Bonus Episode from In This Family: Ka Vang on War in Southeast Asia, ICE in Minnesota, and Mental Health Echoes

Episode notes

We are proud to present a very special episode of In This Family as a bonus for Depresh Mode with John Moe listeners. In This Family is produced by John Moe in conjunction with Nexus Family Healing and it’s about the connection between family and mental health. It’s a fascinating and moving look at the Hmong culture, their relocation to the United States, and the generational trauma that has been activated by recent events involving ICE. It’s a story you haven’t heard told by a member of community you might not have heard much about.

Newspaper columnist and community business leader Ka Vang was born on a CIA base in Thailand 50 years ago. She remembers eating from the garbage when there was no food to be had, witnessing rape and murder, and fleeing with her family to the United States after the Vietnam War and the Secret War. Ka is Hmong-American, part of a large community of people who aided the American effort and were relocated, largely to Minnesota. The trauma of the war and displacement had severe mental health effects on Ka’s family, including depression, anxiety, and hyper-vigilance. Today, the Twin Cities region is seeing tremendous upheaval due to the ICE surge, which has seen thousands of people arrested, sent to detention facilities, and deported, even people who have a legal right to be in the United States. Ka says Hmong people who lived through the war in Asia are terrified and having flashbacks. Their children, having had trauma handed down, are rehearsing best practices for staying safe. And as for Ka, she doesn’t feel like an American amid the ICE presence and feels more a matter of when rather than if she’ll get taken.