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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.

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