Gran Torino - Eulogy

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first, but the more you got to know him, the more you' té love him. He was like a father to me, he taught me how to behave and acto Without any asking or demand in his favor, the even got myself a gobo Walt always wanted the best for all of us. His last wish was superhuman, he wanted to make Sacrificing decroit a safer place even by rohing his own life. He wanted the going to finally get arrested and let them pay for the atrocities they did St. Walt died like martyr for the safety of us all I'll never be able to be thankful enough for L/ Cogic 25 CP = 11 NP Gr This duty. As a grandchildren, children and really good friends, we should be praying together for our herco I wish him st sure by heart the best afterlife one can get as he will enjoy peace in paradise. Thank you. Inhalt: 8/10 Sprache 14/15 mdl. 12 NP C Kurs E2 12.1| Klausur 1| Name: DOUALY XAYKAOTHAO JUNE 3, 2016 The Atlantic POLITICS To Be Both Midwestern and Hmong Decades after they fought for the U.S. and took refuge in Wisconsin, immigrants and their children still struggle for acceptance. 19.10.202 [...] https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/06/wausau-wisconsin-southeast-asia-hmong/485291/ In the late 1980s and early 1990s, racial tensions between the native- and foreign-born populations gripped central Wisconsin. Less than a hundred years earlier, hostilities in that part of the country centered around immigrant populations arriving from Europe-Norwegians, Swedes, Italians, and Poles. This time, however, the new arrivals were refugees from Indochina, especially the hill-tribe group called the Hmong pronounced "MOH-ng"). These nomadic people had historically lived in the mountainous areas of Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, Burma, Cambodia, and China. For generations, the Hmong didn't have citizenship in those countries and lived autonomously, in remote and isolated places. But, as a stateless group with no ties to-or protection from the nations they roamed, the Hmong had long been persecuted and driven from their traditional 10 lands. In the middle of the 20th century, when the CIA began to conduct covert operations to fight state- sponsored communism in the jungles of Southeast Asia, the agency found valiant, fearless fighters in the Hmong. Nou Vang Thao, now in his mid-50s, was a young guerrilla foot soldier for the CIA, along with his father, _uncles, and relatives. They risked their lives for a U.S. cause and allowed many American soldiers to return A home to their families. Reports vary widely, but according to a number of estimates, one-quarter of all Hmong men and boys-more than 50,000 out of 300,000-died fighting communists along the Laos- Vietnam border. An unknown number died trying. Some died in forests; others drowned in the Mekong River, bordering Laos. Forty years ago, this year, Thao and his relatives were the first Hmong family to be sponsored by 20 a Lutheran church in Wausau, Wisconsin. Tens of thousands of Hmong followed, direct from Thai refugee camps. Thao embraced the small, scenic city of Wausau as his new home. The area was mainly a dairy-farm community that was also known nationally for its paper mills and insurance company. Thao loved the Wisconsin River, which split the city in half. He wanted to love the people, too, but the locals didn't exactly welcome him. Despite being a war veteran, many people confused him with the enemy-assuming he was 25 Vietnamese or, worse, Viet Cong. Thao says he sometimes had to remind people he fought for freedom, not communism. "Even today," he said. "People don't know why the Hmong are in Wisconsin, and coworkers, they don't care to know why we are here. We couldn't stay in our country because of our involvement with the white man. We've given Americans 100 percent of our heart, but they've only given us 20 percent." [...] *** 30 in the 1990s, the Hmong were fast becoming the largest ethnic minority in Wausau, making up more than 10 percent of the population. That spike posed numerous problems throughout Marathon County, Wisconsin, for employers, schools, social-service agencies, and the police, as documented in 1994 by Roy Beck. He profiled the city of Wausau for The Atlantic and described a city that was once a "paradise" for native-born taxpayers, many of whom were frustrated about the "burgeoning community of immigrants" from Asia. Beck warned: "Even if the influx slows, Southeast Asians may become the majority population in Wausau well within the present residents' lifetimes." Brad Karger remembers those days of suspicion and fear all too well. He moved to Wausau in 1988, to work as a human-resources director for the county. "I was aware of Hmong people, but until then, I had never met one," he said. "I had no idea who they were or where they came from. My experience when I O came here was the Hmong were here and in big numbers in Wausau. And a lot of people were trying to shape my perceptions of them early on." Back then, there was still a great deal of opposition to the newcomers from the locals. "And you could tell which side they were on," Karger said. "If they pronounce it 'HA-mung,' that was a trigger. Those were the people telling me the Hmong were terrible people and were committing all kinds of atrocities, and we were better off without them." He said he remembers that one of his county detectives-a real character, kind of a goofball, but an honest guy-was called to a home on the east side of the river in Wausau. The complainants had accused their neighbors of eating their dog. "And of course the neighbor was a Hmong family," Karger said. "And the detective, he's writing this statement as he goes along. He says, 'Blah, blah, blah, they're pretty sure the neighbors ate their dog.' And he says, at this point in the report, 'Fluffy entered the door, between my legs, Ouneaten."" Karger said he was embarrassed about so many of the "untrue and harmful" statements about the Hmong, how they were lazy and were Viet Cong. He realized there was a lot of work to do, even in his own office. He started diversity training for his 700-plus employees; he had to get them to rethink how to help this refugee population who previously only knew an agrarian culture. "We intentionally went out of our way to hire Hmong people, to help them fill out applications, and to know them beyond a superficial level," he said. Today, Karger is the Marathon County administrator. He is invited to a handful of personal and public Hmong events annually. He often sits in on meetings with Hmong elders that are held only in their language. And he even participated in a Hmong dance-off recently when the community celebrated Hmong history month. "Nobody works harder than the Hmong," he said. "The facts are undeniable. The Hmong have started businesses. The Wausau World Market just held their grand opening. There's a Hmong Chamber of Commerce. They're not going back to Laos. This is their home. 66 The newly elected mayor of Wausau, Robert Mielke, agrees. "When the Hmong came here in 1976, it was a transition," he said. "But the neat thing about the Hmong-and Laotians and Cambodians-these people worked hard. They worked hard to assimilate." [...] READING COMPREHENSION (8 CP) 1. Decide if the statement is true or false and find a relevant quotation from the text. (1 CP) Racial tensions in the late 1980s and early 1990s were a completely new phenomenon in central Wisconsin. new. The relevant passager V • false) Less Quote: "In the late thay a hundred 000 years earlier... (0.1-2) II. Decide if the statement is true or false and find a relevant quotation from the text. (1 CP) In the past the Hmong had suffered a similar fate as the Native Americans in the USA. (true) their traditional lands. "(l.7-9) (1 III. Decide if the statement is true or false and find a relevant quotation from the text. (1 CP) When the Hmong arrived in Wausau people there acknowledged the fact that the Hmong had fought on the side of American soldiers. . false Quote: "Despite being a. ..0 Quote: r generations, the. For 00 with the enemy." (e. 247 IV. Mark the two statements that are not given in the article with an X and find a quotation from the text for the two statements that are. (2 CP) Many people in Wausau believed that... the Hmong ate cats. __X the Hmong were brutal and violent. I4 "Those were the coo 11 thao says he .... the Hmong were communists. | the Hmong took away people's jobs.. | X V. Mention two measures the county officials took in order to help the Hmong to integrate. (2 CP) - they hired Hmong people (1.50) they helped them filling out applications (1.55%) VI. Finish the following sentence based on the information in the article. (1 CP) Brad Karger and Robert Mielke both agree that alt in Warsau. (.l.35 & 40/ 2) Comment on the following statement: off without them. 16.45-4 2 freedom, not communion. 41825-761 starb of Among people WRITING (25 CP) Choose one of the following assignments. 1) Creative Writing: Imagine Thao would deliver a eulogy at Walt's funeral - write his eulogy. Free speech is under threat from 'cancel culture'. live f