Janssen Hang Speech at Metro State University

 
HAFA is a membership-based organization that is dedicated to advancing the economic prosperity of Hmong American farmers and their families. We are made up of over 100 Hmong farmers—many of whom are hardworking immigrants. When they arrived in Minnesota, they literally sacrificed their bodies to work in the fields to grow fresh fruits and vegetables, and as a result, nowadays, we have vibrant farmers markets, robust farm-to-school purchasing programs, and award-winning food entrepreneurs.
 
This award reminds me of one of our very first farmer-members: Ying Lee. She was the matriarch of a large Hmong family and for over 20 years, she and her seven kids grew fresh flowers which they sold six days a week at the Saint Paul and Minneapolis Farmers’ Markets.
 
When we started HAFA in 2011, we asked our farmer-members if they were interested in forming a land cooperative to buy farmland and Ying was the very first person to sign up. She told me, ‘Janssen, I sell a bunch of mixed flowers, but what I really want to grow are peonies. But I can’t grow peonies because I don’t have long-term access to land, since peonies are perennials and they need at least three years undisturbed before they can be cut.’
 
So in 2014, when we finally got long-term access to the HAFA Farm, a 155 acre farm along Highway 52, Ying picked the 5 acre plot located right at the entrance of the Farm. And she filled it with rows and rows of white snapdragons, and pink dahlias and yellow sunflowers. She left 2 acres barren because she planned to fill them with peonies later in the fall—which is the time you normally plant peonies. However, unfortunately, before she could plant her peonies, Ying had a brain aneurysm and died.
 
I remember driving into the Farm every day after she died, and passing the barren fields where she would have planted her peonies and just thinking how unfair it was. She was an amazing farmer who had a great dream to be a peony grower, but because of all the ism—racism, classism, sexism—she wasn’t able to realize her dream. Ying reminds me of what it is we are really fighting for.
 
So, in her honor, it is my distinct privilege to accept this award on behalf of our Hmong farmers, our staff and our Board of Directors. In conclusion, I want to say:
 
This I believe: Immigrants (whether they come from Norway or Nigeria and with papers or without); immigrants are human beings, and as such, are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of their dreams.
 
This I believe: Immigrant farmers and field workers are often invisible, overlooked or under-appreciated for their enormous contributions to the national and local food economies. But no more. Their labor deserves to be recognized and their lives dignified.
 
Lastly, this I believe: That community matters. That how we treat each other matters. In the words of the late Senator Paul Wellstone, ‘we all do better when we all do better.’ And until it is self-evident among those who have power and privilege that all people are created equal, than none of us are truly free.
 
Thank you.