Bumper sticker advocates anti-Hmong violence

updated 4:36 p.m. ET Dec. 14, 2004

MANKATO, Minn. - A store that sells bumper stickers said it would stop selling one that advocates violence against the Hmong in light of a fatal shooting in Wisconsin.

Custom Now, a store in the River Hills Mall, has been selling a bumper sticker that reads, “Save a Hunter Shoot a Mung.”

Though misspelled, the slogan was seen as a reference to last month’s shooting in Wisconsin. St. Paul resident Chai Soua Vang, a Hmong man, has been charged with murdering six deer hunters after a dispute over a deer stand.

Shopper Jessica Flatequal said she complained to management and was told the store sells many offensive items. “When I asked to talk to someone about it, they said it’s in reference to the hunting incident,” she said.

Flatequal said she was then asked to leave the store.

Some local Hmong residents said the bumper stickers disturbed them.

A store manager who declined to give his name said the word “mung” in the bumper sticker was actually an acronym for “minuscule unseen naughty gnat.”

“It’s not racist,” he said.

Later Monday, River Hills Mall managers issued a statement saying the store would stop selling the stickers.

“We were unaware the item was being sold,” the mall’s general manager, Paul Wilke, said in a news release. “When it came to our attention, we asked the item be removed from the shelves out of respect for all involved.”

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