“I fought the war not with a rifle, but with my camera and portable type writer,” Jane Hamilton-Merritt, author, journalist, photographer, historian, and activist said in her speech at the Center for the Arts on Oct. 13. Hamilton-Merritt is a two-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee for her extensive work for and with the Hmong people.

Dr. Jane Hamilton-Merritt spoke about what the Hmong people did during the Vietnam War, what happened to the Hmong after the war and what is currently happening to the Hmong people.

Hamilton-Merritt said the Hmong people, who are located in the mountains in Laos, were asked by President Kennedy to help the U.S. not only stop the North Vietnamese but also to fight for their freedom. Gen. Vang Pao, leader of the Hmong army, told Hamilton-Merritt in an interview that he and the Hmong people were excited and honored to fight with U.S., because they thought the U.S. was the best, because the U.S. stopped Nazi Germany and Japan from taking over Europe and Asia.

Hamilton-Merritt then read a short story from her book Tragic Mountains, telling a story from a Hmong soldier about his rescue of two American pilots and that his group started the mission with 100 men and at the end there were only 40 men and the two American pilots.

When the Vietnam War was over, the North Vietnamese and Communist Lao government tried to eliminate the Hmong for helping America. Thousands of Hmong escaped to Thailand for refuge, but the ones that were caught were put into concentration camps and were guinea pigs for new bio-chemical weapons.

Today Hmongs are still being killed in Laos, and there are about 7,000 Hmong people in a refugee detainment camp that may be sent back to Laos. Hamilton-Merritt and her colleagues fight for the Hmong people that are still in refugee camps to be sent to their families that are in countries such as the U.S., France, Australia and Canada.

“People don’t understand that the Hmong have nowhere to go because of the genocide in Laos,” Hamilton-Merritt said. “That is why the Hmong are here.”
Hamilton’s presentation can “help tell the story of the Hmong people, which isn’t well know to people,” Rich Egley, dean of students, said.

Egley wanted to remind students of the importance of attending multicultural events where students can hear stories from many cultures.
Mara Bechwar, a senior computer science major, said she learned a lot from the speech.

“There were a lot of things I never knew before, things I was never taught in school,” Bechwar said. “We learned how the Hmong served American interests during the Vietnam War, and now the United States as a whole isn’t receptive when the Hmong need our help.”