issues in the samoan community
TRANSCRIPT
The Dissolution of Fa’asamoa:
Challenges Faced by the San Francisco Samoan Community
Kallen, as cited in Byrne, 2005, p. viii
Fa’asamoa: the Samoan way of life
“It is at once a worldview, a way of life, a cherished heritage, a set of structured principles for ordering social life, a plethora of formidable constraints upon behavior, and an ideological underpinning for strongly positive ethno-cultural identification.”
Disproportionate Contact with the Juvenile Justice System
In 1990, Samoan youth in San Francisco were arrested at a rate of:
o 587.5 per 1000 Samoan youth o 325 per 1000 Samoan youtho 208 per 1000 Samoan youth
Samoan Youth Arrest Rates
1990: 575.5 per 1000 Samoan youth2000: 261 per 1000 Samoan youth Samoan youth experience the highest arrest
rates of any ethnic group in San Francisco, and the second highest in Alameda County
Le, Arifuku, Louis & Krisberg, 2001; Byrne, 2005
The Canary in the Coal Mine
What can these statistics tell us about problems within the systems and within the Samoan community?
Systemic ProblemsAggregation of the Asian Pacific Islander category
Lack of cultural and linguistic competency
Stereotypes about Samoans
The criminalization of poverty
Samoan Enclaves in the City
Why do Samoans remain in these enclaves?
Complacency
Low educational achievement
Concentration of Samoans in manual
labor
Persistent intergenerational residence in low income housing
Cultural emphasis on family
If Bill Gates was hanging out with thugs…
Bill Gates, 1977
The Wilds of the NeighborhoodHaving many delinquent friends is one of the
strongest predictors of a young person’s involvement in delinquent behavior .
Social disorganization theory: the values and norms of the surrounding environment conflict with and often outweigh cultural values and norms learned from home and family life.
Conflict with parents more dependency on peer social network.
Youth Identity Crisis
Acting like knuckleheads and making poor decisions.
Repping their heritage without understanding the culture or committing to
its principles.
Stressful environments and peer pressure.
Weakened hold of cultural ties.
Troy Polamalu
No More 2x4’s
1st generation
•Disciplines with corporeal punishment
•Successfully transmits language and culture
2nd generation
•Doesn’t want to/can’t use corporeal punishment
•Does not pass on language and culture
3rd generation
•Does not have structure of Samoan culture to live life by or strong sense of self
•Acts out like other kids, although it’s not the Samoan way
Hold up…
1. Should Samoans be allowed to discipline their children the way they see fit?
2. What do we do about the conflict between Samoan culture and American culture?
3. Is culture static?
Strengths of the Community
The culture and
principles of the Samoan
way
The extended family
The
enclaves