It is difficult for Sameth Mell to talk about his family and past on a warm Saturday morning in White Center, Seattle. Memories highlighted by poverty, loss, grief, and rage cloud his mind; he struggles to piece together his past. He stops his recollection short, choked by tears and anguish.
Sameth is an Asian American who has lived in the greater Seattle area since he was three years old. Asians in America are commonly stereotyped as economically successful, very educated and socially mobile, but Sameth’s experience defies the stereotype. He is a refugee from Southeast Asia who grew up poor in the United States.
Sameth was born in a refugee camp soon after his mother witnessed her entire family being executed by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. Altogether, Sameth's mother had nine children - 4 passed away from malnutrition. His father passed away from leukemia when he was just a baby. After years of loss, he and his family were finally able to escape to the United States in 1985 - a single mother, and many children, with little stopgaps in place for support.
Upon arrival, Sameth and his family was placed by housing services in a cramped one-bedroom apartment in Tukwila, Washington. Eventually they moved to a slightly less cramped three-bedroom apartment in High Point, a housing project by the Seattle Housing Authority, where Sameth spent most of his childhood. The number of family members residing in this second apartment shifted occasionally but at the highest point, eight people lived there all together.
The Mell family story of struggle and poverty is perhaps not what most Americans think of when they hear “Asian American.” The typical perception is one of great wealth and success, characterized by owning many properties, going to great schools, and attaining great financial sucess.
Mell is a part of just one of many Asian-American subgroups that suffer from extreme poverty. Among them, the Hmong are perhaps the most impoverished.
Many Hmong-Americans came to the states around the same time as Sameth did; many were held in Thailand-based refugee camps and eventually immigrated to the United States. They are known for having strong familial ties. A necklace is placed on a newborn's neck before the umbilical cord is cut to protect the infant from ill health. 3 days after birth, an elder man or woman will conduct a ceremony to call the child's soul into the body. Direct praises and compliments are frowned upon, believing that such praise will attract bad spirits to take the child away. Animism (the belief that spirits inhabit the world) is commonly practiced.
Traditionally, no beverages are served at family meals; instead, a vegetable soup (zaub tsuag) with no salt, oil, or spice serves as the main beverage. Wine is consumed on special occasions such as weddings or holidays. During a wedding, a drink is offered every time a new conversation takes place between the bride and groom's respective family.
One of the most important communal celebrations occurs after the harvest season, or the end of the twelfth lunar calendar month. It is a time for the Hmong to serve their favorite dishes, wear traditional clothes, and take a break from work. At a typical Hmong New Year festival, one can typically see traditional music being played with hand-crafted'khaen' bamboo pies, watch bull fights, or participate in other entertainment like gambling.
A common theme throughout the celebration and in Hmong literature is the description of an orphan who overcomes harassment through hard work and eventually becomes a leader.
Hmong-Americans can be found all over America, but are most prominently located in California, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. While California boasts the largest Asian-American population in the states, Wisconsin and Minnesota tend to be seen as a surprise.
Historically, when the Hmong came to America, the State Department gave a resettlement contract to volunteer organizations -- many such organizations happened to be in the Twin Cities. After the initial Hmong families were placed in the Minnesota/Wisconsin region, many friends and relatives followed suit.
While it is common in the states to group entire races together when it comes to demographic purposes, the Hmong are culturally distinct from other Asian-Americans. They follow a different population distribution, have their own celebrations and customs,and have long been a group that has been oppressed and abused throughout history. They have no country to call their own, and have historically been targets of ethnic genocide.
While it is indeed true that Asian-Americans tend to fare better as a whole, individual subgroups within the Asian-American community may not be faring nearly as well. In fact, the economic characteristics of Hmong-Americans are much closer to groups such as Native Americans or African-Americans than they do Chinese-Americans. The following set of graphs hopes to have you, the reader draw your guesses on some characteristics of Hmong-Americans to see the disconnect.
Click on the graph below to estimate the average salaries of Hmong-Americans and see how close you were to reality.
Although Asian-Americans have perceptions of attaining great wealth (which is true to some extent), Hmong-Americans deviate significantly from this preconceived idea. While the average household salary for an American is $57617, the average income for a Hmong-American is only $48000. Their earning characteristics are very similar to that of Hispanics/Latinos at $46882.
Click on the graph below to estimate the poverty rate of Hmong-Americans and see how close you were to reality.
Poverty rate has been decreasing in recent years, and was an average of 11.8% in 2017. Asian-Americans did indeed tend to have lower rates of poverty, but Hmong-Americans had incredible rates of poverty. In fact, if they were their own ethnic group, they'd rank first in poverty by a considerable margin. The Hmong's poverty rate is at a staggering 37.8%.
Click on the graph below to estimate the higher-education attainment rate of Hmong-Americans and see how close you were to reality.
College education is a rarity for the Hmong. While Asians are stereotypically well-educated (and while they are the most educated by a large margin), the Hmong are not and are considerably below average when it comes to the rate at receiving a upper-education degree. The average across all Americans is 31%, but the Hmong achieve a Bachelor's degree or higher at just 18%.
Click on the graph below to estimate the higher-education attainment rate of Hmong-Americans and see how close you were to reality.
Although unemployment rate is generally low in the states, Hmong-Americans suffer a disproportinate amount of unemployment. The typical American has an unemployment rate of just 4.9%, but the Hmong double that and have an unemployment rate of 10%.
While it is apparent that Asians and Caucasians often attend and graduate college, the educational characteristics of Hmong-Americans are much more similar to that of African Americans, Native Americans, and Hispanics. Many do not graduate college, and most only have a high school degree. There are more high school dropouts than there are those with a bachelor's degree.
Yet many programs and efforts are not made for Hmong-Americans. More often than not, they are discriminated against because they still count as "Asian" in demographics. It is likely that the public does not even know subgroups like the Hmong even exist; when people hear "Asian" the more common association is with wealth and education.
The differences between Asian Americans and Hmong Americans run deep. Upon closer inspection, the two groups look completely incomparable. To group the 2 together is an act of ignorance that leaves Hmong Americans behind with no government or societal support.
To most Americans, the difference between Hmong Americans and other Asian Americans groups do not exist, yet their cultural and economic differences can be as massive as any other comparison, the only similarity being that their skin color is similar.
Consider the right, where each square represents 1% of the population of a group.
Only 10% of Asian-Americans will experience poverty in their childhood. This number is substantially lower than the national average (21%).
For an even more extreme frame of reference, the household income of Indian-Americans is $120000.
Contrarily, a whopping 40% of Hmong-Americans will experience poverty as a child. This is nearly double the rate of the average American.
An astounding 55% of Asian-Americans will graduate from college with a bachelor's degree.
Another 21% will go on to graduate with a postgraduate degree.
On the other hand, only 18% of Hmong-Americans will go on to graduate from college.
Of those who do obtain a bachelor's, only 3% will go on to get a postgraduate degree.
Compare this to the amount of Asian-Americans who graduate from college and it is apparent that the two groups are not at all similar.
This is the proportion of Hmong-Americans in poverty under the age of 18.
Contrast that with the proportion of Asian-Americans in poverty under the age of 18.
This is the proportion of Hmong-Americans in poverty from 18-64.
In contrast to Asian-Americans.
And finally, the proportion of Hmong-Americans in poverty over 65+.
And for the Asian-Americans.
The result is obvious - the two groups are almost entirely different. Hmong-Americans suffer from higher rates of poverty, dropouts, mental illness, suicide, incarceration, etc.
Many Hmong-Americans did not come to this country as upper-middle class white collar workers; most came as refugees from a war-torn country.
Hmong-Americans are only 1 of many hidden Asian groups who suffer from extreme levels of poverty. The reality is that most people are entirely unaware that there are entire communities of Asian-Americans who do not fit any of the "traditional stereotypes." These groups do not come from a place of privilege, nor do they conform to the traditional path of higher education.
To treat these groups as homogenous would be to not only destroy the distinct culture that they possess, but would also look to ignore many of the struggles and atrocities these groups had to endure to come to the states.