Immigrant's $1.3B Powerball win spotlights the Iu Mien community
Release time：2024-05-21 21:46:18 Source：Culture Connection news portal
SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Cheng “Charlie” Saephan wore a broad smile and a bright blue sash emblazoned with the words “Iu-Mien USA” as he hoisted an oversized check for $1.3 billion above his head.
The 46-year-old immigrant’s luck in winning an enormous Powerball jackpot in Oregon earlier this month — a lump sum payment of $422 million after taxes, which he and his wife will split with a friend — has changed his life. It also raised awareness about Iu Mien people, a southeast Asian ethnic group with origins in China, many of whose members fled from Laos to Thailand and then settled in the U.S. following the Vietnam War.
“I am born in Laos, but I am not Laotian,” Saephan told a news conference Monday at Oregon Lottery headquarters, where his identity as one of the jackpot’s winners was revealed. “I am Iu Mien.”
During the Vietnam War, the CIA and U.S. military recruited Iu Mien in neighboring Laos, many of them subsistence farmers, to engage in guerrilla warfare and to provide intelligence and surveillance to disrupt the Ho Chi Minh Trail that the North Vietnamese used to send troops and weapons through Laos and Cambodia into South Vietnam.
- Previous：It's no wonder parents are taking their children on holiday during term time! Sky
- Next：Who is Abi Carter? Inside the American Idol winner's unconventional family life
Related articles
- Pregnancy app used by the NHS accused of 'imposing gender ideology'
- Migrants storm onto California beach after landing in boat as stunned crowds look on
- Antiques Roadshow guest is left stunned at his 'over the top' belt buckle's shocking real price
- Austrian court says convicted rapist Josef Fritzl can be moved to prison from psychiatric detention
- Company wins court ruling to continue development of Michigan factory serving EV industry
- Georgian parliament holds third and final reading of divisive bill on foreign influence
- Migrants storm onto California beach after landing in boat as stunned crowds look on
- Depleted Blue Jays overcome illness to beat Baltimore: 'This was a huge (expletive) win'
- Kate Hudson hits the stage to debut songs from her new album Glorious at star
- Katharina Wagner will lead the Bayreuth Festival for 5 more years
- How Diddy made himself the 'victim' in apology video where he does not mention ex
- Austrian court says convicted rapist Josef Fritzl can be moved to prison from psychiatric detention
- Kim Kardashian shares behind
- Maradona heirs say his Golden Ball trophy was stolen and want to stop its auction
- I visited the most crowded island on Earth
- Hundreds of Syrian refugees head home as anti
- Anya Taylor
- Xi's visit to Hungary, Serbia provide fertile ground for Chinese expansion in Europe
- Six killed in a 'foiled coup' in Congo, the army says
- Georgian parliament holds third and final reading of divisive bill on foreign influence
Random recommendation
- Copyright © 2024 Powered by Immigrant's $1.3B Powerball win spotlights the Iu Mien community ,Culture Connection news portal sitemap