Twin Cities Hmong artist and activist Tou Ger Xiong kidnapped and killed in Colombia
Updated: 7:59 p.m.
This story comes to you from Sahan Journal. MPR News is a partner with Sahan Journal and will be sharing stories between SahanJournal.com and MPRNews.org.
Twin Cities artist and activist Tou Ger Xiong was murdered Monday after being kidnapped in South America, according to a prepared statement from his family.
Xiong, 50, was killed while on a trip to Medellín, Colombia.
“It is with immense sadness that we share the heartbreaking news of the discovery of the body of our beloved family member,” the Xiong family statement reads. “Tou Ger Xiong was a cherished member of our family, and the pain of his loss is indescribable.”
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“Shredded to pieces, weighed down with grief for my friend, my little brother, and my children’s Uncle Funny—Tou Ger Xiong,” former Minnesota state senator Mee Moua wrote in a statement. The Hmong diaspora, she said, has “lost a one of a kind modern day hero.”
Xiong’s abduction occurred during a date this past Sunday with a woman he had met on social media, according to El Colombiano, a daily newspaper in Colombia. A group of men kidnapped Xiong and contacted his family, asking for a $2,000 ransom, or 8 million Colombian pesos. They killed Xiong the next day, according to El Colombiano.
Xiong’s body was found outside of an apartment with more than a dozen stab wounds, El Colombiano reported. Police suspect he also suffered a nearly 60-foot fall.
Xiong had arrived in Colombia on November 29 to spend the holidays abroad, according to the newspaper.
“We are cooperating fully with law enforcement agencies who are diligently working to investigate this heinous crime,” the family statement reads. “We trust in their commitment to bringing those responsible to justice, and we implore anyone with information to come forward and assist in this effort.”
U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-Minnesota) said in an email to Sahan Journal that her office has been in contact with the State Department about Xiong’s abduction and death. “What happened to Tou Ger is heartbreaking. Archie and I can’t imagine what his family is going through. We’re praying for all of them,” Smith wrote. “I will work to ensure his remains are safely transported back to Minnesota.”
“This is devastating news,” U.S. Representative Betty McCollum (D-Minnesota) wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “My heart goes out to Tou Ger Xiong’s family & our entire Hmong community. As a comedian and activist, his work touched many lives in the Twin Cities and beyond.”
Celebrating cultural diversity through laughter
Xiong was well-known in the Twin Cities community as a storyteller and activist.
He was born in Laos in 1973. His father fought in the Secret War, and the family fled the country in 1975. For the next four years, they lived in a refugee camp in Thailand, then came to the United States.
Xiong grew up in St. Paul and attended Humboldt High School, where he graduated as valedictorian of his class. He later received a political science degree from Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota.
While at Carleton, Xiong created Project Respectism, an initiative that combined comedy, storytelling, and rap music into educational performances. He also performed stand-up shows. On his LinkedIn page, Xiong described his approach as “celebrating cultural diversity through laughter.”
He starred in the 1997 TV movie Portraits from the Cloth, about a Hmong family’s journey escaping war. In 2004, the Chicago Tribune called him “America’s only Hmong comedian.”
For many people, Xiong was the first Hmong performer or comedian they had ever seen, said Terri Thao. She knew Xiong for decades, since he attended high school with her now-husband.
In total, he gave more than 1,600 presentations to audiences in 48 states, according to his biography for the 2022 Asian Pacific Minnesotans Leadership Awards Dinner, which he emceed.
“He knew how powerful voice could be,” Thao said. Though many people knew him through his performances, she also had the opportunity to see his work behind the scenes. He often opened up his home for community events and meetings. And he was often one of the only men supporting Hmong women advocates, she said. “Whatever he did, he didn’t do it just because he wanted the individual glory or credit,” Thao said. “He did it for the love of community.”
“In a time when we needed belonging, your stories anchored our Hmong children in their roots,” Moua said in her statement, addressing Xiong. “Your songs and your dance invited elders to embrace the new without fear of losing their cultural identity. Your social, cultural, and political commentary solidified Hmong America’s notion of ourselves as gifted, creative, and amazing beings and made relations with those who would have othered us. Your legacy as an artist and activist will not be forgotten.”
In 2015, Xiong helped organize the first Hmong Minnesota Day at the Minnesota State Fair. In 2019, he was granted a Bush Fellowship to conduct antiracism and civic engagement work while earning a master’s degree in public affairs.
Throughout his adulthood, Xiong was frequently seen around town in his work as a comedian, public speaker, artist, and activist. His activism for the Hmong community took him far from Minnesota as well.
In 2007, he was an active spokesperson calling for justice when a white man killed a Hmong hunter in Wisconsin. In 2021, he attended a rally in California for a Hmong man killed by law enforcement. And Thao said he helped trailblaze Hmong solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.
‘He was a rock star’
Yee Chang, a friend of Xiong for more than three decades, met Xiong when he was a teenager in the Upward Bound program. Chang at the time was a counselor for the program and a student at St. Olaf College in Northfield.
“He was a rock star, a social justice champion, a community advocate, a hero in every sense in the Hmong American community for over 30 years,” Chang told Sahan Journal. “For everyone who has been lucky enough to cross his path, call him a friend, or laughed and smiled because of his infectious and larger than life presence, Tou will forever be loved and remembered.”
Moua said that she and her husband were grateful to have known Xiong.
“The lives you have touched and inspired will continue to ripple across oceans and continents to no end,” she said. “The light of goodness, joy and laughter you have ignited will never dim.”
Becky Z. Dernbach contributed reporting.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated as more information becomes available.