Minyuam Hmoob;
Dr. Yang Dao txhais (define) los lus Hmong ua "Free man or Free People" kuj yog zoo. 2016 los yeej tseem tsis tau muaj ib tug Hmoob twg uas tshwm tau ib lub tswv yim thiab define tau los lus Hmoob (Hmong) meej thiab zoo tshaj Dr. Yang Dao lub. Ua li koj ho define lo lus Hmong li cas?
Suav los hu Hmoob uas Miao or Meo, Nyab Laj los hu Hmoob ua Miao, Nplog los hu Hmoob ua Meo, Pub Thawj los hu Hmoob ua Meo. 1980 Maj Gen. Oudone Sananikone sau nws phau ntawv "The Royal Lao Army and U.S. Army Advice and Support" rau US Army Center of Military History mas Gen. Oudone siv los lus Meo Vang Pao thoob nws phau ntawv.
Twb yog vim Dr. Yang Dao yog ib tug Hmoob, nws xav kom luag saib tau tus Hmoob, hu tus Hmoob muaj npe es thaum nws thiaj lo promote lub npe Hmong. Wilburt Garrette, the National Geographic Magazine sau li No:
Meo, Meo, Meo" no more--Hmong means "Free"
Upon returning to Laos in July 1972 from France, Dr. Yang Dao made an immediate impact in his native country. He had earned the respect of his fellow countrymen, improving how the Hmong were being perceived.
As he headed the Human Resource Department of the Ministry of Planning in the Royal Lao Government, his job was to travel throughout Laos to conduct workshops on social and economic development to Chaomuong (Chiefs of Districts) and Chaokhoueng (Governors) of the Kingdom of Laos, where a political agreement had been signed in February 1973 by the Royal Lao Government and the communist Pathet Lao. Known as the Vientiane Accords, this political agreement stipulated a cease-fire between Lao communists and non-communists, and promoted peace and national reconciliation. He also contributed to the building of a national conscience among all Laotian ethnic groups, bounded by the same destiny and called to work together for social justice and for a better future of the country of Laos.
During his travels, he would be tenacious about abolishing the derogatory term "Meo"--a word that up until 1973 had been ubiquitously used in text books, journalistic reports, government documents and general usage to describe the Hmong.
Wilburt Garrett (also known as Garrett, W.E.) would write in his memoirs on the significance of his meeting with Dr. Yang Dao while researching for the monumental article, "The Hmong of Laos: No Place To Run" (National Geographic Magazine, January 1974).
Dr. Yang Dao had insisted that the terms 'Meo' and 'Miao' were both unacceptable, explaining to Garrett that his people had always called themselves by the name 'Hmong', which Dr. Yang Dao defined as meaning "free men."
"I promised Yang Dao I would [use the term Hmong]," Garrett wrote. "It's a small enough courtesy to pay this proud and independent people hounded by a devastating war."
This brief encounter and the release of Garrett's article in National Geographic would prove to be a colossal step forward for the Hmong who would forever be known to the world by their 'real' name. Scholars and journalists alike would take immediate action, ceasing to use the derogatory terms 'Meo' and 'Miao' in books, lectures and articles thereafter.
While the actual meaning of the word 'Hmong' would continue to be debated, the definition that Dr. Yang Dao gave to Garrett would become commonly accepted. Thus, as Dr. Yang Dao willed it in 1973, the Hmong would become a free people.