Episode seventy - seven: An Exploration In To Yellow Rain

In the years following the so called ‘secret war’, when the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency trained the ethnic group of the Hmong to fight against the Northern Vietnamese, mysterious reports emerged of a yellow substance falling out of aircrafts and causing harm, sometimes fatally, to the Hmong. Reports from Hmong migrants leaving Laos detailed the destruction this substance, which was later labelled as ‘Yellow Rain,' and a harsh debate regarding the possibility that it was a chemical weapon ensued. That’s the topic of Mai Der Vang’s second poetry collection which was published last year. It’s titled Yellow Rain and it was just named a finalist for this year’s Pulitzer Prize in poetry. Mai Der will talk about Yellow Rain and we’ll hear some of her poems.

Ezra
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