I respect their work. But the leadership needs guidance. However, it's none of my business to interfere. They give their all and that's how it will be for now.
I do agree that fundraising in this way is probably not warranted. The Mayor and Governor proclaimed this as Sunisa Lee Day. The City and State need to put in money to celebrate it. They should at least contribute so that the Hmong leadership does not seem to be struggling.
I have run conferences and celebrations before, and I know how hard it is. When I was at the Minnesota Historical Society years ago, we coordinated the state's experiential learning programs all over and I learned how tough it was to hold those conferences. But each of our organizations put in a lot of money into it and the students and other participants didn't have to put in any money. The fundraising wasn't an issue. We were just focusing on the activities to make the conferences as great as possible.
Back in the 90s, I was also part of the Asian American Journalists Association and we held a huge 700+ attendees conference in St. Paul with journalists and professional news media owners attending--the Society of Professional Journalists, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, The New York Times, The Washington Posts (hey, I still have its umbrella), etc. These entities and our organization put in money to make this work. Attendees came through their news stations' payments. No fundraising was needed from the community. Those stations had extra funds to give away and wanted to spend to keep their staff.
(I tell you. I don't want to coordinate or run conferences again. That's why I don't go back to resurrect any program that's going to require coordination again, not even that old Hmong TV show I used to run and those papers I used to write for or Hmong organizations.)
To try to take a few dollars from the Hmong community for a professional Olympic Gold Medalist's celebration does show a few things: 1. the community is struggling, 2. Sunisa's image is lowered, 3. the fundraisers may not know how to hold her to the high level she is at, and 4. there is no support from the mainstream community.
I am not part of the celebration committee. But I understand why the Hmong Lee organization may have been spearheading this. Both the state and city want to give us Hmong ownership of this proud event. Our clans then feel the Lee clan should take the lead, because Sunisa is my Lee cousin. It just won't do to let another clan run it.
At least not for the initial celebration, apart from the first parade. I'm sure other clans turn to the Lee clan for this as well and won't feel comfortable spearheading it. In time though, I think the clans should rotate. Again, this is not just a Lee clan event. It is a nationwide event.
If I was to advise, I would suggest the committee team up with mainstream organizations and solicit support from the state and city to make this event as great as possible. If we keep Sunisa's image low the way we have attacked her to our standards, she'll soon lose confidence; her status will also be lowered. Remember that any country is willing to take Sunisa so they could have her image. But they will give her only positive support and praises--whatever her choices in life. We aren't at her level. We must understand that at this time in our history, our Hmong's most professional standard isn't enough to raise Sunisa to her level. Let her take us far and high. Let's not bring her down. Let others join in on the leadership of this event. This is not a Hmong-alone thing. Sunisa's great belongs to all. It's city-wide, statewide, nationwide--international. Let others share the joy and the costs. Connect with the mainstreams and make her image as great as possible for her and others to come.
I hear ya... but this one particular event was sponsored by one of the Lee Org. If you're going to throw a big party to honor her, do so but don't go asking people for donation. It's just embarrassing.. . This is the same as Hmong people going to GoFundMe to seek fund for funeral service for their love one.
Never said I wasn't going to donate... It's just embarrassing. You get 5000 Lees to donate $10 each and you're set. Don't need to go asking for donation from other clan. I've very very positive we have more than 5000 very successful Lee in America that can donate more than $500 each.
