In East Oakland, a garden reconnects Laotian elders with their past

Local elders have been growing mustard greens, sugar cane stalks, and snap peas at Peralta Hacienda Historical Park since 2003.

By Ricky Rodas
Oaklandside
April 19, 2022

Excerpt:

Every week since 2003, Saechao and other elder lu Mien—an ethnic group with communities in Laos, Vietnam, and Thailand whose roots can be traced to southern China—have gathered at the park to garden, about eight to ten families at a time. Most are women, though they will sometimes bring their husbands along. Some, like Yien Saechao, have been coming here since the start. Others, like Mey Yan Saechao, joined a few years later.

Mey Yan Saechao pointed to the tall sugarcane stalks sprouting out of the soil, noting that she helped plant them. “It’s been great to plant crops and also meet and talk with the other community members here,” said Yan. “I’m happy.”

The two elders are among the thousands of lu Mien people who came to the U.S. as refugees in the late 1970s and early 80s in the years following the Vietnam War and the Central Intelligence Agency’s “Secret War” in Laos, a migration made easier by the Refugee Act of 1980. Sizable communities formed on the West Coast, including the Bay Area. Lu Mien families in Oakland are now mainly clustered in Fruitvale and other parts of East Oakland. Many of the elders share the same last names because there are a total of 12 surnames that correspond with the 12 Iu Mien clans.

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