How disrespectful it is that eight members of our community were killed and we were met with ‘Happy St. Patrick’s Day’ greetings from white colleagues the next day. We saw more social media posts about celebrations than acknowledgement of our suffering and our grieving.

From a student, to a school administrative manager at Minneapolis Public Schools Hmong International Academy, to chairwoman of the St. Paul Board of Education, Xiong was an advocate for education.

“If [children] see only reflections of themselves, they will grow up with an exaggerated sense of their own importance and value in the world. A dangerous ethnocentrism.”