Hmong Times

The paper is based in Saint Paul, Minnesota, and distributed for free at local businesses and events.{{cite web |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/368391614 |title=Few retaliate for hunter deaths; Authorities report some isolated cases of racial animosity against Hmong |agency=Associated Press |date=Dec 13, 2004 |work=Telegraph - Herald |location=Dubuque, Iowa |access-date=December 21, 2024 |quote= |issn=1041-293X |id={{ProQuest|368391614}}}} Because Hmong typically only read English, articles are usually in English, and sometimes in Hmong RPA.{{cite book | last=Vang | first=Chia Youyee | title=Hmong in Minnesota | publisher=Minnesota Historical Society Press | publication-place=Saint Paul, MN | date=2008 | isbn=978-0-87351-598-6 | oclc=164570608 | pages=39}} {{Google Books|id=vmhHlBaKVEYC|title=Hmong in Minnesota}}

Hmong Times is the oldest Hmong newspaper still in circulation{{cite book | last=Vang | first=Chia Youyee | author-link=Chia Youyee Vang | title=Hmong America: Reconstructing Community in Diaspora | publisher=University of Illinois Press | publication-place=Urbana | date=2010 | isbn=978-0-252-07759-3 |page=65 |series=Asian American Experience}} {{Google Books|id=_b5V2W7crmAC|title=Hmong America: Reconstructing Community in Diaspora}} and along with Hmong Today has been called one of the Hmong community's "most enduring publications".{{cite journal |last1=Lee |first1=Gary Yia |date=2008 |title=Nostalgia and Cultural Re-creation: The Case of the Hmong Diaspora |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40860891 |journal=Crossroads: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Southeast Asian Studies |volume=19 |number=2 |jstor=40860891 |access-date=December 21, 2024 |pages=139}}

Cheu Lee and Dick Wetzler were part-owners.{{cite news |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/214274845 |title=Slaughter in the Woods |last=Johnson |first=Dirk |date=Dec 6, 2004 |work=Newsweek |publisher= |access-date=December 21, 2024 |quote= |location=New York |volume=144 |issue=23|issn=0028-9604 |id={{ProQuest|214274845}}}}{{cite web |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/2228393844 |title=Hunter Tells Police He Was Threatened |last= |first= |date=Nov 24, 2004 |work=New York Times |location=New York|publisher= |access-date=December 21, 2024 |quote= |issn=1553-8095 |id={{ProQuest|2228393844}}}}{{cite web |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/427642003 |title=Asian media outlets unhappy with Kerry's ad campaign: [METRO Edition] |last=Black |first=Eric |date=Jul 21, 2004 |work=Star Tribune |publisher= |access-date=December 21, 2024 |quote= |issn=0895-2825 |id={{ProQuest|427642003}}}} Shia Yang was designer.{{cite web |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/395329018 |title=SLAIN HUNTER'S WIDOW SEARCHES ; SEEKS CLUES IN 2001 DEATH: [ALL Edition] |last= |first= |date=Nov 25, 2005 |website=AP, Madison Capital Times |publisher= |access-date=December 21, 2024 |quote= |issn=0749-4068 |id={{ProQuest|395329018}}}} The website was developed and administered by Hmongmedia.{{cite news |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/463923771 |title=Entrepreneur column |last=Jean |first=Sheryl |date=Jul 25, 2004 |work=Pioneer Press / Knight Ridder Tribune Business News |publisher=Tribune Content Agency LLC |location=Washington |access-date=December 21, 2024 |quote= |id={{ProQuest|463923771}}}}

Hmong Times was founded in May 1998{{cite journal | last1=Hein | first1=Jeremy | last2=Vang | first2=Nengher | title=Politicians and Social Movements: The Impact of Electoral Victory on Local, National, and Transnational Activism by Hmong Americans in Minneapolis–St. Paul | journal=Social Movement Studies | volume=14 | issue=2 | date=March 4, 2015 | issn=1474-2837 | doi=10.1080/14742837.2014.945159 | pages=164–179}}{{sfn|Hmong Communications, Inc|2024|loc=third page}} by Cheu Lee, Steve Wetzler, and Dick Wetzler.{{cite news |last=Magagnini |first=Stephen |date=Sep 12, 2004 |title=Profile: Wameng Moua 'Can't' wasn't in his vocabulary |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/246433961/F650D9ABFCFF4DBBPQ/14?accountid=196403&sourcetype=Newspapers |work=The Sacramento Bee |location=Sacramento, California |publisher=The McClatchy Company |access-date=February 24, 2025 |issn=08905738 |id={{ProQuest|08905738}}}} It is the oldest Hmong newspaper continuing to circulate today.

Sang Mouacheupao, co-founder of competitor paper Hmong Today, was an early contributor.{{cite news |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/212206046 |title=The Business Journal MINORITY BUSINESS: Hmong Today, Reporting with an edge |last=Groeneveld |first=Benno |date=Jun 18, 2004 |work=Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal |publisher=American City Business Journals |access-date= |volume=22 |issue=1 |page=S20 |quote= |issn=1540-1847 |id={{ProQuest|212206046}}}}

At times the paper has published weekly,{{cite journal |last1=Lopez |first1=Lori Kido |date=2016 |title=Mobile Phones as Participatory Radio: Developing Hmong Mass Communication in the Diaspora |url=https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/4530 |journal=International Journal of Communication |volume=10 |issue= |pages=2042 |doi= |access-date=December 30, 2024 |issn=1932-8036 |quote=The only Hmong newspapers in production were two English-language Hmong newspapers in the Twin Cities: the biweekly Hmong Today and the weekly Hmong Times. These two newspapers started in the mid-2000s and offered their audience contemporary perspectives on Hmong current events in their local Twin Cities setting, as well as across the Hmong diaspora.}}{{cite journal | last=Grigoleit | first=Grit | title=Globale Diaspora der Hmong | journal=Austrian Journal of South-East Asian Studies | date=February 26, 2008 | volume=1 | issue=1 | doi=10.14764/10.ASEAS-1.1-6 | pages=69 |language=de}} biweekly,{{cite book |author-last1=Rath |author-first1=Denise |author-link= |editor-last1=Greco |editor-first1=Michael D |date=2006 |title=A Minnesota Mailing List for Equal Opportunity Announcements and Advertisements |url=https://conservancy.umn.edu/items/f451fe9d-a57b-486c-b9f2-19f2ce7ef3e0 |hdl=11299/205562 |location=Minneapolis, Minnesota |publisher=Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA), University of Minnesota |page=16 |isbn= |edition=4th |id=Publication No. CURA 06-1 (web); CURA 06-02 (hardcopy)}} and bimonthly.{{cite book | author-last1=Lopez | author-first1=Lori Kido | title=Micro Media Industries: Hmong American Media Innovation in the Diaspora | chapter=2. Without a Newsroom: Journalism and the Micro Media Empire | publisher=Rutgers University Press | location=New Brunswick, New Jersey | date=August 13, 2021 | pages=24–43 | isbn=978-1-9788-2338-9 | doi=10.36019/9781978823389-002 | lccn=2020051456 | jstor=j.ctv2v55hd5}} {{Google Books|id=l26CEAAAQBAJ|title=Micro Media Industries: Hmong American Media Innovation in the Diaspora}}

Hmong Times previously called "moderate Hmong" who favored interaction with Communist-run Laos "reds and collaborators".{{cite news |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/224062429 |title=Asia: Laos and the still mighty dollar |last= |first= |date=Sep 9, 2000 |newspaper=The Economist |publisher= |access-date= |quote= |location=London, United Kingdom |volume=356 |issue=8187 |issn=0013-0613 |id={{ProQuest|224062429}}}}{{cite news |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/224050249 |title=United States: There is another country ... |last= |first= |date=Aug 19, 2000 |newspaper=The Economist |publisher= |access-date=December 21, 2024 |quote= |volume=356 |issue=8184 |pages=26–27 |issn=0013-0613 |id={{ProQuest|224050249}}}}

A 2001 fire destroyed the Hmong Times office and neighboring building. Saint Paul firefighters helped remove files.{{cite news |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/427383089 |title=St. Paul fire destroys 2 buildings Hmong newspaper, other business displaced: [METRO Edition] |last=Graves |first=Chris |date=Mar 4, 2001 |work=Star Tribune |location=Saint Paul, Minnesota | pages=01B |access-date=December 21, 2024 |quote= |issn=0895-2825 |id={{ProQuest|427383089}}}}

Around the launch of the first Hmong LGBTQ organization Shades of Yellow (SOY), Hmong Times and Hmong Today were the venue for Hmong inter-community conversations about the growing awareness and acceptance of LGBTQ Hmong people.{{cite journal |last1=Pha |first1=Kong Pheng |date=Summer 2019 |title="Minnesota is Open to Everything": Queer Hmong and the Politics of Community Formation in the Diaspora |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26663128 |journal=Minnesota History |volume=66 |number=6 |pages=259–260 |doi= |jstor=26663128 |access-date=December 30, 2024}}

Hmong Times Online, the newspaper's website which publishes their print articles for free online, launched in 1999.{{sfn|Hmong Communications, Inc|2024|loc=fourth page}} In 2006 Hmong Times began publishing primarily online.{{cite journal | last=Hein | first=Jeremy | title=The Urban Ethnic Community and Collective Action: Politics, Protest, and Civic Engagement by Hmong Americans in Minneapolis–St. Paul | journal=City & Community | volume=13 | issue=2 | date=2014 | issn=1535-6841 | doi=10.1111/cico.12063 | pages=119–139}}

Co-founder and part owner Cheu Lee gave his rights to Hmong Times to Dick Wetzler and left the paper in 2000. He went on to found the magazine Hmong Pages in 2010.{{cite web | title=Hmong Pages | website=MNopedia | date=July 1, 2010 | url=https://www.mnopedia.org/thing/hmong-pages | access-date=December 31, 2024}} Steve and Dick Wetzler offered to sell their half-share in the newspaper to Wameng Moua for {{USD|200,000}} in 2003. Moua turned them down and co-founded Hmong Today with Sang Mouacheupao the same year. Dick Wetzler died May 6, 2024.{{cite web | title=Obituary of Richard Wetzler | website=Funeral Homes & Cremation Services | date=May 31, 2024 | url=https://cremationsocietyofmn.com/tribute/details/79401/Richard-Wetzler/obituary.html | access-date=December 31, 2024}}

A sample of staff indicated nine editors and authors at the paper in January 2002, which dropped to three by December 2011.

• Dick Wetzler, co-founder and part owner
• Cheu Lee, co-founder and former part owner

• Sang Mouacheupao
• Kou Yang

• Lou Michaels, photographer{{cite news |last=Lambert |first=Ed |date=December 2006 |title=Larry "The Photo Guy" Michaels |url=https://newspapers.mnhs.org/jsp/PsImageViewer.jsp?doc_id=68fd42e3-d61c-49e0-88e2-0bcf539972fe%2Fmnhi0041%2F1HMABE5K%2F06120101 |work=Dayton's Bluff District Forum |location=Saint Paul, Minnesota |pages=5 |access-date=December 28, 2024}}
• Shia Yang, designer

{{Portal|Journalism|United States}}

• Hmong Today
• History of the Hmong in Minneapolis–Saint Paul
• List of newspapers in Minnesota

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite web |author=Hmong Communications, Inc |url=https://hmongtimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/2024-Hmong-Times-Media-Kit.pdf |date=2024 |title=Hmong Times Media Kit 2024 |location= |publisher=Hmong Communications, Inc |page=}}{{Primary source inline|date=January 2025}}

• {{Official website|http://hmongtimes.com/}}
• [https://www.lrl.mn.gov/magissues?per_num=1914 Hmong Times Issues Received by the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library]
• [https://www.hmonglibrary.org/newspaper-article-collections.html Hmong Cultural Center Museum and Library Newspaper Article Collections]

{{Hmong topics in Minnesota}}

{{Minnesota Newspapers}}

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Category:Newspapers published in Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Minnesota

Category:Hmong-American culture in Minneapolis–Saint Paul

Category:National newspapers published in the United States

Category:Hmong American history in Minnesota