Mass Migration

Guest: Jacob Hickman, PhD, Professor of Anthropology at BYU  Several migrations of entire communities are underway. Hundreds of thousands of people—millions, even—are fleeing war, oppression and poverty in Syria, Iraq and parts of Africa. Years from now, we may note this period as we do today the Hmong Migration that began 40 years ago.   The Hmong are an ethnic group that played a critical role in America’s “Secret War” in Laos. It was an extension of the war in Vietnam. Hmong inhabited the hilly, strategically-important areas along the border between the two countries. Many were recruited by the CIA to fight against the Communist Pathet Lao army. When Laos fell to the Communists and the US pulled out of it and Vietnam, many Hmong were targeted for revenge, there were even extermination orders.