’s complicated but people like I mean a lot of people are like two of them like we’re two of them right right you know what I mean like yeah we we did a DNA test we’re like one 2% M yeah we’re we’re like one or two% Southeast Asian you know what I mean so it’s like I guess um anyway let’s just get take a look at the comments section Andrew a lot of people are talking about recent historical context basically saying like how can if most people care about what happened in the last like 100 to 200 to 300 years of the world don’t we shouldn’t we go off that versus what happened 3,000 years ago yeah know makes sense I I mean listen I think the last 200 years is more defining of probably your experience and your identity you mean of modern Global Society than 2,000 years ago yeah yeah because the world sort of like took modern shape in the past couple hundred years right um of course somebody said well what about Meo people from China what if they want to identify one way or and then somebody else said dude this is just America trying to categorize people who cares people should just identify with whatever they identifi with right um and then uh yeah so most people I would say the consensus David most mang Americans that I’ve seen most opinions are saying hey we are more Southeast Asian sure we have some East Asian Bloodlines from way back but we essentially identify as Southeast Asian which to me is not weird because I’m Chinese and I know the Chinese diaspora like there’s chinese vietnamese people who are either part Chinese in part Vietnamese or they’re ethnically Chinese but grew up in Vietnam and their parents are from Vietnam so they identify more as Vietnamese and that’s okay yeah we have friends that are from the Philippines that are like they’re I guess Chinese or they’re like 80% Chinese they’ve been there for like 300 years I don’t know yeah what are they like yeah uh so but there is the other opinion that people are like hey I feel both because my great-grandparents are actually from China uh plus M People originated from uh China but my parents were from LA and Thailand so I guess maybe it depends on how closely you feel to China but honestly guys at the end of the day in a way I feel like nationality the borders cut off more abruptly than even East Asian and Southeast Asian because Southeast Asian is not necessarily a country line I feel like that’s more of an identity group versus like China if you’re not from China you can’t say you’re Chinese right there was something like that you know whatever you’re not from people have Associated certain like outcomes or like experiences with certain looks right right right and then there’s also just people there’s some people but not a lot people who saying like yo we’re East Asian yes we uh e Southeast Asian food and enjoy Southeast Asian music but a large portion of us still participate in Mong culture which is distinctively East Asian that’s a different perspective too some people draw a link between some of the uh I guess the tribal patterns and Mongolian patterns cuz it’s way from back in the day I’ll say this man if you eat papaya salad that’s Southeast Asian to me yeah dude if you eat fermented fish sauce and like you make it sweet like kind of like a Nook mom Vibe if that that’s pretty Southeast Asian and people deserve to identify I don’t know it’s like I don’t want I almost said people could identify I just I see where the US Census got it wrong but they needed to give that group more Nuance no you know what I’ll say this shout out to the US Census for H categorizing among people and and putting them on the map right like even seeing them they needed that to have a box right now it’s time to make adjustments and just make adjustments you know and if you’re just a are you if you’re a particularly Mongolian looking Mong person do you click East Asian and then if you are more Southeast you mean you just go off out I mean yo some M see it’s funny cuz some mong people’s names the way they’re spelled in English are is like Chinese like Yang which is but but it’s that’s just the English spelling I know but I’m saying isn’t it like and I’m let’s just take it out of this m East Asian Southeast Asian debate right now what about like somebody from the Middle East that happens to look white do they click white especially if they look white and then they’re a Christian Middle Eastern person but then the second if they’re Muslim then they click middle you what I’m saying like there’s so much like of this like it’s so complicated no I mean but that’s like that the same goes to mixed people like mixed ethnic people like what do they mark down they can mark down both all right so what I’m saying when I got to Brazilians guys I just threw my whole book in the air and ripped up uh my one of my takeaways is that I think it’s interesting that East Asian into a lot of people’s minds the word East Asian equates Chinese or Japanese or Korean now I think top six top six yeah that East Asian doesn’t necessarily mean that but just identify with what you want at the end of the day like this is not the biggest deal like I’m not saying that M people shouldn’t have the they should get to choose so that’s why I just let them choose if 80% among people feel Southeast Asian that’s that’s how they feel what do you think about like the US the US being like I’m not changing until 2030 guys right well maybe they already printed the census papers and they’re like guys it’s going to cost about $500 more thousand to reprint these things so uh we’re kind of low on budget CU we got all this other money tied up places whatever change it now or later they need to they should change it they should change it for the next one if they can’t do it this one you know what I mean so I think that I think the M Community has spoken and I think that it’s fair um and I also think that at the end of the day listen if you’re a among person who identifies more as East Asian and you have more ties to East Asia however you identify with that cool too then you can be East Asian so be but but you know most of the experience here is that people are southeast Asia and they came from Southeast Asian countries for sure for sure anyway guys let us know what you think in the comments section below interesting discussion uh definitely a discussion that it’s like probably pretty rare to have uh let us know until next time with the hot pop boys we out peace I’m playing some more David Yang bangers [Music] [Music]

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