A general of this ethnicity who reportedly cheated on an entrance exam was arrested in Operation Tarnished Eagle for attempting a coup in his native country. These people’s service alongside the US is memorialized in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Alexander Haig claimed that Soviet “yellow rain” chemical weapons targeted this ethnicity. Refugees of this ethnicity who fought in the “Secret War” were led by Vang Pao. People of this ethnicity are portrayed in Clint Eastwood’s film Gran Torino as well as an Anne Fadiman book about a Merced family whose child suffers from epilepsy. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down depicts a family of this ethnicity that primarily settled near Fresno and Minneapolis. For 10 points, what Southeast Asian ethnicity did the CIA back to fight communists in Laos? ■END■
ANSWER: Hmong [or Hmong American or Hmoob; accept Hmong Daw or Mong Njua; prompt on Miao; prompt on Laotians or Laotian Americans; reject “Lao” or “Lao American”]
<American History>
= Average correct buzz position