Tuyet Le

Our beloved Tuyết Anh Mong Lê died on February 8, 2025, just weeks after her 53rd birthday. She was diagnosed with late-stage lung cancer several years ago. She took her last breath in the loving embrace of her closest family and friends. Tuyết was the daughter of Kế Văn Lê and Liên Thị Mộng Nguyễn. She arrived into the world on a hot day. On January 21, 1972, temperatures in Saigon ran into the nineties. And yet, her father named her Tuyết—Vietnamese for snow. Maybe he knew something. Three years later, when Saigon was captured by North Vietnam, the Lê family was forced to flee. Their refugee journey brought Tuyết to Milwaukee, and she went on to make a life in Chicago. The rest of her birthdays were wintry; many were dusted with snow. Tuyết family restarted their lives in Milwaukee with $75. Her dad worked double shifts as a machinist. Her mother cleaned hotel rooms downtown. Her siblings were constantly herded into chores, but not Tuyết. She once told her grandmother she felt bad that she didn’t have “a job” to help her parents. She was the youngest. And she had another challenge. At 11 months old, she was diagnosed with polio, which, in turn, caused scoliosis. She didn’t walk until she was three. From the age of five to almost ten, she was in a bulky body-brace twenty hours a day. She spent months of her childhood in the hospital for corrective surgeries. So she couldn’t help the way her siblings could. Her grandmother told her something that stuck: “Your job is to study.” Tuyet took that job seriously. She attended Nicolet High School, where she drew inspiration from the life of Harriet Tubman; then patched together scholarships and grants to attend Northwestern University. At Northwestern, Tuyết majored in Fine Arts. But she also found her voice as a young civil rights leader. At home, she had never heard her parents tell their own story. At school, Vietnam wasn’t a place, but a war. On campus, Tuyết started to organize classes on Asian American History, and began to push the University for a formal Asian American Studies program. A short decade later, Tuyết was the new Executive Director of the Asian American Institute, which she turned into the powerhouse that is now Asian Americans Advancing Justice | Chicago (Advancing Justice |Chicago), the premier Asian American civil rights organization in the region. She became a force for Asian American advancement, immigrant justice, racial equity, and disability rights. She graded politicians on Asian American inclusion, and once failed the Governor and Cook County Board President to prod them into action. When Chicago’s Mayor Daley attempted to throw Asian American contractors out of aﬃrmative action for construction projects, she galvanized the community to fight back. Years later, she won. She inspired a thousand people to brave an epic election-season snow blast to demonstrate Asian American voting power. She built the first-ever Asian American Caucus of State Legislators. She fought to redraw Congressional districts to give Asian Americans a voice in democracy. And she did it all in her very own way—the way of kindness, so diﬀerent from the hardscrabble world of Chicago politics. It was deeply moving. Perhaps that was why hundreds would come each year to hear her keynote speeches at the Advancing Justice | Chicago annual gala. Over her 18-year tenure, this became Chicago’s “state of the Asian American community” address. In one of these speeches, Tuyết told the story her parents never did, about their refugee journey. She turned it into a story about kindness. The Lê family left Saigon on a dangerously crowded boat that was stranded at sea for days, about to burst at the seams. Then a Taiwanese ship pulled alongside. They had orders to rescue only the refugees of Chinese descent. Among the hundreds on the boat there were only two—a father and a daughter. Tuyết recounted: “The Taiwanese oﬀered them passage onto their boat. But the family refused to go, unless we could all go with them. The daughter explained that we were kind enough to have taken them along with us. She said that in return, she would rather stay with us, facing uncertainty, than abandon us. The Taiwanese relented and allowed all the women and children onto their ship. The men followed behind in the fishing boat. They led us to the Philippines, where we were processed as refugees, and within less than two days we were on our way to the United States.” To the Asian American, immigrant rights, disability rights, and civil rights communities, Tuyết was a gentle, generous, and mighty leader whose kindness was matched only by her integrity; she was a wise coach and sagely counselor. To her family and friends she was also many other things. An artist. A printmaker. A knitter and crocheter of warm things. A biting satirist (she convened a secret event called Lunar Lunacy, a Lunar New Year satire of Asian Americans, politicians, and others). A pho-club founder. An original member of the British Humor Society. A binge-watcher of cozy mysteries. A jigsaw puzzle fanatic. A friend to birds and plants. Her songbird laughter will ring through the rest of our lives. Tuyết will be forever missed by her siblings Vân Anh M. Lê, Thu Anh Lê-Schlecht, Huy Q. Lê, and Tấn H. Lê; her many cousins, nieces and nephews; and her extended family including Saket Soni, Esther Hurh, Tony Streit, Gary Hsin, Elaine Kuo, Clarita Santos, Steve Merritt, Joanna Su, Elvin Chan, Dayo Gore, Mehrdad Azemun, and Jee Yeun Lee. We chose a green cremation, according to her wishes. As she was being cremated, fresh snow fell softly over Chicago, commemorating her name. If you’d like to contribute to her memory, please donate to the Chicago Botanic Gardens in Tuyết’s honor (chicagobotanic.org/donate: select “Tribute Gifts”). Tuyet was also a strong supporter of the following organizations: Asian Americans Advancing Justice | Chicago, Access Living, Vietnamese Association of Illinois, Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, Rockwood Leadership Institute, and WTTW. Celebration of Tuyết's Life: 2-5pm (eulogies begin 3pm) Sunday, July 20, 2025, Chicago Botanic Garden, 1000 Lake Cook Road, Glencoe, IL 60022. Condolence cards and letters may be sent to: The Family of Tuyet Le c/o Inclusive Funeral Care 4880 N. Clark St. Chicago, IL 60640 Arrangements by Inclusive Funeral Care, 773-370-2959 or www.InclusiveFuneralCare.com

Tuyet Le

January 20, 1972 - February 8, 2025