TakeAction Minnesota’s Hmong Organizing Program and KDWB Updates

In early April, TakeAction Minnesota’s Hmong Organizing Program (HOP) took the lead in organizing around the racist parody produced by KDWB, 30 Hmongs in a House. This work engaged hundreds of community members and allies, including a 200 person rally outside of the KDWB headquarter office in St. Louis Park.

KDWB continuously tried to make this a “Hmong” issue, and only Hmong community members were invited to their private meetings. But this is about all Minnesotans, no matter their race, because it is about structural racism in our state. So during mid April, HOP and other community members decided to form a multiracial coalition to work specifically on this issue. The newly formed multiracial coalition was called Community Action Against Racism (CAAR), with TakeAction Minnesota’s HOP leaders at the core.

Community Action Against Racism

CAAR was originally founded in 1998 after 92 KQRS aired racist comments about the Hmong community following a report about a 13-year-old Wisconsin Hmong girl accused of killing and hiding the corpse of her newborn baby. CAAR is a multiracial and independent grassroots group led by Hmong and non-Hmong community leaders to work on this issue with KDWB.

On May 16, 2011, CAAR and the Hmong 18 Council met with KDWB’s leadership team and came to agreements. The agreements and next steps included:

In consultation with the Hmong 18 Council and CAAR, KDWB would appoint a qualified Hmong candidate to its Local Advisory Board. This board provides input about critical issues impacting local communities, and it designates specially produced programming, corporate sponsorship and volunteer initiatives based on this input.
KDWB reaffirmed its commitment to a workplace reflective of the community. Attendees discussed possible employment and internship opportunities, as well as ideas about how to expand the reach of KDWB career postings to attract qualified candidates from diverse backgrounds, including posting Clear Channel job and internship announcements in ethnic media. It was determined an appropriate way for KDWB to report on the progress on maintaining a diverse workforce, especially hiring interns of color, would be through its Local Advisory Board.
KDWB agreed to enhance its annual staff trainings to include learning about the Hmong American and other ethnic communities and to working with community agencies to broaden education on multiculturalism. KDWB is receptive to suggestions from the Hmong 18 Council and CAAR about organizations and businesses that offer such trainings.
KDWB discussed its significant contribution to local communities and charities through the 4,500 public service announcements it airs every year. Through its Local Advisory Board and ongoing relationship with leaders at the May 16 meeting, KDWB will seek input about issues of importance to the Hmong American and other diverse communities that may benefit from PSAs and community-focused programming. Clear Channel planned programming to recognize the Hmong contribution to the U.S. war effort in Vietnam.

The PSAs and the interview aired on all seven stations from May 26th through May 29th. In context of the then approaching Veteran’s Day, we produced two PSA messages to “celebrate the diverse backgrounds of ALL veterans [and honored] their sacrifices for freedom and equality [for all Americans]”. The recordings played 15 seconds and 30 seconds each. Below is a transcription of the 30 second recording. The show aired Sunday at 6:00 AM on KDWB (101.3), 7:00 AM on KFAN (1130), K102 and Cities 97, 9:00 AM on KFXN (690), 5:00 PM on KTLK (100.3), and 10:30 PM on KOOL 108. To listen to the Insight interview on Hmong veterans featuring TakeAction leaders Liz Xiong and Frank Brown, click here.

Next Steps
We will hold a community forum to discuss the overall campaign and agreements from our meeting with KDWB. The event time, location and date is TBD. At the community forum, we will inform the community about what has happened, thank them for their support, thank the advertisers who pulled out (and thereby recognized the issue as important) and honor the work that Hmong 18 and CAAR has done.