Tuesday, November 25, 1997
Alliance seeks to eliminate ‘minority in minority’ label
ASIANS: Conference touches on community, access for Pacific
Islanders
By Barbara Ortutay
Daily Bruin Contributor
Strength does not necessarily come in numbers.
A relatively small turnout did not deter students from
demonstrating spirit and a sense of community at Friday’s Pacific
Unity Alliance (PUA) conference, hosted by the Pacific Island
Student Association (PISA).
The two-day conference focused on community and campus
organization in the Pacific Islander community.
"Judging from how many people are here, I guess our statistic
about Pacific Islander access to higher education (which is
relatively low) is accurate," said Tony Ah-Hing, graduate advisor
to PISA, half-jokingly.
Friday’s portion of the conference brought together about 40
students from Pacific Islander organizations at various California
schools, including UCLA, San Francisco State University and
USC.
Organizers stressed the importance of the Pacific Islander
community joining together to form an umbrella organization that
will be a "springboard to do bigger and better things," Ah-Hing
said.
Although the number of Pacific Islander students pursuing a
college career has increased in the past few years, the numbers are
still very small, according to Salamasina Fanua, conference host
from CSU Long Beach.
She added that there is a struggle to not only get students into
college, but also to "keep and return" them.
Friday night’s conference began late – attendees from San Diego
and San Francisco were stuck in traffic – but in good spirits.
After a general introduction of schools, community
representatives and guests, keynote speaker Tupe Su’a spoke about
Omai Fa’atasi, a Samoan community organization, and on organizing
in general.
Su’a said the first step to organizing is to learn as much as
possible about the issue by talking to people in the community. He
continued on to the importance of choosing an achievable goal,
identifying the strengths and weaknesses of one’s organization, and
recognizing the opposition.
Su’a also addressed racism and stereotypes that affect the
Pacific Islander community.
There are "two types of racism – one that you carry around in
your mind, and one that is in institutions," he said. According to
Su’a, racism is visible in school tracking systems, courts and the
economy.
"There is a reason why the majority in prison is (comprised of
the) minority," he said.
A film on the Omai Fa’atasi organization and Samoan history was
scheduled to be shown before the keynote speaker took the
stage.
Although there was some trouble with technical equipment,
organizers kept the already attentive crowd engaged by passing the
microphone around and encouraging people to introduce
themselves.
Technical difficulties prevented the audience from hearing the
film the first time, but as Fanua put it, "Even without the audio,
you see our perspectives in the faces of our brothers and
sisters."
The film was shown in its entirety at the conclusion of the
night.
Much of the evening’s conference was interactive, and the
audience took advantage of the experienced campus and community
organizers who were on hand to answer questions.
The conference brought up many issues in this community. Usually
Pacific Islanders get "clumped with the Asian community, which
skews numbers and statistics," Ah-Hing said.
The conference is an important step to gain visibility in
schools, to promote higher education and outreach, and offer
solutions to problems in the community, Ah-Hing added.
"We are labeled as a minority in a minority, and we want to
change that," Fanua said.
YEN YEN LEE
A student talks with Phil Tokia, a lawyer who spoke at the
Pacific Unity Alliance Conference.