this is a very exciting day for  it's wonderful to see so many hmong families here both old and young and i think they you know the significance of the exhibit is that you know it also tell us they are all community this celebration is not just a moment celebration but a wee minnesota celebration martha martha martha the forty three year my people the monk people leaving the home country of laos we are very proud of this exhibit and were so proud that you are sharing your stories with all of us you make us richer for it i look back now and fight it hard to believe that forty years have passed by freedom and peace from wall we'll ride to a new languish new laws different cultures not to be made their window whether  i can express my thanks and off so thank you for coming thank you for sharing your stories with us and i hope you enjoy the exhibit and the rest of the programs for the rest of the year thank you a loved seeing all the kids here today i just was over and over again gratified to see families with you know grandma and grandpa on down through the generations down to the babies in the stroller that was very very gratifying it means a great deal to have elders with young children at tables doing activities together because family is the heart of among culture family is the heart of all of our cultures then we get an opportunity to watch in a generational experiences sharing arts and crafts and language and stories both sad and happy it makes for a healthier child a healthier community a historical society forty years ago i was ten year old i remember long chang my birthplace and the ground operation there i remember the moment my father's louse loud and commanding voice suddenly changed to whisper because come is reaching took over our home country i remember keeping my younger sibling quiet as we hid in the hours to avoid being captured by our enemies i remember throwing away happy look a load of luggage into the main kong river to keep our boat afloat as we crossed it i remember the first time being hungry in the confinement of the refugee camp in thailand i remember the wailing the long and loud crying of our elders as a playing take off from bangkok airport leaving asian soy because our elder thought they would never see their home country again there was just my story among the thousands of monks stories sadly many of our people perished along the way and can share their story with us let's not forget them well i think particular need looking at some of the pictures about the evacuation you know  airplane and had to then maybe on travel by foot and lost many family members along the way so it was kind of like a bittersweet kind of memory but you know some of our did time i was a corner and finishing training in the united states at fort bragg i was away from my family and the pressure of the companies to make and fear we also think of veterans and our parents for their sacrifices because they are the one they give us give up so much they give so much so that we all could be here and have this day i want to take this opportunity to remind everyone that the lao hmong veteran memorial will be built this year at the state capitol gro it when they were coming across to the united states this is like a true copper ation on the history center has been instrumental obviously in providing the physical space and funds to make th happen but every piece of artifact every story even the way that the exhibit is being designed and set up the colors the branding the schemes outreach that has all happened as a result of a lot of conversation i'm sure we had the highest number we've ever had a first time visitor assume any sort coming into the building not just mongers of hers but of anybody who had never been here before our historical society has already made a great investment in monk history and now we're able to show a i was born here in this country and i've always felt like the kind quite fully embrace my american identity because i felt like doing that man i had to neglect my monkey identity and it's it's opportunities like this exhibit that normalize complex identities like american modern we included a lot of women on our vice regroup and that's a really important thing for the for among women and minnesota who i think if only in the last couple decades began to feel like their voices were being heard in the community and they feel like they think they have made great strides in terms of leadership bad in positions of power and influence and so we included a lot of women's stories women's artifacts in the exhibition a whole panel on women a whole women's time line in minnesota so that was important there was an important perspective that we might not have gotten if we done this exhibit in one nine hundred ninety let's say in minnesota children haven't had the opportunity to a seat a full feel that i have never imagined i'd like to speak to the young adult children i'm going to say something i have no idea what i finally we have something in history that talks about our hmong names and that's a big part of our identity and so when they started giving me all this feedback the biggest love their name is in print somewhere i thought you know what better way to celebrate forty years among people here in america they do know is the printed this huge size and how people come out and actually write and put their signature in this club but i want people to feel like they're part of hmong family of rye in the land of ten thousand lakes st paul become the magnet of our month community then came the second ten years those who were brought as children grew up to take a leadership the first ten years of our life here is you know we stand trial going from state to state you know trying to find a relative and also try to social opportunity and show that minnesota have the better opportunity for among people and that's why i