Puget Sound's Hmong community is cheering the news that Olympic gymnast Sunisa Lee's historic gold medal for Team USA at the Tokyo Olympics.
The Hmong people, mainly originated in Laos, largely immigrated to the United States in the 1970s as refugees during the Vietnam War.
The daughter of immigrants, Sunisa Lee helped America clinch a silver medal after teammate Simone Biles withdrew from the Games due to metal health issues.
In addition to nabbing a silver medal, she also snatched a gold medal on behalf of the U.S. women's gymnastics team.
Among some 300,000 Hmong Americans is Xee Yang-Schell, who described Lee's win as symbolic. "It symbolizes just how far we have come in such a short period of time. And it symbolizes us embracing a new culture while holding on to our old. I think it's just really a wonderful achievement for her." Said Xee.
Although the Asian American population remains relative small in the U.S., it is believed that the American society is shifting towards being more supportive of female athletes, especially Asian females.
As the youngest and the first-ever Hmong American member of the U.S. gymnastics team, Lee has now become a role model for many Americans, especially those belonging to the Asian American community.
Seeing Asian Americans competing in the Olympic Games has surely given a great sense of hope to Asian Americans, who believe their population growth in the U.S. will at least give them, especially Hmong females, a more significant presence in the country and diversify White neighborhoods amid the backdrop of racial segregation and reckoning in the United States.
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