| Part 1 of 2 It had been six years since we had sat at Mother Fools on Williamson Street, talking about the Madison School Board. At that time, Shwaw Vang was announcing that he was running for an open seat on the Madison Metropolitan School District Board of Education. His young children hung out obediently in chairs nearby and sipped hot chocolate, while we discussed politics and Vang's reasons for running. Now, six years later, we were alone as we discussed Vang's reasons for not seeking reelection to the school board in April 2007. While I had heard rumors of his decision, our discussion made it public and official. Vang's life had changed in six years. His job at Kajsiab House as the resource development director was taking up more and more of his time. And his children were growing older and needing more and more of his time, whether they realized it or not. His oldest son was now in high school. "For me, it's been a great six years, but I think that is as much as my time and energy will allow me to serve," Vang confided. "Right now, I don't believe I can be much more effective. I think it's just time to step aside and let someone else come in with new ideas and fresh energy." Vang's election to the school board was a historical milestone. Since the Hmong first began arriving in the Madison area in the late 1970s as refugees from the Communist takeover of Laos, no Hmong had held a visible public position in Madison. When Vang was elected in 2001, he immediately became that "first" for the Hmong community and its most visible member. "I think the high point of my career was just being able to serve on the school board because it reaffirmed to me that the Hmong people, the Southeast Asian people who had chosen to settle in Madison were now a part of the daily life of this city and that we were accepted as a part of this community," Vang said. "Even though I may not see myself as accomplishing a lot of things, I think I opened the door for other Southeast Asian people who may now think about running for office in the future." Vang's election may have also opened up government to the Hmong community as well. "Before I was elected, we didn't have much access to government," Vang observed. "Once I was elected, the door was opened. It was really different when Shwaw Vang, school board member, called up someone to say "Can you meet with the Hmong community? instead of Shwaw Vang who is a community activist calling and asking if they could meet with the community. In many ways, that is very, very important to me." And, eventually, Vang's participation in the school board translated into more culturally sensitive programming for Hmong students. For most of his school board career, Vang was reticent about advocating for Hmong issues. He was elected citywide and didn't want to be seen as the "Hmong school board member." But last year, perhaps as he began to realize he wouldn't be running again, Vang did do some advocacy. "East High School, for the first time, had a 'Hmong for Hmong' class this year," Vang said. "That's something I have wanted for a long time. I am really proud that the school district has taken the initiative to have at least the one class at East High School. It will help the district out in terms of understanding the Hmong students. And it's going to help the Hmong students out in having a class we can go into, feel comfortable, and learn about their culture and their language." Perhaps the most memorable moment of Vang's career was the Pledge of Allegiance controversy. After the Wisconsin state legislature voted to make the saying of the Pledge of Allegiance mandatory for all Wisconsin public schools in the wake of September 11, 2001, a mere five months after Vang assumed office, the Madison school board voted to make it voluntary. Vang voted with the majority. A public outcry ensued, whipped up by local talk radio, which caught the attention of the national media. A public hearing on the board's vote was held at Memorial High School. The hearing spilled over into the next day as people from all over Wisconsin came to express their displeasure over the board's action. One of the ugliest moments of the hearing came when shock jock Chris Krok got up to tell Vang that he should go back to Vietnam or China where he came from. It was, indeed, a very intense moment. Vang stayed above the fray. "The Pledge issue really made me think about how some people in the community perceived me and also at the same time, it made me a stronger person," Vang reflected. "I came out of that process feeling that I was a part of this community and that I was an American. It made me understand that I make the decisions and the decisions I make affect other people and how they react. I could have been crushed underneath the weight of comments like that and the emotions or I could step back and let it sink in and grow from that. I think I grew from the Pledge controversy. I better understand diverse political views and have a better understanding of where people are coming from." Vang also reflected on Krok's ignorance. "There are Hmong people in Vietnam, but I'm from Laos," Vang emphasized. "If my family could, I think that my father would have taken us back when we were in Thailand, but that was not the case. He and other Hmong people fought for the U.S. government agencies such as the CIA. We can never go back to Laos." While outwardly, Vang remained placid during Krok's remarks, inside he had a knee jerk reaction. "My natural reaction was to respond right away and tell him to back off or tell him that what he said was wrong," Vang reflected. "But at that time, the board president, Calvin Williams, asked board members to refrain from making comments. And I wanted to respect his view at that time. Also, I thought for me to respond to such a negative comment about me as a person was not worth my time to respond to someone like that. I don't believe in throwing more oil onto the fire just to make it bigger. I believe that if there is a fire, you have to put it out." While most of the school board members had to be concerned with the policy itself and their views on it, Vang had another level of consideration to worry about. "I think my reaction made a big statement about the Hmong community here," Vang emphasized. "At that time, I was thinking that what I said would ultimately impact how people look at the Hmong people in Dane County. I felt a lot of pressure because I felt I was representing the Hmong community. And I thought about it. I originally thought I had two choices to make. One, I could vote and say 'Nobody is going to force me to vote for anything. If I disagree with the policy, I will vote against the policy.' But I also thought about how this would reflect on my' community, which was second generation refugees. Would my community be questioned about whether or not we are patriots? I voted for the community. And I feel comfortable with that because when I came back people were saying 'Yes, you made the right vote.'" Ultimately, Vang did feel comfortable with the reversal of his vote. "Would I have voted differently today, I don't know," Vang said. "I might have because there are times when you vote for what you believe in and there are times when you vote because you'll make the community a little bit better. At first, I voted against the Pledge because the vote that we took did not protect the rights of kids. There were parents of kids who didn't want their children standing up for the Pledge. They felt we were forcing patriotism on their children. My vote was to affirm that. Patriotism should be taught and learned, but never forced. It wasn't a vote against the Pledge." He did vote for his community. |
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| VOL. I NO. 16 October 18, 2006 |
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| Shwaw Vang decides not to run for re-election to Madison Board of Education Reflecting on six years of service to children By Jonathan Gramling |
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