By Sheng Thao

My mom fled her home country of Laos during the secret war in the early 1970s when genocide was being perpetrated against our people – the Hmong people.

She lost her first husband, a soldier, to the war. And when she finally escaped, she was a widowed mother of a 1-year-old, and also eight months pregnant.

During her escape, my mother was shot in the arm, and being the fighter that she is, she was going to do whatever she could to make sure her children would make it out safe.

My father and mother met in a refugee camp in Thailand before they immigrated to the United States. It was there that my mother changed her name to Chua, which translates to “wind.”

They settled in Stockton, California, in 1979. They didn’t have much, but they raised me and my nine siblings with a strong foundation of love, a focus on family values, and a commitment to supporting the community.

As a mother who is disabled, not able to drive, who didn’t understand the language of her new home, she thrived and persisted and conquered.

The strength of my mother, in fighting back against persecution and injustice inspires me to fight for others to this very day.

My mother has always been the glue that holds our family together.

A woman who still carries a bullet in her arm, a woman who was not given a fair opportunity to succeed in a new world that she did not choose, and yet, she continuously learned how to adapt and survive.

Through her persistence, she ensured that all of her children were given all the opportunities that she was never afforded.

That persistence is why I am able to be here today standing up for those without a voice.

So, this Women’s History Month and every month and every day, I honor Chua Thao as my mother, our family’s matriarch, and the strongest person I will ever meet.

Thank you, Mom, for leading the way.

Love,

Councilmember Sheng Thao

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