On the morning of September 17, 2006, Chonburi Xiong was fatally shot by police in his bedroom in the basement of his parents' home in Warren, Michigan. The police fired 40 shots, 27 of which hit 18-year old Xiong.

According to police accounts, the day before the shooting, the family called the police to their house when Xiong, having been refused use of the family car, fired a gun in the house. He then took the car and returned home sometime later that night. The police spotted the car in the driveway and proceeded to enter the home. According to the Xiong family, they did so without permission. After entering the basement to retrieve Xiong's gun, the police claim, Xiong aimed the weapon and in response they began firing, hitting Xiong with 27 bullets.

An internal review and Macomb County Prosecutor's Office investigation concluded that the use of force was justified and cleared the officers.

In response to the shooting, the Xiong family has filed a federal $5 million civil rights and gross negligence lawsuit against the Warren Police Department although any trial is still about a year away.

The Chonburi Xiong case has brought attention to southeastern Michigan's Hmong (pronounced MUNG) community, an ethnic group from northern Laos and Vietnam. The case has raised questions not only about the excessive use of force but also cultural literacy and communication. For example, the Warren police lack members who are fluent in Hmong language and familiar with the community.

The Detroit Asian Youth (DAY) Project, which develops leadership skills and raises consciousness among Asian American youth in Detroit, is at the center of the activities that are raising the profile of issues facing the local Hmong community. Since 2004, the group has been engaging Hmong teens through community-based projects to promote a greater understanding of Detroit's Asian American community. Troubled by the recent police shooting, the group, which includes a relative of Xiong, have begun learning about their rights when dealing with the police, reaching out to other groups and hosting public forums.

By December 2006, the DAY Project had formed a loose coalition of people who wanted to organize an event that would gather the community together. The result was a memorial for Chonburi Xiong, in February 2007. The memorial was paired with a Community Assembly on Police Violence and Racial Discrimination. Held at Our Lady of Good Counsel Church Detroit's eastside, the event included statements from community leaders, youth performances, and a know-your-rights section featuring speakers from the ACLU, and the NAACP. Nearly 200 people attended the service, held in both English and Hmong, in which community members wondered aloud why the shooting occurred, what to do next and how to attain some form of justice.

Another education and outreach event was held in April. DAY Project partnered the Legal Education Advocacy Project (LEAP) and Detroit Summer to put together a speak-out about violence, race and the police during one of Detroit Summer's monthly community potlucks.

The "No Right to Abuse Us" potluck featured film, poetry, history, and presentations by local youth groups amidst a backdrop of vibrant colored murals and hip hop music. This event was focused not only on Chonburi Xiong, but also on Brandon Martell Moore, age 16, who was fatally shot by police in December 2006. When the DAY Project youth came to the stage, they explained that the shooting has shaken the Asian American community and civil rights organizations' confidence with the police.

Reflecting on the 27 shots that killed Xiong, one speaker asked: "How can police not think of a single thing they did wrong or could have done differently?

How can we feel safe?"

The role of cultural and language barriers when it comes to interaction with the police is a central issue for the Hmong youth. Mai Chou Lor, a DAY Project speaker at the "No Right To Abuse Us" event, explained, "There was a language barrier and there was no translator. Problems exist when going into a person's house that doesn't speak the language."

Stephanie Chang, a DAY Project mentor, explained that a lack of understanding exists in the community about what the police are supposed to do and when the appropriate time is to call them. According to Chang, in the case of Chonburi, the Xiong family did not know whom to turn to when their son misbehaved and so they called the police. In the Hmong community, the cultural and language barriers of older generations impact the civic knowledge of all. She explains, "If the parents don't know then the kids don't know. Realizing this, the DAY Project youth have seized the opportunity to educate themselves and get information out to the community about their rights with regards to the police.

DAY Project members say that the City of Warren has not been forthcoming when asked questions about the Chonburi Xiong case. According to Lor, "Participation is growing, but mostly in the Hmong community, we have heard nothing from the police, no answers." Scott Kurashige, a professor at the University of Michigan and DAY Project mentor, attempted to contact the Mayor of Warren and received no response.

The majority of southeastern Michigan's Hmong community and DAY Project youth live in northeast Detroit, but more and more have left the city to settle in Warren. Understanding the context in which the shooting of Chonburi Xiong took place is important to the group. At the "No Right To Abuse Us" event, Hlee Xiong spoke briefly about the history of Detroit and Warren. Since the 1950s, she explained, Warren has grown from a small town to a big city.

Warren lies immediately north of Detroit, and is Detroit's largest suburb, part of the massive suburbanization of the post World War II era. During the postwar period, many whites fearing an influx of Blacks into their neighborhoods, left the city for suburbs such as Warren. Since the 1980s, however, the population of the city has consistently declined. Warren is no longer the "destination city" as it once was. Between 1990 and 2005, the city lost 6.6% of its population. While its population is decreasing, it is also becoming more racially diverse. In 1990, over 97 percent of the city's population of 145,000 identified as white. By 2005, the city's white population had decreased by almost 20 percent. Warren's previously negligible Black and Asian population has risen an estimated 7.3 and 5.1 percent, respectively.

The Hmong are among this new generation of Warren residents. The first groups of Hmong refugees began arriving in the United States in 1975, shortly after the communist takeover in Laos. During the Vietnam War, the Hmong allied themselves with United States. After the war ended, many Hmong were forced to flee their homes to avoid the retaliation of the communists. An estimated 25,000-30,000 Hmong died during the war as a result of supporting the United States. In 1979, the U.S. resettlement of Hmong refugees increased significantly, and by the mid-1990s more than 100,000 Hmong had been admitted to the United States. According to the 2000 Census, there are currently more than 186,000 Hmong Americans living throughout the United States, with the largest populations located in California, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan. The Xiong family follows the pattern of migration of many Hmong who relocated to the US. They arrived in Detroit in 1990, and seeking a bigger home, moved to Warren in 2003. Pang Blia Xiong, Chonburi Xiong's father, explains:

"We did not know much about the city, but we liked the houses and we heard that our children could get a good education in the Warren public schools. For nearly three years, we always considered our neighborhood safe, and we trusted the Warren police. We know there are many good men and women on the force and that they have a difficult and important job. But we never imagined that our son, Chonburi, could be killed by police officers in our own home."

The DAY Project youth and others organizing in the wake of the killing of Xiong are offering the city an opportunity. As Kurashige pointed out at Xiong's memorial, the Hmong and other minorities are moving to and investing in Warren at a time when the population is dwindling. To survive, the city needs to work with and embrace its new residents. Ultimately, the youth are offering the city an opportunity to build a future based on communication, diversity and justice. Whether the "City of Progress" will have the vision to accept the invitation is one of the many questions inspired by the death of Chonburi Xiong that remain to be answered.