This is a description of our current campaigns.
We encourage the public to write to their political representatives. You can also submit your own letters as an example for others. Click for more information.
We also sell Rebecca Sommer's documentary, Hunted Like Animals. You are encouraged to buy a DVD, show it to a group of their friends/family in their home, and give them the opportunity to sign prewritten letters to their public officials. Click here for more details.
One important aspect to being in a democratic society is the ability to voice ones' opinion and vote for public officials to represent you and address your concerns. Vote for someone you think will do the right thing, someone who cares about the people, and most importantly someone who cares about your issues. So it is our goal to register as many Hmong throughout California as possible. We will be keeping track of how many we register at Registering the Hmong community to vote.
We organize or participate in events to inform the general public, politicians, and reporters about the Hmong hunted in the jungles of Laos. Attendees are encouraged to write to public officials.
For example, we worked with the Sacramento Ad Hoc Hmong Committee to host a screening of the documentary, Hunted Like Animals, on July 16th:. Local residents and Talk 1530AM came to watch the documentary, Hunted Like Animals, and hear filmmaker Rebecca Sommer and Ed Szendrey from Fact Finding Commission. Many thanks to our new friends at the Madison Avenue Baptist Church for allowing us to hold the event at your church.
On Sept. 8, we again support the SAHC for the Hmong American Public Forum in which noted guests such as CA Assemblyman Dave Jones and APAPA founder CC Yin, Ed Szendrey of FFC, among others, spoke to the Hmong community and supporters.
We are excited to support Assemblyman Dave Jones, the first time American government official, from California to endorse the film, "Hunted Like Animals". He also created the Assembly Joint Resolution 36 with Assemblyman Juan Arambula. The resolution urges Congress & the President to act on the human rights violations of the Hmong in Laos & Thailand. We worked hand in hand with organizing the film screening held at the Crest Theater on On October 28th, 2007. Our special guest speakers included, Rebecca Sommer (Film maker of "Hunted Like Animals"), Ed and Georgie Szendrey (Fact Finding Commission), Kue Xiong (Lao Human Rights Council). Alongside Assemblyman Dave Jones, his staff, and other community leaders, we successfully filled the seats in the theater and having to turn away 400 people. Thank you to Wells Fargo for sponsoring the event!
More films screenings will be announced...
For more information on any of these campaigns or to get involved, contact us.
Registering the Hmong Community to vote is the newest addition to our campaigns.
We understand that a lot of the elders in the community have their citizenships, but have not registered to vote. Thanks to ideas given by Dr. Chue Chang and TerFong Yang, we held our first registration of Hmong voters on July 25th's rally in front of Sacramento's Courthouse. In this event we were able to register 55 voters. This will be the beginning of a Hmong-Asylum project that we wish to help continue in the Hmong community.
Thanks to all whom help fill out the forms during the rally!
C.C. Yin, a successful Chinese immigrant and one of the founders of the nonprofit organization, Asian Pacific Islander American Public Affairs Association (APAPA; see: http://apapa.org/) conveyed an important message to the Hmong Americans: "This country is yours", but along with the benefits of citizenship comes the responsibility to be politically aware and VOTE! You have the power to make a difference because you can inform your political representatives and candidates about the issues which concern you and either vote them in or out. "America's a great country; you need to help." Hmong-asylum.org volunteers staffed voter registration tables to encourage people to sign up and to translate as necessary. Before the speeches began, we signed up only about 20 voters, but after the speakers and Mr. Yin's encouraging words, the tables were flooded and we signed up about 100 voters. Almost all of the registrants were first-time voters.
The Hmong American Public Forum was held on September 8th, 2007, sponsored by the Sacramento Ad Hoc Committee, and was attended by nearly 1000 persons.