Alaska seems to be giving us some great press recently. The Anchorage Daily News has a riveting piece about Tom Lee, the Loussac Library’s circulation clerk. Lee is a Hmong man from Laos who survived a harrowing escape from the Viet Cong in the late ’70s.
Lee is telling his story now in part because he wants to bring public attention to the broader story of the Hmong people. An excerpt:
“The Hmong weren’t at war with anyone until the United States recruited them to join the fight against the Viet Cong. Fierce fighters with no love for communists, they believed a haven awaited them in America. But when the war ended and the Americans left, many Hmong were left behind, to be persecuted and killed.“‘It’s not that we want to blame the Americans for what happened, but I think we should share our story with the world so we learn a lesson,’ Lee said. ‘We can send a message to the political people that if you are at war with someone, don’t leave (allies) behind, because they can really, really suffer.'”
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