Tommy CheeMou YangTommy CheeMou Yang describes Washington Park’s allure, "Washington Park is an very unique neighborhood, a neighborhood that [is] very diverse, a neighborhood that [is] filled with population, [and] filled with many different colors! But no one not really knows about it!" Yang is a 22 year old Hmong American student enrolled in the School of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. An artist, activist and poet, Yang lives in the Washington Park neighborhood in his uncle’s house. He is involved with the Hmong American Friendship Association Inc. (HAFA) and serves the Hmong American community at his university campus and in his neighborhood. He volunteers with Milwaukee youth, serves as a Lawton Scholar Success Advocate, and is a WiscAMP - STEM scholar mentor. He serves as an office bearer of the National Organization of Minority Architecture Students (NOMAS) at UWM. Currently he is working with the BLC Field School where he is documenting Hmong American life at Washington Park.
Growing up in Appleton, WI, a predominately white town, Yang often explored his identity and role as Hmong and American. When he moved to Washington Park three years ago, he discovered a different cultural context within which he had to rediscover himself. Initially, at Washington Park, he didn’t feel comfortable to go out of his home because he thought it was unsafe. Soon he discovered otherwise and was enamored with the neighborhood’s unique, rich, and multicultural community. He has developed deep friendships with residents of different economic, ethnic and racial backgrounds and shares their love for this neighborhood. He points out that despite being resilient and strong there remains important issues that need to be addressed in this neighborhood. He lists the many abandoned houses and the persistent economic disinvestment heaped upon this community as some such urgent problems. Yang wants to see more business such as retail stores, grocery stores and restaurants return to Washington Park. He hopes that the vacant lands could be reused as public spaces. In traditional Hmong culture, food plays a big role. The smell of good food can wake Tommy Yang up in the morning. He loves the smell of Hmong food— it makes him feel at home. As a result, Yang experiments with Hmong recipes and cuisine in his spare time. Tommy CheeMou Yang, interview by Elizabeth Rose Osborne, Matthew Karl Stuessy & Wei Ye, June 2015 |
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