Today Appleton's Post-Crescent newspaper has a story about a Hmong hunter who was arrested for allegedly pointing a gun at a landowner. The story invokes memories of the Hmong hunter murders a year ago, in which six white men were killed by a Hmong hunter after the owner of the land asked the man to get off their property. It also quotes someone condemning "this kind of garbage" and suggesting that the Hmong man "chose the wrong way" to respond, as if the allegations are true. (Nov. 4 Update: The quote referred to the problem of trespassing and appears to be a reasonable statement, based in input I've received from the source.)

I don't think the Post-Crescent's article is fair. All that we know is that there was a dispute (the suspect, Toua Lor, acknowledged this, according to the newspaper), that the Hmong man left, that the owner then called the police to accuse him of pointing a gun, and that the man was then arrested. As far as I know, there is not yet any admission of wrongdoing or any evidence that Toua Lor made threats of any kind. After reading the newspaper article, one might think that we narrowly escaped another murderous rampage of a crazed Hmong hunter, when there was perhaps simply a misunderstanding between a hunter and the owner of the land. The owner may have overreacted or may have actually been threatened - we don't know yet. It's too early to assume we know what took place.

Actually, I know the suspect. The Toua Lor I know does not fit into common stereotypes of the Hmong people. He's a kind and gentle man, from all that I've seen, and one that shows a great deal of respect for authority, law, and other people. I don't know what happened, but I worry that the local media response will only exacerbate tensions between the white and Hmong communities.