(Published Tuesday, June 19, 2007 10:36:57 AM CST)
A d v e r t i s e m e n t
By Todd Richmond Associated Press
MADISON, Wis. - The school board erased the name of Hmong General Vang Pao from a new elementary school Monday night, two weeks after he was charged with trying to overthrow the communist government in Laos.
Board members apologized profusely to the Hmong community, but in the end voted 7-0 to remove the name. Board President Arlene Silveira said the board had to defuse dissension in the community.
"Is it fair?" she said. "I'm not sure."
Vang Pao was among 10 Hmong leaders arrested June 4 and charged in federal court in California with conspiracy to overthrow the communist Laotian government by killing officials and leveling government buildings. The 10 pleaded not guilty to conspiracy charges in Sacramento Monday.
Prosecutors contend Vang Pao masterminded the plot, which involved raising money to recruit a mercenary force and equipping a small army to launch coordinated attacks using anti-tank missiles, grenade launchers and C-4 explosives. One prosecutor called the plan a conspiracy to murder "thousands and thousands of people."
Vang Pao led CIA-backed Hmong forces in Laos against communists in the 1960s and 1970s. Many Hmong credit him with freeing them from oppression in southeast Asia and helping them build new lives in the U.S., where he immigrated in 1975.
The school board voted in April to name the school after Vang Pao, choosing him over three other finalists: Linden Park, after the school's neighborhood; Wisconsin Supreme Court Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson; and local educator Paul Olson. Vang Pao was charged 12 days after Madison school officials broke ground for the school on the city's west side.
Koua Vang, 43, of Sun Prairie, sat with his family at the board meeting Monday night, holding a sign that read "We Are Hmong" on one side and "Honor Our Hmong Soldiers" on the other.
Koua Vang, who is originally from Laos, said the allegations against Vang Pao are unproven and he's done nothing to hurt the U.S. Even though the U.S. government no longer considers communists in Southeast Asia a threat, "they're a threat every day over there," he said.
The board should stand by its original choice to name the school after the general, he said.
"We believe we deserve that honor," he said. "We believe that honor was given to us."
About a dozen people sat on the other side of the room, holding signs that read "Honor Your Process" and "Go Back to the List of 3," referring to the other finalists. The board voted 6-1 to start the naming process over, however.
Lisa Pierobon Mays of Madison was in the group. She offered condolences to Koua Vang on her way out of the meeting, saying "Sir, I'm sorry for your pain."
She said outside her children will go the new school when it's completed and kids shouldn't have to contend with questions over the allegations against Vang Pao. The federal government believes it has enough evidence to indict him, she added.
"I feel for their pain," she said of the Hmong community. "With any fall, it's disappointing."
Cher Peng Her, 36, of Madison, came to the U.S. from Laos when he was 5 years old. He called the whole naming affair hypocritical.
In America, you're considered innocent until proven guilty, but the school board has it backward, he said.
"These criminal allegations are just allegations ... and they're already running for the hills," he said.
Board member Johnny Winston Jr. said he'd like to see part of the school named for the Hmong.
"It's a sad thing," he said. "It feels like they lost."
