Hmong Men (Original Spoken Word Piece)

I have not done this piece in a year and recited it at the top of my head so please forgive! I wrote it from my prosepective reflecting upon my having to live with two worlds of the traditional and modern world. I'm pondering not just about Hmong men, but the culture itself and Hmong women in a traditional setting.

PLEASE READ EVERYTHING CAREFULLY BEFORE YOU COMMENT: I cannot stress enough that I am NOT smack talking Hmong men. When I was young, I started writing this piece and at that time I did start out smack talking them, but in the process of writing and completing this monologue, I realized it's not them that I should go against and hate, but the traditional values in the culture that trained them hence in the monologue I state, "Maybe it's not these Hmong men I hate..maybe it's this enslaving, women stepping, discriminating culture that I hate."
I believe both Hmong men and women should work together to go against these issues, and by that I don't mean hating on the Hmong men who are causing harm. I think we should help them realize the traditional values that still exists today in our Hmong community. This is me smack talking the traditions still ingrained in our culture and I'm expressing this through the art form of spoken word poetry.


Hmong Men
By Mai Thao Xiong

The amount of effort that it will take
For me to sum up all of my hate
Will take very little effort when it comes down to Hmong men

Grabbing hair, voices fill the air,
Phone in ear whispering secrets to girls my sister doesn't know about

Happily buying flowers for wives when Valentine's in sight
But when it's time to fight, my toys turn to knives
and candy turns into bribes to keep information buried

All this is what I recall about a Hmong man
But why can't I recall the Hmong men who fought
Why do I despise these men so much my ethnic counterpart
The ones who come from the same tribes, the same village, the same side
Why so discriminative that I will discharge an entire group of males
Most of whom I've never even met before

Can I not recall that they too were alone in the dark?
Tying twine ropes onto their shoulders,
Dragging their familes across that river,
Working hard labor
Just to put food on the table

Maybe it's not these Hmong men I hate
Maybe it's this
Enslaving, women stepping, discriminating culture that we have
This culture that makes women cry to their parents and then go back
And their children are unable to relax because they are stuck in between these two worlds
One where the modern tells them to fight for women's rights and the tradition that tells them to silence
For men are right

This culture so ingrained in our brains it makes our minds and actions seem like they are trained
and I am stuck in between these two worlds
And I don't know whether to step over these men and fight for our women or to just leave and forget about this
But no matter which path I choose, I realize I will only be hindered by a Hmong man

Category:

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Tags:

• hmong
• men
• spoken
• word
• poetry
• poem
• mai
• thao
• xiong
• english

[UntouchableMoments]

That wad good, but kind of harsh. I get your point about hmong men, but not everybody today is like that anymore. It's just usually the older hmong men only from my experience.

[maithaoxiong]

@UntouchableMoments Very understandable! I think I should have been more specific with the title.. thanks for watching! :DD

[Xlee9898]

where you from mai? your english is so fluent like your from the suburban. just wondering.

[maithaoxiong]

@Xlee9898 No I'm not from the suburban lol actually from the East Side of St. Paul :)

[KaMoobtianMUSIZ]

I do like your spoken word piece Mai..deep stuff :)..Imma say this..let me know if im correct or not.It is not Hmong men that u hate it is the Patriarchal system in our society..but because it is heavily ingrained into the Hmong culture that Men are dominated and women are not.there are a lot of things in our culture that dislike..yet there are so much that empowers us as well..I enjoy how you look at the history too..I give u mad props..check out my vid too its more about masculinity

[maithaoxiong]

@KaMoobtianMUSIZ Thank you so much! Yes that is a good way to explain this and thank you for understanding :)) I'll check out your stuff!

[VAWAhorrors]

1. Give Women Voting Rights

2. Give Women Equal Rights

3. Give Women Extra Rights

4. Give Women Extra Protection... from Men

5. Hear only Women and Ignore Men

6. Believe Women only and Treat men as Perpetrators

7. Let Women Falsely Accuse Men without Consequences

8. Encourage Women to be Helpless Victims and to think of All Men as Rapists

9. Encourage False Accusations by Women (VAWA) and Punish Innocent Men

10. ...Watch Women Destroy Men, the Family and Society !!!

[lunarman07]

Im a hmong men lol i do agree we need to change n there r a lot of f up hmong ppl too