“You Get Hit or You Get Put in Check, at the End of the Day, the Love is Still There”: Hmong Culture, Diaspora, Immigration, and Gang Continuity

Abstract

There has been an increased focus on the factors that influence gang continuity given the short- and long-term consequences associated with gang membership. Despite this, Asian gangs—notably the Hmong—have rarely been at the center of these academic inquiries. This is especially troubling given that their cultural and historical profile provides a unique vantage point for assessing how culture, diaspora, and immigration affect social deviance and crime. Considering these empirical gaps, the current study examines the motivations associated with gang persistence by analyzing life history interviews and ethnographic observations among a sample of 34 current and former Hmong gang members in the United States. Emergent themes suggest that brother love, perceptions of power, and a sense of obligation ensnare individuals in gang life for extended periods of time, with notable geographic and cultural distinctions. These findings highlight important avenues for future research and practice.

Keywords:

• Asian gangs
• culture
• immigration
• refugee
• diaspora
• Hmong

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 Because this study draws heavily from my dissertation research, there will be similar descriptions and narrative data throughout this paper.

2 As with any effort to recruit gang members, particularly snowball sampling methods, access to is largely influenced by gatekeepers’ network connections. Unfortunately, I was unable to tap into the Minnesota Hmong gang scene given my difficulty locating multiple gatekeepers.

3 This conclusion was reached by comparing crime rates from the communities I sampled in Wisconsin and California (data was drawn from the FBI’s Crime in the United States annual reports in 2018 and local police reports from corresponding cities). Notably, in 2018, none of the Wisconsin cities had any gang-related murders while there were 22 gang-related murders in Rocketville (the community where most of the California participants were sampled from).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sou Lee

Sou Lee is an Assistant Professor at Gonzaga University. His research examines prison gang dynamics in the Philippines and the identity mechanisms that facilitate deviant and criminal violence among street gangs. His current research focuses on the lived experiences among Asian gang members.