Thread by @thaoworra

I sometimes wonder about what it means for Lao and Hmong American writers to aspire to prominent US writing programs given the relationship of the CIA to the Secret War in Laos that pushed us into diaspora.

openculture.com/2018/12/cia-he…

An earlier article on the subject, but I find it noticeable that we don't really see to many of us trying to find a way to evaluate and critique the issue this creates for us, and the prose and poetry many were herded towards. vice.com/en/article/4x3…

The question of course would also apply to Hollywood approaches to covering the Secret War in film someday.

theatlantic.com/entertainment/…

I don't think there's an easy answer. Lao & Hmong writers already face such an uphill battle being encouraged to follow a literary path in diaspora with few of the 270,000+ of us even close to a full career as writers. So we have to "take" what we can get, reach for "anything"?

How can we ask the emerging body of writers to interrogate whether or not a given institution is supported by other bodies that might later weaponize our work against our former homeland or in some other interest. The few who are daring to write already often just want to create.

Close to 50 years in the US, it is difficult to find Lao & Hmong writers who will risk being seen as an "ungrateful refugee" and challenge the serious violation of international law, even when they're citizens (or even, because they ARE citizens.)

I worry under constructs of toxic capitalism, some writers may be afraid of losing a tenure track, a book deal, a streaming series or just an invite to a fancy dinner. Yet the critical voices are necessary in order to fully exercise our freedom of speech while we still have it

As someone who's lived more of my life in the US than in Laos, I can see the good in America even as we have the responsibility to engage with its problems openly and fairly. I get it, artists have to eat, but our true work isn't about making $$$ but culture shift.

As artists in diaspora, the best part of our journey, our best work will come from what we make without eyeing "profits" measured in American dollars or our ability to hustle til burnout to the amusement of institutions too myopic to appreciate what we REALLY bring to the table.