Do Hmong in Wisconsin feel a community for all?

[theking]

A 'Community for All'? Not So Fast, This Wisconsin County Says

WAUSAU, Wis. A crowd sitting alone in a standing room packed a dull meeting room for the courthouse one recent night, trying to declare a thorny, long-running debate over whether Marathon County should be a community for all.

The lone black member of the county council, Supervisor William Harris, stood up and begged his colleagues who were opposed to the resolution to change their minds.

“I want to feel like I’m part of this community,” he said. ‘This is what many of our residents say. We want to contribute to our community. We want to feel like a part of this community.

But a fellow councilor on Thursday was just as passionate about arguing that recognizing racial differences is itself a form of racism.

“If we choose to isolate and elevate one group of people over another, it’s discrimination,” said Supervisor Craig McEwen, a retired white police officer.

When George Floyd was assassinated in Minneapolis last May, communities and businesses around the world rallied over social justice, diversity and inclusion. But while numerous other communities adopted new policies and issued proclamations to progress, Marathon County residents, with a population of 135,000 who are 91 percent white, could not agree on what to say.

A year later, they still can not.

Finally, the county council’s executive committee rejected the resolution Thursday night by a 6-to-2 vote, which both parties say is worse than never considering it in the first place.

Advocates say that the failure to reach an agreement will serve as a civilian black eye and convey the message of an unwelcome community. Opponents argue that the struggle was a waste of time that makes the country look racist when they say it is not.

“I do not have the same kind of trust or confidence in the community as I used to,” said supervisor Ka Lo, a 39-year-old of Hmong descent, who received death threats while campaigning for the resolution. “I was born and raised here, and I do not recognize the community in which I grew up.”

The story of ‘community for all’ began last summer when a small group of provincial officials began drafting a resolution they hoped would recognize the inequalities of local coloreds. The original title, No Place for Hate, was considered inciting and therefore it was renamed a community for all.

After six revisions and countless hours of negotiation and debate, they came to a document asking the country to ‘bring about racial and ethnic equality in order to promote cross-cultural understanding and to advocate for minority populations.’

For the Black and Hmong people here, the resolution gave them hope that their struggle for inclusion would lead to greater unity. They said the protests that followed the death of Mr. Floyd, gave them the license to reject the daily indignation they suffer.
Yee Leng Xiong, the executive director of the Hmong American Center in Wausau, warned of economic calamity if the board rejected the resolution. (Lauren Justice/The New York Times)

[YAX]

A crowd sitting alone in a standing room packed a dull meeting room for the courthouse one recent night

Next level use of words.

[Dok_Champa]

I don't know why it's so hard to declare a resolution the community is for all.  Per my understanding, a resolution is just a declaration and not a legislation.  I can only speculate the majority wants to keep the community for the majority and not for the minority.  I think next time if the are proposing the resolution again, packed the court house w/ minority until there' s no room and people lined up to speak until there's no more excuses left. 

[Visualmon]

What about the white church goers? Don't they support the resolution along with the local colors?