Opportunity
Island Hoping:
In American Samoa, High School Football Is Seen as the Ultimate Escape
By Eli Saslow
PAGO PAGO, American Samoa
Ne'emia Vitale usually needs only a few minutes to walk home from football practice, following a one-lane street bordered by tin-roof huts and long trails of rotting litter. But today, he stalls.
He kicks up loose gravel with his size 13 flip-flops and shoos the wild dogs and chickens that rove near his feet. After sprinting and tackling for three hours on a field dotted by lava rocks, Ne'emia's Oakland Athletics T-shirt is sodden with sweat and streaks of blood. He chugs tap water out of a used plastic Gatorade bottle, which he picked out of a trash heap a few minutes earlier and rinsed because he had no other container from which to drink.
Ne'emia, 17, stops at a faded blue shack under a handwritten sign that reads "Convenience Mart." Doritos cost 50 cents, and Ne'emia fishes in his pocket. Damn. Only one quarter left from his $1 weekly allowance. Ne'emia buys a small bag of chicken-flavored Bongo chips instead.
Outside, he sits on the curb, shakes perspiration from his curly muddle of long black hair and leans back against a garbage can. From there, he can look to his left and see his family's rusted, two-room house, where six relatives are buried in the front yard. Or he can look right, toward the high school football field, where dozens of Samoan boys have played their way off this island and hundreds more dream of achieving the same.
"Sometimes," Ne'emia says, his hand sifting through the Bongo chips, "I wish football practice lasted all day."
The rest of Ne'emia's afternoon consists of an endless list of chores. While his father works 12-hour days for $150 per week, Ne'emia must feed the pigs, care for the banana trees, catch and drown a chicken, cook dinner for the family, gather two dozen coconuts and sweep the blue-and-pink checkered tile floor on which the family of six sleeps. Ne'emia worries his list will go on like this, anchoring him here for another 60 years until he's buried in the family's front yard, forever stuck on this four-mile-wide island in the middle of the Pacific.
Unless . . .
* * *
At 6 a.m. in American Samoa, the equatorial sun climbs above the ocean, and thousands of people trickle out of one-room houses jammed into villages along the beach. Like Ne'emia's father, Vai, they walk to the edge of the island's main road and pay $1 to hitch rides to work on the beds of crowded pickups. A procession of trucks weaves along the shoreline at 15 mph, cutting around jagged mountains and dense forests of banana and breadfruit trees.
Even though it's just after sunrise on a July day, the dead of winter here, the temperature already has eclipsed 90 degrees. A warm, coastal breeze blows off the water, and it whistles through the two gigantic tuna canneries that employ one-third of the island's workforce. The salty scent of raw fish -- "the death smell," residents call it -- sweeps across the island.
It's a hazy morning, and the blue skies and blue waves that engulf American Samoa blend into an indecipherable horizon; there is nothing out there to see. Australia is about 2,500 miles to the west. The continental United States is about 5,000 miles to the northeast.
Ne'emia never has left this island, and he divides geography into two categories. You're either on island or off island. A twice-weekly jet service and a tenuous relationship with the United States are practically all that connect American Samoa to the outside world. The island became a U.S. territory in 1900, but it hasn't been essential since it served as a staging area during World War II. "They say we're not as strategically important anymore," said Eni F.H. Faleomavaega (D), the territory's nonvoting delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives. "But if China or Japan starts snooping around the Pacific with some submarines, we'll be pretty important then."
Mainland America exists primarily as a symbol of luxury for the island's 58,000 residents, who devour the U.S. exports that reach their shores. McDonald's is the island's most popular restaurant. A banner near the airport "proudly announces" the opening of a Carl's Jr. next month. Football, played nowhere else in this part of the world, has become an islandwide obsession.
A visiting U.S. teacher introduced football at a local high school in the late 1960s, and the game quickly overtook rugby as the island's favorite sport. Football, founded on hitting and shoving, won respect in a culture that honors its most physically dominant men by naming them village chiefs. Schools stake their reputations on football; players earn cachet for being good at it.
![[Graphic]](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/sports/interactives/partfour/228_part4G.gif)
Forty-one players of Samoan descent are listed on National Football League rosters, and three players from American Samoa were selected in this year's NFL draft. Over the last five years, about 15 percent of the boys who graduated from high school in American Samoa left the island to play college or junior college football in the United States. Players of Samoan descent such as Junior Seau, Joe Salave'a and Troy Polamalu have made football the premier spectator sport on the island, even though Sunday NFL games are televised here quite early in the morning.
On the brink of his senior year of high school, Ne'emia anticipates his future with the same hit-or-miss mentality that's common among his peers. He could work in the tuna cannery, or maybe follow his dad into construction and make around $7,500 per year.
Or he could practice football. And leave.
* * *
On a Thursday afternoon in late July, Ne'emia arrives at Leone High School in shorts, shoulder pads and an oversize football helmet that bobs as he jogs. He sits at the center of the school's unmarked field next to about 100 other boys who look similarly ill fitted for the four-hour practice ahead. Some wear sandals. Others hold helmets lacking interior foam. Most wear hand-me-down replica jerseys never intended for full-contact use. On the far west side of American Samoa, Dan Marino, John Elway and Marshall Faulk sit next to each other under the midday sun and chat in Samoan, a language heavy on vowels and pauses.
Pati Pati, the head coach at Leone, walks onto the field and the players fall silent. The coach wears dark-rimmed glasses, and a whistle hangs around his neck and bounces off his belly. He played football for four seasons at Iowa Wesleyan in the 1990s and returned to American Samoa determined to modernize the local game. He banned his players from practicing in their ie lavalavas, skirtlike wraps traditionally worn by men. He introduced weightlifting and raised funds to buy five used dumbbells and a rusted bench press.
![[Photo]](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/photo/2007/08/08/PH2007080801937.jpg)
Last season, Pati led Leone to a championship in the island's six-team league, his first title in five seasons as head coach. Afterward, he used his connections in the United States to send nine seniors to play college football on the mainland. Two hundred of the 400 boys at Leone High School came out to the first football practice of the season, but almost half quit in the first few weeks because Pati made them run four miles after each practice. Today, as the coach steps in front of his team, the remaining players clap.
"Thank you for coming today, and for making the decision to devote yourself to this team," Pati says. "Remember, every day is important to our final goal of winning a championship. What will we give today?"
The players answer in practiced unison, "We give everything!"
It's something of a motto for football across American Samoa. At some schools, the first day of practice begins only a few days after the previous season's championship game. Most teams practice for four to five hours each day in June and July. At Faga'itua High School, on the eastern side of the island, Coach Pooch Ta'ase mandates an hour of weightlifting, three hours of practice and 90 minutes of conditioning each day. "If they go home with any energy," Ta'ase says, "then I call it a bad practice."
![[Photo]](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/photo/2007/08/08/PH2007080801924.jpg)
Each season, about a dozen college coaches travel 15 hours by air to recruit on this island. They come because many Samoans look like prototypical offensive linemen, with broad shoulders and gigantic thighs. They come back, annually, because Samoans play football at full speed, all the time, conditioned for obsession.
Late in the afternoon at Leone High School, Pati blows his whistle and tells his players to begin a full-contact scrimmage, a daily ritual. He tosses out a rubber ball with fake plastic laces, and his players line up on what Pati calls the "best practice field" on the island. A chain-link fence keeps out a dozen barking dogs, and nearby palm trees provide a hint of shade in the late afternoon. Year-round practices have worn away most of the grass, and incessant summer rainfall carved deep crevasses near the 10- and 20-yard lines. Fist-size lava rocks -- bruisers, the players call them -- are imbedded in the dirt.
Ne'emia, a senior captain, lines up at right guard and plows a path for his running back. He's thin for an offensive lineman at just taller than 6 feet and 235 pounds, with gigantic calf muscles that he shaves to keep cool. He wears a hint of a mustache, and tufts of his hair -- last cut in 2005 -- spill from the back of his helmet. Three years of fighting in the football trenches has permanently swollen Ne'emia's hands, so he can't squeeze them into fists.
![[Photo]](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/photo/2007/08/08/PH2007080801926.jpg)
Coaches on the island believe Ne'emia has the power and speed to succeed at almost any position, even at the Division I college level. His mother, Queen, was a shot-putter; Vai Vitale was a boxer. They met at the Pacific Games in 1989 and, a year later, gave birth to a son blessed with both of their talents. Ne'emia dreams of becoming a tight end in college, so he can block on one play and sprint downfield on the next. His 2.6 grade-point average -- which includes poor grades in some core science classes -- might hamper his eligibility, so Ne'emia takes a daily two-hour SAT prep class offered for free to the island's best football players.
On this day, he grunts during the scrimmage while he manhandles the defensive lineman across from him. Iake Teo, the afternoon's unfortunate opponent, repeatedly falls backward under Ne'emia's weight, and Iake's thighs and shoulders grind against the rocks and dirt.
"Stop trying to hurt me," Teo says, speaking in Samoan. "This is only a scrimmage."
"I won't stop," Ne'emia says. "Do you think Faga'itua will take it easy if you ask?"
![[Info]](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/sports/interactives/partfour/inTheirOwnWords.gif)
All six teams in American Samoa play each other twice during a regular season that begins in August. Each game is played at the same 5,000-seat stadium and broadcast live on Samoa's only radio station. In November, the two best teams meet in the island's championship game. Last year, Leone beat Faga'itua by a touchdown. Fights erupted in the stands. Coaches brawled. Ta'ase, the head coach at Faga'itua, got punched in the face and later filed charges with the police.
Sports officials on the island work to minimize football-related violence -- police escorts are provided for all team buses and some varsity games start as early as 8 a.m. -- but they've yet to experience much improvement. Each high school represents villages, and village pride fuels tension in American Samoa. The west side of the island is decorated mainly in the green of Leone's Lions; the east side is covered in red for Faga'itua's Vikings. Other subsections are bathed in blue, or gold, or yellow -- a whole island segregated by colors. Some residents of each village line the street and throw stones at a rival team's bus as it passes through.
"We all have to duck under the windows," Ne'emia says.
At the end of practice, Pati ushers two medium-size stray dogs inside the fence. He tells his players to line up for conditioning, blows his whistle and watches his team thunder downfield. The dogs take off after the players, their chase instincts triggered. They catch up to the last runner, bark and snap at the player's ankles. The runner speeds up to avoid being bitten, and the dogs go after the next-slowest runner. Pati slaps his hand against his thigh and laughs.
"See that?" he says. "That's what we call a speed coach in American Samoa."
* * *
Ne'emia and his father built the family's house in eight days, exhausting all $800 of the family savings. Vai, 39, erected 10-foot walls made from used plywood, and he set a foundation on a small plot along a semicircle of seven homes that all are occupied by the extended Vitale family. On the last day of construction, in 2001, Vai and Ne'emia covered the windows with chicken wire and placed a grooved tin roof over the house. The roof sits about a foot higher than the top of the wall, so bugs, birds and cats move in and out of the house unencumbered. Rain beats on the tin roof and echoes like a beating drum. When summer storms bring sideways rain, water flies under the roof and soaks the house.
![[Photo]](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/sports/interactives/compete/FootballPractice_140x100.jpg)
![[Photo]](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/sports/interactives/compete/WeightTraining_140x100.jpg)
![[Photo]](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/sports/interactives/compete/DownTime_140x100.jpg)
![[Photo]](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/sports/interactives/compete/chores_140x100.jpg)
The $800 ran out before Vai could build a bathroom, so the Vitale's used a neighbor's toilet for a few years. When Vai had set aside enough money from his $300 biweekly paychecks, he cornered off a section of the kitchen with a blue plastic sheet and made a shower head out of an exposed plumbing pipe. He wired the house for electricity and attached a single fan to the roof of the living-and-sleeping room. Even here near the equator, where it always gets dark at about 6 p.m., the Vitales rarely turn on their lights because electricity costs too much.
Vai works construction, a job that forces him to leave the house at 7 a.m. six days each week for 12-hour shifts. He still looks like a boxer, chiseled at 150 pounds with alert eyes that dart around the room as he talks. He moved here from Samoa, the neighboring island, after he met Queen, and he's one of the few people on this island who speaks almost no English. He takes his family to Catholic Mass each morning at 5 a.m., then leaves early to smoke Kool cigarettes in the parking lot. After work, he sits in a wooden chair, strokes his long goatee and drinks a couple of 22-ounce Vailima beers.
![[Info]](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/sports/interactives/partfour/opp_228.gif)
He expects Ne'emia to take care of the house, because that's what tradition dictates in Samoa. Children do the bulk of the chores until they can make a significant contribution to the family income. Ne'emia's three siblings are all younger, and Queen, who weighs more than 300 pounds, is debilitated by bad hips and knees. She spends most of her days in a chair on the front porch, directing Ne'emia, who rarely complains. "I know, as long as I'm here, the house is my responsibility," he says.
Each afternoon during his chores, Ne'emia tells Queen that he might leave soon, for the mainland. Pati knows an old friend who coaches at a junior college in Los Angeles, and he's talked to the coach about Ne'emia. Ne'emia doesn't know anything about Los Angeles -- "Is it cold there?" -- but he'd take any flight that departed this island, which locals call "The Rock."
"Maybe one day I'd come back here, take care of my parents, be with my whole family and love American Samoa," Ne'emia says. "But first, I want to leave."
On a Sunday morning at 5:40 a.m., Ne'emia wakes up on the tile floor where he sleeps next to his parents and siblings. He puts on mesh shorts and a tank top and walks outside to stretch. Every Sunday before church, Ne'emia prepares an umu, a traditional oven consisting of heated stones under banana and taro leaves.
He searches through the yard and the pigpen to gather 10 coconuts, which he piles together in the back yard. Ne'emia takes out a machete and splits the coconuts in half, spilling their milk into a green plastic bucket. He scrapes out meat with a knife, bending over the coconut and digging into it with his forearms and shoulders. Twenty minutes later, he takes a break to help a cousin climb into a tree and grab 15 breadfruits, a flavorless carbohydrate that is popular because it is substantive and cheap. Two of Ne'emia's uncles work to peel the breadfruits with recycled tuna cans as the sun begins to rise over their shoulders.
Ne'emia starts a fire on a slab of concrete near the pigpen and sets out the breadfruit and coconut meat to cook. He feeds the pigs and hoses down the pen. At 7 a.m. on a Sunday morning, he looks as if he's finished a vigorous workout. Ne'emia pulls up his tank top to wipe sweat off his face, and then he disappears into the house to shower and change before mass.
![[Photo]](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/photo/2007/08/08/PH2007080801934.jpg)
Three hours later, Ne'emia and his family come home and eat the feast he has prepared. Vai sets the food on a table, buffet style, and Ne'emia picks up a plate. He walks past the breadfruit, past the coconut, past a traditional seafood soup. He heaps his plate with fried chicken and rice left over from earlier in the week, which he eats with his hands.
"You don't want anything else?" Queen asks.
"No," Ne'emia says. "I don't really like any of those other things. I just make them for tradition."
* * *
Each Wednesday and Sunday, an aging, one-gate airport becomes the epicenter of American Samoa when a 767 lands on the island to shuttle passengers to and from Hawaii. Three hours before the plane lands -- and five hours before it leaves -- thousands of people gather in the outdoor waiting area. Adults gossip. Teenagers clap and play basketball. Samoan soft rock blares from speakers at the airport restaurant.
In American Samoa, it's traditional for an entire extended family to go to the airport to watch any family member arrive or depart. But most of the Samoans who come to watch the plane have no family members on the flights. They're at the airport, they say, out of pure curiosity: Who's coming to the island this week? And who's leaving? It's as if they seek confirmation that American Samoa can be left.
Ne'emia likes to go when he can. He rides two miles east from his house with friends in the bed of a pickup truck. They pay $1 to park in the airport lot and then buy some snacks from an outdoor market to bring out to the tarmac. Ne'emia sits a few hundred yards from the runway and listens to the jet engines rumble. With the ocean breeze in his face, he watches as the wheels lift off the ground and the plane takes flight, destined for somewhere else.
Discussion Transcript: August 13
» Eli Saslow was online to answer questions about this installment.
Posted by: Alan Hopkins | August 12, 2007 12:35 AM
It sounds like many of the forgotten US territories, with exception to the football craze. Saipan may have a stronger economy comparatively.
However, it's probably fair to say that many of the US territories are doing much more poorly than any of the areas in the rust belt of mainland USA.
Lily
Zurich, Switzerland
Posted by: | August 12, 2007 02:06 AM
Very good article, but it misses a *huge* part of the story-- Hawaii schools have been recruiting Samoan kids to play football for decades. Not just University of Hawaii, but *the high schools*, because high school football is about as big in Hawaii as it is in the Midwest. I don't believe the NFL and mainland schools caught on to Samoa as a recruiting pool until more recently-- and in any case, Hawaii is usually the lilypad for the best players on their way to mainland schools and the NFL.
Posted by: | August 12, 2007 03:59 AM
Football is not the ultimate escape. Joining the U.S. Military is the ultimate escape. Before football was introduce in American Samoa, almost all young Samoans are eager to join the military after graduating from high school. I myself escaped and retired from the military. Many Samoans left the island in the forties and the fifties by ship to the U.S. mainland to join the military. Some return home, and some decide to reside in the mainland. There are Samoans living in almost all the State of the Union near a military base. They retired from the military and decided to make that State their home.
Posted by: | August 12, 2007 05:39 AM
Great story and angle. I appreciated the focus on family tradition, and the pull b/t going away and ties to home -- who doesn't experience that, no matter where they live? For Samoans who live on an island, it becomes the huge question in their life. It reminded me of Friday night lights, but Texas or Florida or is an easy story (you could have even gone to Hawaii); I commend you all on seeking out the difficult story and telling it in situ.
Posted by: Rhett Hartman | August 12, 2007 08:48 AM
Re Samoans in the military. There used to be, maybe still are, more Samoans living in Oceanside, CA (home of the USMC's Camp Pendleton) than any other city in the United States.
Posted by: | August 12, 2007 09:11 AM
Why aren't federal territories subject to federal wage laws?
I have a hard time believing that dad is working 12 hour days making 150 a week (60 hours a week, 2.75 an hour) if the federal laws are in effect.
Posted by: | August 12, 2007 09:46 AM
um, that would be $2.50 / hr
Posted by: | August 12, 2007 10:40 AM
Eni F.H. Faleomavaega, the territory's nonvoting delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives should be a little more concerned about the Americans who live there. This is a great story that brings much awareness to me. Is there anything that can be done to help our fellow citizens live like we do?
Posted by: | August 12, 2007 10:41 AM
Eni F.H. Faleomavaega, the territory's nonvoting delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives should be a little more concerned about the Americans who live there. This is a great story that brings much awareness to me. Is there anything that can be done to help our fellow citizens live like we do?
Posted by: | August 12, 2007 10:41 AM
I, too, lived in Pago Pago in the early 1970's and recall the beginnings of high school football. The teams were the Samoana Sharks, the Leona Lions, the Marist Brothers, the Mapusaga Eagles and the Faga'itua Vikings. The games were great fun, and I recall an article entitled "They Wore Flowers in Their Helmuts" about the Samoan touches to American football. The Fa'a Samoa (the Samoan Way) always wins out. I am sure the Samoans are still, as always, enjoying life!
Larry Bracken
Gulf Breeze, Florida
Posted by: | August 12, 2007 11:07 AM
The US ignores our over seas territories at our peril. Any part of the US should be "treated" to infrastructure improvements whether it be American Samoa or Mississippi.
Placing al our resources into Iraq runs contrary to common sense, and is a sign of a decaying, corrupt empire-an empire that ignores it's own citizens, in order that it might feed the deams and ambitions of it's imperial "leaders" who see triumph in Iraqui subjugation, rather than health benefits and infrastructure for it's own citizens.
It remains to be seen if the American Empire can meet the challenges it now faces. The current results are less than encouraging.
Posted by: | August 12, 2007 11:25 AM
I really enjoyed this article. There's not enough awareness about American Samoa or the people who live there. When we tell people that we lived in American Samoa from 2003 until 2005 (my husband was an assistant attorney general and I wrote grant proposals for the American Samoa Department of Human and Social Services) they mistakenly think we lived in Somalia. Fyi, American Samoans are not citizens of the United States, but U.S. nationals. If they are born in the U.S., they are citizens.
The people of American Samoa are good people who love their families, and we were accepted as part of that family. We enjoyed every minute of our time there and hope to visit again soon. Our son grew up speaking Samoan and English--unfortunately he now only speaks English.
The wages are too low there, but the wages are coming up a bit... According to the U.S. Department of Labor's Web site (http://www.dol.gov/esa/minwage/americanSamoa/ASminwage.htm), "The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), applies generally to employment within American Samoa as it does to employment within the United States. Prior to July 24, 2007, the minimum wage rates for American Samoa are set by a special industry committee appointed by the U.S. Department of Labor. The Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007 (Public Law 110-28) now sets minimum wage rates within American Samoa and provides for additional increases in the minimum wage of $0.50 per hour each year on May 25, until reaching the minimum wage generally applicable in the United States. The wage rates are set for particular industries, not for an employee's particular occupation. The rates are minimum rates; an employer may choose to pay an employee at a rate higher than the rate(s) for its industry."
It's good to hear other peoples' stories about American Samoa, and it'd be good to read more about the territory in upcoming issues of the Washington Post. Thanks for the article.
Posted by: Jeremy and Elizabeth Kirkland, Alexandria, VA | August 12, 2007 12:11 PM
It's the same reason why kids in the Caribbean play baseball with card board as makeshift gloves. The youth of American Samoa throw all their energy and resources into football, if for nothing else than a way off the island.
When an entire society believes that sport is truely a way out of poverty, it speaks of the lack of leadership and for thought by the adults on the teritory. Kids will pour everything they have into hope, like young boys in Canada playin hockey before they learn how to walk. Likewise with the before mention baseball in the Caribbean, and soccer all around the world. Where there's youth with no training and mentoring, they do whatever they see was successful for somebody they can relate to, even if the odds are terribly against them.
If only the parents and government of American Samoa stressed and invested into the scholastics of the youth. By all means, if the reporter of this story would come back during the school year and see the curriculum boys like Nee'mia recieve, than maybe you would understand the troubles on this island.
A Coach in American Samoa
Posted by: | August 12, 2007 12:17 PM
Someone needs to tell these potential football stars that along with the fame or more appropriately along the way to fame and fortune there will be steroids and other "body" building "tools" that will possibly, repeat possibly, become part of their lives.
And one season or career ending injury is just a snap (no pun intended) away!
Hike!
Posted by: | August 12, 2007 12:20 PM
The question about why wages are so low on American Somoa... AS was exempt from FLSA and minimum wage that applies to US and other territories. Special rates were/are set by some committee that of course keeps wages down and the tuna fish companies happy. I believe that in this latest round of legislation on the Federal minimum wage American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands were brought under FLSA and their "minimums" will now increment by 50 cents per year until they reach the new minimum wage.
Posted by: Dennis Anderson, SC | August 12, 2007 01:21 PM
LOL! When living in Hawaii, I got the biggest kick out of experiencing the Polynesians playing Rugby! Hawaai Loa had a Rugby team that was supported by players that are so far NOT MENTIONED! When we would play Bringem Young, the Haoles were advised to stay off the field!
You see, these guys are not BIG and Slow-like most Americans are used to the situation being, THEY ARE BIG AND FAST!
Now, as far as the UMENTIONABLES-Uffa Guys, Meet Tuffa Guys!
TONGANS are too closely similiar to Somoans to believe! It might have a lot to do with centuries of each Group raiding the Other's Islands and making off with their women!
Hawaii Loa's Tongans, and the Tongan Barbarians, were Internationally Notorious for being outstanding Rugby Players!
Funniest thing about the Hawaii Loa Team, Snipa(Sp?) was only about 5'10", 200Lbs.
He was the Captain, and was quite capable of RUNNING the Ball straight on through 300 Pound dudes like they were standing still!
Which, they wern't!
This was back in '83, and I knew then, they would eventually TAKE OVER American football!
LOL!-Want to REALLY pump up the Talent level? Get some Tongan Teams for the Somoans to WAR against!
They are Christians now, and it is the only way to have fun now!
Haoles-best sit it out!
-Sean da Prawn!, AKA Prawn Dog!
Posted by: | August 12, 2007 01:53 PM
This is sad. Football is a great sport and all, but playing football is a horrible strategy for improving your economic situation. Very, very few people make good money playing professional sports. Trying to become a professional football, basketball, or baseball player is like trying to win the lottery.
Let's just look at the case of American Samoa and the NFL. The article says that three players from American Samoa were selected in this year's NFL draft. According to wikipedia, the 2005 census found that there are about 65,000 people in American Samoa. Now let's do some very simplified math: say that 1/60 of the population in American Samoa entered into their third year of college this year, becoming eligible for the NFL draft. That would be about 1200 people. Half of those would be boys, leaving 600. Let's say a quarter of the boys in American Samoa play football as a way of getting off the island. That means 150 people tried to do it this year. Out of 150, only 3 got drafted, which would be 2%. And I don't have the numbers handy, but I'm guessing only 50% or so of NFL players who are drafted actually play in the NFL. But whatever, let's say that 2% of the people make it and become NFL players.
2%. That's very low. If people really want to get off American Samoa, they'd do much better by studying hard in school, getting accepted to a solid college, and trying to obtain some sort of white collar job. They don't even have to attend an Ivy League. Tons of state or "2d tier" schools give great educations, and send their grads to great jobs. And many of them have very generous financial aid programs.
One of the many problems with low-income cultures is that they glorify sports, viewing them as the only way to make it in life. It's sad, and untrue. If Americans want to better themselves financially, they live in the absolute best country for it--if they get an education and work hard. I wish articles like this would reflect that.
Posted by: | August 12, 2007 03:01 PM
Uh, I think the person blasting the Samoan's efforts to use Football to promote themselves needs to go back to whatever school claims to have tought them how to Read-And sue!
What part of, Many of the kids get recruited into COLLEGES for their Football abilities, did'nt they comprehend!
Cripes, look at how many College educated atheletes do not go on to "Pro" Status, but like Major Applewhite still end up in Coaching or other affiliated roles-that are still lucrative, and still came with FREE COLLEGE!
Criticize THIS Nation's Blacks, for all wanting to be Michael jordan and wasting all the opprtunities that ARE HERE instead!
I'm really tired of supporting all the Blacks who do not make it in sports, with either Welfare or Prison costs!
Posted by: | August 12, 2007 05:09 PM
I don't watch football anymore. Its full of ignorant Blacks who cant even speak proper English. Nah, I'd rather watch a sport with civilized atheletes that I can relate to. Move the football league over to Africa, let them watch it.
Posted by: | August 12, 2007 05:31 PM
the article is bogus. The biggest sport in American Samoa is rugby. Every village has a team.
The Territory high school programme, I believe, should revert back to rugby like it was in the 1970s, before Am.Football became popular.
Rugby is a bigger international sport with professional leagues increasingly spread out in many countries. You just need to look at rugby players across in (real) Samoa playing professional rugby in France, U.K, Italy, Spain, Japan, Hong Kong, Dubai, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, etc. A professional rugby league is also being touted in the U.S in the near future.
Watch next month's Rugby World Cup and enjoy Manu Samoa kick the living crap out of the global rugby iants England and South Africa.
Posted by: | August 12, 2007 06:06 PM
Rugby is the biggest sport in WESTERN SAMOA. American Football is much bigger in American Samoa. Western Samoa and American Samoa are culturally the same, but socially and economically very separate.
The article is not bogus.
Posted by: | August 12, 2007 06:56 PM
Rugby is the biggest sport in WESTERN SAMOA. American Football is much bigger in American Samoa. Western Samoa and American Samoa are culturally the same, but socially and economically very separate.
The article is not bogus.
Posted by: | August 12, 2007 06:56 PM
For the writer who made the comment about Blacks and supporting those that cannot make it into the NFL. You are definitely ignorant. You are becomming a minorty in the country you stole from the native population and can't cope with it.
Welfare-you mean corporate welfare for companies and the rich that hide their money in tax shelters. Oh and let's not forget the millions of whites addicted to meth and other drugs. Legalized drugs like alchahol. You can point to Blacks because it's more visiible in the urban core of cities, but the under-reported rural and suburban dysfunction of white society is even worse and more shameful considering all the social advantages that exist for just being white. Your an idiot!!!
Posted by: | August 12, 2007 07:04 PM
you mean, "you're" an idiot. I agree with you despite your ironic spelling. That person is is clearly a racist.
Posted by: | August 12, 2007 07:13 PM
What I wonder about in Samoa, and what did not get mentioned at all - is the education! They have football and they have SAT prep. What about the girls? Do they just die in Samoa and not have an outlet to "get out"? Or are the girls educated and leave by academics?
Posted by: | August 12, 2007 07:21 PM
great article sounds like we need to get the rest of the polynesians playing football so we can get better athletes.
Posted by: | August 12, 2007 07:27 PM
I really enjoyed your article on football in American Samoa. I was the Territorial Auditor there between 1994 and 1998; my wife and I both think it was one of the best periods of our lives. Your description of the Ainga, the extended family, was right on the money. The American Samoans are a great people and are very friendly. I cannot blame the kids for wanting to leave. There is not much opportunity for upward mobility there. Readers should not denigrate the football players - as stated by another reader, the only other way off the island for many is the military. The educational system on the island is generally not strong enough for students to get merit scholarships from mainland U.S. universities.
R Wendell Harwell, CPA, CFE, CGFM, CVA (ret.)
Shanghai, China
Posted by: | August 12, 2007 07:48 PM
I am sorry if my point was misunderstood.
I was trying to point out to the POSTER who criticized Samoans, stuck on their rock, for trying to get opportunities, to criticize fools here, who have opportunities, and ignore them while doing the same!
As far as Blacks earning the attack, allow me to include ALL fools who would do the same in an environment offering so much more than is available in American Samoa!
Sorry if I went after the worst offenders only-It is just that I care enough, that I to try to shame them into being at least a little smarter!-Percentage wise, Blacks are by far the most self destructive-In every way, in a Country that offers more for them than anywhere else!
BTW-Sure wish I could get special treatment!
Posted by: | August 12, 2007 07:55 PM
Great article - brings back a lot of memories of when I lived there in '78 and '79 staying at the Rainmaker and in Tafuna. Seemed that every kid on the island was wearing a Jack Thomson teeshirt (this was when the "Throwin' Samoan" was playing at WSU).
But I do agree with the comment that the article should have mentioned that, as a practical matter, the military is seen as the best way to get to leave the island, see the rest of the world and have a career. I'm sure this is still true today.,
Posted by: Jim Landolt | August 12, 2007 08:29 PM
Whatever happened to the educational tv that we installed in the late 60's--early seventies? It was a very expensive effort to improve primary and secondary education.
Posted by: Don | August 12, 2007 08:45 PM
Great story! I can even forgive some of the embellishments. You see, I know a great deal about what you are writing about. My daughter is a sophomore at Leone High. I have been in American Samoa (AS) for over 40 years and I might see things that others would miss when reading your article.
The point I want to make is that you missed the point on a subject the WP should be most interested in. The family you describe is a victim of a sort of human trafficking perpetuated by the canneries and condoned by government. The living conditions are that of Samoan (formerly Western Samoan) families that are brought to AS to work at the canneries for about $3.50 per hour and endure living and working conditions that no self respecting person would ever agree to.
The workers need sponsors in order to comply with local immigration laws. The sponsors add to the slave-like conditions by allowing the families to build shanties on land owned by the sponsors and charging a sponsor's fee. Since the utilities company has prerequisites for installation, these shanties cannot get proper utility services. So, they build groups of shanties and run a single extension cord from the sponsor's house to several shacks. Plumbing presents similar problems and you touched on that when you described the bathroom facilities in Vai's house.
A recent increase in minimum wages in American Samoa has already slowed the economy to a near standstill and will probably cause the canneries to either leave or severely cut back on their operations.
The Federal Government is now looking at legislation to provide $100 million in tax incentives in an effort to keep the canneries in AS. This will only cause more grief for families like Ne'emia's while the cannery fat -cats continue to draw down their multi-million dollar salaries.
In the meantime a group of responsible entrepreneurs are planning to bring the call center industry to AS. But, in spite of the fact that call centers would create thousands of quality jobs, government has done nothing to encourage this development. Something is terribly wrong with this picture.
I would like for you to return to AS and walk in the shoes of a cannery worker like you did with Ne'emia. If you don't find conditions similar to what we know as slavery, I will be very surprised.
Posted by: John Newton | August 12, 2007 08:52 PM
"What I wonder about in Samoa, and what did not get mentioned at all - is the education! They have football and they have SAT prep. What about the girls? Do they just die in Samoa and not have an outlet to 'get out'? Or are the girls educated and leave by academics?"
Good question. The article said that both of Ne'emia's parents were atheletes. I wonder how many girls also consider sports and the military as ways out...
Posted by: | August 12, 2007 09:17 PM
American Samoa is a dead end..dream of playing in the NFL which a disproportionate very few ever make, or join the military and come back home in a coffin..
..as the U.S economy continues to spiral with the greenback on freefall, conditions in American Samoa will continue to worsen to the point of dire..corrupt leadership add to the problem..
Posted by: | August 12, 2007 09:25 PM
girls just hang around, make babies and grow fat. The rate of teenage pregnacy in Am. Samoa is appalling..right up there among the highest in the world.
Posted by: | August 12, 2007 09:28 PM
It's been thirty years since I left Tutuila for the mainland, and it was interesting to see so many sentiments held by so many of us Samoans expressed in this great article. I was of the subset that left Pago for college, and ended up staying up here...interestingly, ending up pursuing a military career, although that was not the original plan. Two of my sons have gone the football route, and it's interesting to see their Samoanness out on the football fields of Maryland...both of them excelled and were members of championship high school teams, one of them went on and is a D1A player (Navy). My college player is coached by a Samoan, and he has a Samoan teammate (recruited directly from a school in Tafuna). Thanks for a fine article!
Posted by: Bill Gabbard Arnold, MD | August 12, 2007 10:17 PM
Some people just have alot of balls to come on here and read this and don't even understand it..And try to talk all the trash there is about Samoa...The story is so TRUE..... and for the person who said that they couldn't believe that people are working 12 hours a day and making $150.00 a week.. Honey you better believe it.. It's been like that...... If the government of (ASG) American SAmoa would stop stealing from the people and give back to the people it would be alot easier for families who live there... I was raised there and if it's not for the sports or military, some families can't afford to send their kids off-island.. At least there's something for a student to work hard on and look forward too..
I think, for the people who comment on here and never landed foot on the island need to know your role before you start talking..
Posted by: | August 12, 2007 11:02 PM
I, too, lived in Pago Pago from 1969-1971 and remember the Samoana High School football games. A great culture and great people. Alot of it sounds very familiar.
Posted by: | August 12, 2007 11:11 PM
being Samoan, I believe what is needed (amongst other things) is a great gym. Something state-of-the-art, to promote positive images as well as education about the world of AMERICA that they need to know. Also, another place to recruit is the nation of New Zealand. Auckland has the most Samoans living outside of Samoa. They bring the braun of a poly body with the brains of being raised with another sport (rugby).
Posted by: | August 13, 2007 12:26 AM
To the RACIST poster: Self-destructive is one thing, but what about the thousands of well to do whites who kill themselves and others while DWI.
What percentagge of whites have college degrees-about a third. Blacks-about 15% and growing, and for a pop. that were slaves longer than free. You critisize but your racism and ignorance will never acknowledge the people who created America's greatest art forms-Jazz, Blues, R&B. The world moves to an African-American beat-People the world over don't just listen to American music-it's Black American music and artist. Sports-that too. Once the gates were opened every major American sport was transformed by the Black athelete. You can't think of sports or music in this country without thinking of Blacks-period. Should I discuss science too. I will if your next post is just as stupid; or should I just talk about Blacks who made this country more free for everyone by making the constituton live up to the words on that old piece of paper.
As for American Samoa-If you critisize from your relative position of priviledge in a country that has immense resources and opportunities, that have historically been reserved for whites, and I am assuming you are white from your attitude you again highlight for everyone how "whiteness" produces both cynisism, insecurity, and a false sense of superiority. You critisize the choices of people on an isolated, resource poor island who have limited options made even more difficult by lax and complicit a US govt. SHAME!! BUT I AM NOT SUPRISED!!
Posted by: | August 13, 2007 01:18 AM
shut up..take your black crap and your black ash outta here..this thread is about Samoans..we don't wanna read your nig shat..and if you didn't know, Samoans hate nigs..
Posted by: | August 13, 2007 01:30 AM
as for the article, I grew up in Fagatogo, yep, still reppin that Iseula BCB thang. Lots of impoverished families in our area especially the Kuhio part where the fishermen from Upolu live and Pago Pago behind Sadies. Went home August last year, and sadly, not much has changed there..trash all over the place..
Posted by: | August 13, 2007 01:35 AM
The article was okay. It wasn't particularly how most American Samoan boys, or girls in high school live but pretty close. Allowance gives kids an entitlement mentality. What happens when a parent can't afford to pay a child to assist with family chores or responsibilities? What I saw is probably what happens to alot the poorer Samoans living in the villages who are 1st generation American Samoans from neighboring Samoa or Tonga. Ne'emia's family was one of those. I graduated from that same high school in 1983 and now live in Southern Utah where there are many kids recruited to play for the local college Dixie State - directly from American Samoa, Hawaii and elsewhere. Universities from the Mountain West, WAC, and small colleges from the midwest in Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, etc were the first to recruit in American Samoa. Now the Pac10 and others are paying more attention to the islands. I moved to American Samoa as a US born Samoan teen raised in San Francisco and Kansas City. I was 14 years old when I got there and it was culture shock. Like most places in America, its who you know, my father who is Samoan but was raised in San Francisco wanted us to learn the culture in addition to him getting a Samoan chief title so he could claim some communal land at the time.
He only learned to speak Samoan again after serving a Mormon mission to the islands in his early 20s. Going back to American Samoa in his 40s and dragging us back with him was his way of gaining what he lost being educated in San Francisco. We left Kansas City for Pago Pago in 1979. He got a job at the Correctional Facility as a Deputy Warden there and made a paltry salary while my mother who was a RN made even less. In the early 80s he made $15K a year working for the local Dept of Public Safety and my mom made $9-10K at the only local hospital. We were very poor by American standards but because my dad wasn't a part of any of the main families who were in governmental positions, he never recieved the recognition he deserved and was passed over for promotions because he was still viewed as an outsider; having been educated and experienced working in Public Safety in the US, he was a threat to the locals. It was pretty much an old boys network in place that he couldnt penetrate being a Samoan from the outside. The wages haven't changed a whole lot except for those in higher up government positions. The governor makes more as much as 75-80,000+ I am told. The local legislature made up of village chiefs and families who have controlled the island also make a very good living while the conditions of the high schools, roads, hospital, infrastructure, etc are worse of then when I left. Its true, most leave by way of the military, or through sports but a great many of them leave on their own to go to college in the states and raise their families or return. This story was more suited for the children of Samoan families who had come to American Samoa to raise their families from Samoa (formerly Western Samoa). Just for your information many girls from American Samoa come to the US and play for junior college volleyball, basketball teams on scholarship as well.
More money nees to be put into the school systems to pay for quality teachers, in addition to bringing the schools up to par so that they can have better equipment and facilities that they deserve. The high school field looks terrible from what I remember and at least we had a weight room near the Industrial Arts and ROTC building. Those kids look like the conditions today are worse than when I was there. I would hope that the coach gets better support as well as the atheletic programs be properly financed. Its true that the education or quality of teachers needs to be improved as well. What this article didn't show was how a great deal of American Samoans drive new SUVS with families have 2-3 vehicles, lots of families overindulging which is why so many are overweight/or obese due to their diet and how a great of locals are doing well. I do feel however that more $$$$ needs to be redirected to the school systems to improve the cirriculum and sports programs if possible. Too much $$$$ gets spent on McDonalds, Pizza Hut, KFC, mixed plate lunches of fat greasy foods, and now Carl's Jr.???? Ia manuia pe le au talavou o Amerika Samoa....
Posted by: | August 13, 2007 02:10 AM
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Posted by: | August 13, 2007 02:18 AM
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Posted by: | August 13, 2007 02:18 AM
You hate "nigs" WOW!! That is so humorous.
Unfortunately for you and your people you are not in a position to hate anyone. You have no power to hate anyone. Hating someone without having power is useless. Didn't someone tell you that. I guess you haven't been in the states that long. You must take American Racism 101. It takes about a generation to go thrugh that class; so I would reserve that emotion and attitude for the people that damaged your little island.
I can undertand you wanting this blog to be Samoan related only, but remember it was the orginal racist post that got me going. Anyway-you all don't have a lot of cultural and space to tell your story, so I somewhat agree with that sentiment-but you gotta wake-up on your self-hate I hate Blacks stuff-I mean really, and to think I am someone who won't assume all PAs are Tongans, Hawaiins, Samaons, etc. Most folks don't care about that-they just assume your either this or that rather seeing your diversity and you hate Blacks. You'll learn-You haven't been here long enough yet.
Think about it-You are expressing classic self-hate. Part of your issue, and I am only writing to the poster that made the racist comment-You hate "nigs" as you put it becuase so many of you look like us therfore; white people marginalize and exploit you and your island; so you hate those that remind you of your marginalized racial/social position. Think about it. This is what many immigrants often do-even though the reason so many come to states is because of American policy toward their countries-Policies Blacks certainly had no hand in creating.
Anyway-Please ease up on that humor-Remember to hate someone effectively you have to have some power and your group lacks that here and on American Samoa.
-Being Real!!!
Posted by: | August 13, 2007 02:37 AM
I don't know what ignorant Samoan wrote that Samoans hate nigs, but he/she doesn't speak for all Samoans/or Polynesians. As a Samoan, I apologize for that person. This article is not able race, its about a people struggling to get ahead...let's keep things in perspective.
Posted by: | August 13, 2007 02:57 AM
The article portrayed an accurate picture of growing up in American Samoa. Yes it may be unfortunate, and may not be the cinderella story for most of us living in American Samoa but it is what makes us who we are. Everyone who has walked in the shoes of the young man in the article, has their own experiences and similar circumstances growing up in high schools with limited resources and making due with what is available. Blessed with natural athletic abilities, majority of Samoan people succeed in various sports with a high percentage. So what is wrong with using a God given gift to open opportunities in furthering education through scholarships, or being an honerable fellow soldier fighting for our country in exchange for opening more doors of opportunity. Diamonds in the rough are what these people become. Instead of waiting for opportunity from the government and economic development, our children dare to dream and chase the dream. If they succeed or not, they become better people. One of the greatest lessons to be learned in life cannot be taught through success, but through failure. The deep rooted culture of the fa'asamoa and family is what separates these "diamonds" and enables more success stories and keeps increasing the number of Samoan players in the professional sports and in the millitary. If I had the choice, I would not have it any other way. I applaud the article and thank you for giving me a trip down memory lane. You learn to appreciate opportunity more when you come from place that has very little.
"Unity is our Strength"
A fellow Lion
Posted by: | August 13, 2007 06:59 AM
"shut up..take your black crap and your black ash outta here..this thread is about Samoans..we don't wanna read your nig shat..and if you didn't know, Samoans hate nigs.."
I'd be upset if i actually believe u were Samoan. I can't believe a Somoans don't like blacks. Somoans have to much pigment in ther skin. Plus the american government has isolated them, and i wonder why. That would make the kraker more of a minority than they really are comapared to the entire ethnicities of America. The whities have had success by keeping the other races divided and hateing each other. Together were stronger than the whitie. Divided were powerless in a country over populated by whitie!
This country has terrible race relations, all created by the whites....not all but the majority is the reason its lasted for so long, and racism is a learned trait that has crossed over cultures.
Posted by: | August 13, 2007 09:49 AM
Great article indeed! I am from the same village as Ne'emia and know his family very well. The article along with the video clip was great. The majority of the youth in American Samoa do live like Ne'emia. They are great kids and all they need is an opportunity to showcase their talents. I attended Leone High School and the conditions were the same then (field was bad, drank warm water from a hose, used slippers for elbow pads, shoulder pads from the early 80's...etc), but I would not change a thing. Those experiences will be cherised forever and portrays the harships that we experience. They only make us better people. Football isn't everything in Samoa, there are well-educated people as well. Most Samoans use the military or their athletic abilities to pay for school (scholarships). I only pray that the conditions will improve and that more emphasys is placed on education.
Again, great article, but most importantly great video clip. I was re-living my youth through Ne'emia. I remember running on that same football field from Monday to Friday and then having to prepare for the umu and feed the pigs after practice.
Soifua ma ia manuia Samoa uma,
Tama Samoa mai Auma, Leone
Posted by: Alex | August 13, 2007 12:21 PM
cool article, I miss that life. Its that same life style that tought me how to appreciate what we have. Ne'emia! don't fess up to all the rubbish being said. You continue to do your best in school and on the football field. Don't forget the important family values that your "AIGA" has tought you. I once, played on that same football field and shed blood and sweat with friends that have done great for themselves. Listen to your head coach. He is a prime example of a "true lion" Great judgement, outstanding character, and Highly motivated and spirited. "ONCE A LION, ALWAYS A LION" Good luck ne'emia on your senior year,and just remember, when you leave the "rock", the "rock" will never leave you."
LIONA MALOSI....
Posted by: | August 13, 2007 12:54 PM
You see the young man working all day hoping to get away from working till I die mentality. His 300 pnd mother"Queen" giving the commands while she sits all day. This is why the suicide rate is so high in Samoa.
Posted by: | August 13, 2007 01:37 PM
First of all, I sincerely thank Eli Saslow and Travis Fox for this article. Thank you for bringing to light what life is like for the majority of Samoans (both young and old alike) in American Samoa, through the eyes and life of a high school football player, such as Ne'emia Vitale. Thanks also to the editor for approving and making this your front page story too. I wish someone would hand you guys an award for this. Who would've thought that such an article would appear on the front page of such a distinguished newspaper? I was elated with pride when I saw this article. I only wish that USA Today and the New York Times will also make such an effort to promote what is happening in American Samoa, islands as such in the South Pacific. I'm sure you tried your best to cut short all the information you would've liked to include in this article, pertaining to the questions raised by some of the readers.
I am a Samoan female, born in Western Samoa (now known as the Independent State of Samoa), but was raised in American Samoa most of my life. I went through elementary and high school there, and know what these football players go through. Saslow's coverage is right on the mark, and I agree with his story, except for the title part where it says that high school football is seen as the ultimate escape. I have to agree with the others, who've stated that joining the military is the ultimate escape. Not many guys from hight school get recruited or drafted by U.S. colleges. Majority get recruited by the army.
As for females, some of us struggle to do well in high school and get academic scholarships to U.S. colleges. Few get athletic scholarships, and the majority find work in the local fish canneries. Some females also join the military.
Working 12 hours daily or more for only $150 or less is true, that is, for those who work in the fishing canneries (Star-Kist and Samoa Packing), paid by hourly wages. Only top management employees there are paid annual salaries. I know because I have relatives working there.
The U.S. Federal Government cannot apply all its constitutional mandates in American Samoa due to its political status, being an unorganized and unincorporated U.S. Territory. Recently, the Bush Administration passed a minimum wage increase that includes American Samoa, but the territory claims to struggle with having to afford this to its employees, both in the government and private sectors.
No matter how much we beg for the U.S. and Federal Government to send grants and other means of financial support to American Samoa, for the improvement of infrastructure, hospitals, schools, economy, etc., as long as they, "certain corrupt and greedy leaders" are not held accountable for, they will continue to misuse and abuse funds for their own selfish and personal gain, instead of using it properly and legally for the betterment of the Samoan people and its environment.
There are only few leaders, cabinet members (department directors and deputies), and legislators who are truly trying to make a difference. However, since the majority are so corrupt, they will not pass any law that will allow U.S. Federal intervention, because they are afraid that they will get caught abusing money that should go to improving schools and the education of the youth, so that they have more options in flying off the island, instead of just joining the military or sports. Try brining in auditors or the FBI for investigations, and the government will at all costs find a reason why they have no right to come in. For the majority of Samoans who will take fact by word of mouth instead of doing some research, of course, they will believe the various fabrications that the government raises. That's why most Samoans see the FBI as outside intruders instead of enforcers of the law. The corrupt American Samoa Government officials like to blast that the FBI and Federal Government has no business in the Territory. But who do they turn to when hurricanes and other disasters strike? The U.S. Government of course. If you give them, A.S. Govt. officials a heads up about any visitation to the islands, they will try their best to put on a good show of course and sugarcoat everything. So be forewarned, to any reporters who might attempt to do a follow-up story.
Congressman Eni has tried in the past to establish a Federal Court in American Samoa, but of course, majority of the local leaders were opposed to that. And you wonder why...
Being born in Western Samoa, I qualified for an academic scholarship that fortunately, through Congressman Eni's efforts, were afforded to Pacific Islanders. That is what took me off the rock. (Note: Western Samoans do not qualify for American Samoa Government scholarships.) After completing college, I returned home, to American Samoa, to find work. Fortunately too, I got a job because I qualified for it, and not because I was related to any of the management officials. Through the years, working in this government department, is where I truly learned about the corruption that goes on, especially with management officials. I finally had enough and raised certain questions that management did not like. The next day, I was asked to resign. I told them that I would report it to the local Department of Human Resources, and that's what gave me another chance to remain at work. I didn't bother to stay there too long, being fed up with such evil, and am now settled in America, the land of liberty and justice for all.
The Big Boys there in American Samoa know there are employees who should already retire or get fired because they aren't qualified, and give those positions instead to the new college graduates. However, they won't because their loyal friends can't do without their SUVs and fancy homes, while the majority are suffering.
The majority of the young generation who do make it to college and succeed, cannot be bothered to return home because not many jobs are available to them for the reasons mentioned above, in addition to the unjust salaries that the government provides. If college graduates do return, many will not last, like me.
If there's any hope for the improvement of life in American Samoa, it is that the Samoan people make the effort to seek the facts for themselves, and elect officials and leaders who love the people, and not just themselves and their families. Vote for leaders who are sincere, and not for just somebody who you are related to. I say this because I know a colleague who had to vote for a certain party because he was told by his father to do so, even when he wanted to vote the other way.
Again, thanks to Saslow and Fox for this article, and the Washington Post for providing this avenue for us to voice comments and concerns. Back home, it is difficult to do such a thing out of fear of losing a job or being harmed.
Best of luck to all the football players in American Samoa. Thanks to all the coaches for your hard work too.
Posted by: | August 13, 2007 02:43 PM
The article is indeed true in all perspective, and well said. I am 20yrs. of age, and I have lived 19 yrs. of my life back home in Am. Samoa. Life itself was very struggling for my people even before I was in my mothers womb. BUT we have come to improve in our lifestyle due to the great influence of the Western world in our island, mostly the U.S. Evidently, all changes come with it's own challenges. Some families have earned a lot for living, while others are still struggling for a living.
My point being is that, trully this article would serve as a means of providing HOPE and SUCCESS in the future for students like Ne'emia, and the countless other Samoans fighting for their dreams;Be it an NFL star, NBA player,Uni Professor, Lawyer, Doctor and etc. The beauty of our people is that we lend a hand in support when one of our own is in need of it, NOT criticizing and desire to see them dwell into problems.
As a student myself, I'd like to emphasize a meaningful saying that we all have somewhat heard of from our elders, "It takes 2 people to raise a kid, but it takes a village to raise a leader." Let's all put our differences aside, and subdue the morality of this article, and provide our Support in any means necessary for our own people...
It's saddening to see previous comments that were made, arguing about being Racist and what not. Is it really the NATURE of our people to round-about and twist things around to an argument??..Vividly the article is articulating Football in Am. Samoa as a way of giving hope for kids like Ne'emia to have that CHANCE of coming to the U.S (or whereever) and succeed not just for himself but for his struggling family.
Furthermore, I offer my sinceres gratitudes and regards to whom ever put together this article. And my Prayers goes out to Ne'emia and all my other brothers and sisters back home who are fighting to fulfill all their dreams. I want you to know that I am fighting for my dreams a long with you!! It's never really in a Samoan to GIVE UP soo easily. Fight for it because it's and open opportunity awaiting for all of us....GOD BLESS! Ma ia FA'AMUAMUA LAVA LE ATUA!!........
Sincerely,
AMMDDKK SATELE.....
Posted by: | August 13, 2007 03:42 PM
Stan Eckert started American football in American Samoa during the late 1960's. He was the Athletic Director for The Dept. of Education.
Chet Imes...KVZK-TV 1965-1971
Posted by: | August 13, 2007 03:58 PM
I went to Samoana and not all of us live like that Ne'emia guy. Not all of us in Tutuila are poor, so the article is not right on point. We own a store in Fagatogo, and we have taulele'as from Upolu that did our feaus. I know lots of others like myself in Fagatogo and Pago that didn't have to work to death like Ne'emia and we never went to church every morning, only on Sundays. Not all Samoan women are 300 pounds from overeating and sit around bossing their kids around. Also, some kids went to the airport for the fun of it, but come on now, the aritcle made it seem like American Samoa is 3rd 3rd world. Its poor by American standards but if you're a government official, you live large and don't even have to be qualified for the position. You can just be related to the governor or someone who knows someone and you're in; if you speak your mind about the corruption that is going on, they get rid of you with a quickness. Look what happened to all the white guys they brought in to be the comptroller, treasurer, or hospital CEO. Once those guys caught on to the embezzlement and misuse and stealing of funds, the government got rid of them. In American Samoa if you ain't anybody, then you ain't going anywhere unless you join the military and can pass the ASVAB and physical, get a football scholarship, or have family that can get you off the island - that is why football is an escape for many. If you went to American Samoa and saw how families spend all their money on fast food and overeating, you'd see why many don't have nicer homes cause they also have to give to fa'alavelaves (family crisis, ie. death, weddings, births, chieftain ceremonies, malagas or groups of Samoans leaving or coming to the island.) Bottom line is this, if you're going to tell the story, give at least 1 or 2 other sides to the story...not just the poor island boy story about struggling so bad and being so overworked it looks like child labor or whatever. It doesn't help either when the mother is obese and looks like she can't help herself. My mom didn't look like that and she wore nice puletasis and helped out at the Womens Auxilary @ the hospital....tell the other side of the story too....thanks and malo le tapua'i...
Peter Scanlan
Carson, CA
Posted by: | August 13, 2007 04:24 PM
I clearly don't understand why people are so ignorant. The article is clearly stating what those fellow Samoans went through.
It would be disgusting if the person who made personal attacks is Samoan as well. That means, your heart is bitter.
To the person(s) who did the article, great JOB. I think you could've added more to the story elaborating on the subject so that no one would criticize and turn it into something that is not good.
Thanks!
Posted by: | August 13, 2007 04:51 PM
Thank you very much to the author(s) of this good article. You do a very nice job of detailed description in your compostion portraying the life of Ne'emia. Your adjectives have called upon the emotions of some people who have conflict in their souls. May the good Lord bring peace of mind and heart to their disturbed racist souls.
In line with your article, I would like to add that there is a Samoa Bowl in American Samoa every New Year's Day for the past five years. High school seniors from Hawaii and the mainland come down for one week to play high school seniors all-stars from American Samoa. So, many thanks to Stan Eckert for initiating a good thing.
Our young people have had the option of pursuing a college degree here at the American Samoa Community College. Credits are affordable and transferable. (Credits have transferred to UCLA, UH, Stanford, USC, to name a few). ASCC has just recently been approved a Bachelors in Elementary Education curriculum by WASC.
Many do use this option and then go on to the military with Associate degrees.
True, we do the best we can where we are. We are building our education capabilities in our only college. Our young people join football, join the military, get deployed to defend the freedom so people like the 2 racist idiots who have been posting can run their mouths off the way they do. It's all part of the "Pursuit of happiness".
PEACE
Posted by: | August 13, 2007 05:44 PM
Very good artical i would like to point out that alot of samoans in the high school are great players. Many could make it to the NFL. The problem comes from lack of education. These boys can play on the field but not pass the SAT. WHy is that many ask because no money fromt he goverment is placed in education. YEs they have a budget but most teachers have nothing. These boys could make the NFL if they could pass college. Do a little research and find out how many drop out of college. I love and miss watching football in samoa and i want to wish the mighty FAGAITUA VIKINGS luck in this years season.
Trina
Posted by: | August 13, 2007 06:17 PM
Regarding wages. Samoa was intentionally excluded in the newly elected democrat Congress' pledge to raise minimum wage. The canneries mentioned in this article, are headquartered in Nacy Pelosi's district.
Posted by: | August 13, 2007 06:31 PM
I am very sadden by the comments posted stating that "Samoans hate nig". This is so not true. I think this writer needs to reach deep down in his/her heart and find out who he/she really is. We (Samoans) are taught to love everyone. Please do not trash other race because this is not the right forum. There are others who are reading this and they might think other wise.
Posted by: | August 13, 2007 07:01 PM
I THINK THIS WAS A GREAT STORY.I THINK ITS REALLY GREAT THAT NE'EMIA HAS A DREAM AND THAT HE WANTS TO MAKE IT COME TRUE.IT'S REALLY HARD TO FIND KIDS LIKE NE'EMIA THESE DAYS ESPECIALLY AT THESE TIMES.IT'S GOOD THAT HE KNOWS WHAT HE WANTS AND THAT HE HAS A GOAL THAT HE REALLY WANTS TO ACHIEVE AND I THINK HE SHOULD GO FOR THAT GOAL ESPECIALLY WHEN ITS FOR HIM AND HIS FAMILY.YES ITS TRUE IN AMERICAN SAMOA FAMILY COMES FIRST ACTUALLY GOD COMES FIRST AS THEY SAY THEN FAMILY.IT WOULD BE GREAT FOR NE'EMIA TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN FOR HIM.
VIRA
Posted by: Vira | August 13, 2007 07:19 PM
Don't forget Al Lolatai, who played in the NFL, and replaced Stan Eckert as DOE Athletic Director while I was there and continued and expanded the football program.
The Community College was established with California and Hawaii colleges as a model. We used the curriculum and the requirements from Orange Coast College and Windward and Leeward Community The purpose was to give Samoans a leg up before they left the island and continued their education on the mainland could compete with mainland students.
Obviously, the population growth has had something to do with economic issues. When I was there, the population was about 26,000 in the territory and, when I last saw population statistics, the population is now 43,000.
The TV system was envisioned as a quick way to bring the educational system up to US standards, but it never really did that. The teachers in the classroom (Samoans) were robots following TV lessons taught by Palangis. All the written material was delvered to the schools. The TV teachers were overworked trying to write each lesson, script, and activity to be used in the classroom. How many people in Samoa remember "Language Arts Eve"?
The hospital was a model for the South Pacific when I was there. It had been built in response to a scandal about health care in American Samoa. Most of the doctors were New Zealanders. One doctor from the US came down and when he couldn't get a 3-bedroom house he turned around and went back. Carlo Crim was a wonderful OB/GYN who treated my wife while she was pregnant. You couldn't have gotten better treatment anywhere.
I do agree that the military recruiters had a fertile ground there, but many kids got scholarships from the government and went to places like Chadron State and Mars Hill, North Carolina and disappeared with the scholarship money. There was no accountability for the money.
I still highly regard the Samoan culture and traditions and hope they can be maintained.
Posted by: | August 13, 2007 08:25 PM
American Samoa is an unorganized unincorporated territory. Other such territories of the United States several atolls and islands, all of which are uninhabited. American Samoa is in a catch 22 position neither able to move forward nor move backwards in order to create a viable future for its people. Politicians divert funds and misdirect attention in order to keep things status quo. Youth from the islands see the Military, fyi - American Samoa has the highest per capita rate of deaths in the Iraqi War, Football or other academic scholarships off the island as there way away from the hipocrasy that feeds itself on gluttony and envy.
I pray for my people.
Posted by: looking from afar...yearning from within | August 13, 2007 10:18 PM
I live in American Samoa and there is much truth in this article. There is so much football talent in our small community and I wish we have more college recruiters who can visit our high schools and see the talent of our football players and recruit them.
This year's NFL recruitment is an indication that as Samoans, we can excel in the American Football world if we are given an opportunity.
Thanks for the article.
Posted by: | August 13, 2007 11:25 PM
I don't really support this article or this commercial!! because this one boy wishes degrades my samoan pride. My point is that sport and military are not the only option to escape the volcanic rock. There's still hope on the island like attending the ASCC and get a BA,AS or make business of your own.
Its not bad to escape or leaving the island or whatever this article but is DECISION MAKING. To all the hamo's out there remember that EVERY DECISION YOU MAKE, IT'S A SPIRITUAL ONE.
Monsignor,
Posted by: | August 14, 2007 02:27 AM
Faafetai lava to the writer for this fine article. Neemia doesn't know it yet, but the daily rituals of his family life is what he will miss the most when he eventually leaves. God bless his dreams and the loved ones he leaves behind. Please come back and visit AmSamoa again.
Chris Sa'aga
Adelaide AUST
Posted by: | August 14, 2007 04:12 AM
It's interesting that so many people loved this article. I've visited American Samoa and have met many Samoans here on the mainland...and I find this article to be completely oversimplified and inaccurate. First of all, I think you could go to any community in the entire US and territories - but particularly the poorer ones - and find high school kids who dream of the day they can "get out." I would argue that that mentality is a typical attitude of any teenager, rather than being reflective of Samoa being a poor, run-down, backwoods society (which is how I feel it's being portrayed).
I don't think every kid in Samoa is sitting around looking for an escape route so they can leave and never come back. I think a lot of these kids are looking for an opportunity to get a better education - considering the best you can get on the island is only community college. Then they want to take their education back to the community and make a difference. Samoans have a sense of community and family values that has almost totally vanished in the mainland.
And that is something I feel is really missing from the article: the fact that American Samoa is a completely different culture than mainland US. It is expected for kids to contribute to the work of the household (I have to wonder where Ne'emia's siblings are) - it's not the slave-labor-esque situation that this article makes it sound like. American Samoan kids are the most respectful, polite bunch of kids I have ever met anywhere. They are by and large removed from the godawful Brittney Spears and co. that we see too much of in American pop culture. It was such a pleasure and really, a shock, to see kids that were so involved with their families.
A few other things about the article that bother me:
- There is a derisive comment tossed out about Ne'emia's "300 lb" mother. Way to villify someone for being obese, first of all. Second, why not look into why so many people in Samoa are overweight? It's because junk food and fast food are so cheap there! There was no obesity problem in Samoa (or less of one, at least) before the junk food came in from America.
- Another side comment in the article regarding stray dogs. Do you know how many vets there are on the island? Zero. That's right. Zero vets to do any spay/neuter program. How about an academic scholarship for a Samoan kid who wants to study veterinary medicine?
- Various references to trash on the island. I think the accompaning web video did a great job of showing the beauty of the island, and I don't recall seeing any trash. Yes, there is litter on the island - but it is something that most Samoans are sensitive about and try to pick up. I don't think the litter problem is any worse than the beaches along the East Coast. I felt it was overblown in the article, when the vast majority of the island (definitely not the tuna cannery area, I'll give you that) is beautiful and unspoiled.
I don't think Samoa is some kind of idyllic paradise, but I think it is a lot nicer than this article gives credit for. The people there are some of the nicest and most welcoming in the world. They are accustomed to tough physical labor and they don't live in the wealthiest of conditions, but they're certainly a testament to the old adage that money does not equal happiness. I dream of the day I can get back ON "the rock."
Posted by: | August 14, 2007 02:12 PM
It's great to read a story that reminds me, of how truly life is in Samoa. Everyone had their own story to tell. Education is key, but you do whatever to make your dream come true. I work here in the U.S. but do go home and visit American Samoa everynow and then. Thank you writer for the story...although I am a bit shocked at people's reaction to this story. It's a positive story! I am very proud of being a Samoan,my heritage, culture and whatnot. I never look at it as being poor...It's true ' we do not have all the luxury and accomodations we have here in the states...but that's what makes ME! unique and special. I dont take things for granted. Growing up in Samoa, i was always taught by my parents...to be thankful for whatever you have. Maybe we grew up poor, but we are never poor at heart and spirit. That is how i overcame all the obstacles i face here, I am grounded, happy, well educated,have a great job. I love my Samoa!
Posted by: | August 14, 2007 02:14 PM
For the samoan that commented that we hate Blacks. Please speak for yourself because that is just an individual that was not educated or at least growing up without any samoan values. Surely not raised up the fa'asamoa way. And for the individual that commented back on this ingnorant samoan, please keep it to that individual and not as a whole or a group. We are not powerless people. You commenting back on it and putting your inputs in belittling samoans as a group, just shows you're ignorance also.
Posted by: | August 14, 2007 04:39 PM
I loved this story..it was emotional for me..wow i give Neemia a hi5..to pursue his career follow your heart..and let god be the leader..he knows when,what,and where it happens..coming home and help your family it touched my heart..cuz think back in the days..that's how we've raised by our parents..HAWAII is where all the samoan come to play..and learn more..so they could DRAFT by the NFL..BUT i wish you all the best in your future..and your career..
god bless you...
happy mother of 2
Posted by: | August 14, 2007 09:24 PM
I had the opportunity to travel to AS in 2006 to provide vehicle rescue and high angle rope rescue training to the firefighters of the Pago Pago International Airport Fire Department. It was a true honor for me to be there, meet the locals, and share in their rich traditions and sense of worth. I have been priviliged to train firefighters from all over the world, but I have never found students more eager to learn and help each other as the men of the Airport FD. The Samoan people are far from spoiled as we are here on the mainland, but they a wealth of family, tradition, and honor. This is what have made so many of the Samoans the warriors they are. The poverty discussed on the island is real and unquestionable. It will be interesting to see if the FSLA and minimum wage bills are enforced when dealing with the canneries.
AS is still a tremendous strategic asset to our military and it is important for those on Capitol Hill to remember this. If they can only control the corruption on island, life will be much better for the impoverished.
I'll be happy to return to the island, dip my feet in the Pacific at Tisa's Barefoot Bar, and share the love of the fire department with my Pago Pago Intl FD brothers.
Posted by: | August 15, 2007 12:00 AM
Good job Neemia, follow your heart and let God be your leader, O ou mama na! May God Bless You and Your Family....Good luck..
Aloha from Mililani
Posted by: | August 15, 2007 04:00 AM
This is a great article and i can relate to it easily...I am a junior here at Samoana High School, Leone's biggest adversary...I have been playing football but not this year..The boys on my team were all very motivated and have nothing but the desire to become NFL players.. Football has become a natural craze for every young samoan males and a dream for every high school students..I love the sport too and would be greatly appreciative if more opportunities were given to expose the talent here on our island because theres a lot of talent here, so it would be great if more recruiters came here to watch us play.
Posted by: | August 15, 2007 04:25 PM
Great article! If there is one thing I know about my culture is: We are never poor! Not so much of having so much money, lands, etc. But as long as you have God, families, and friends...I tell you, what more can you ask for. Money is never an issue because you can always go fishing, harvest from your plantations, etc. Blessings are neverending. It will only seem that way when we're distracted by obstacles in life that aren't so serious, and yet me make it so.
My people are people of great hospitality. As the song would sing: We are Samoa, people from the Sun..." To Ne'emia...handle your game and do your thing! To all who've posted...May the Lord bless and Keep you always! Talofa from Balad, Iraq! Soifua.
Posted by: samoan sistah in iraq | August 15, 2007 06:26 PM
What would really help these young men in American Samoa is a foundation of sort, maybe those Samoan players who are currently in the NFL who have made a living playing the game can donate some funds to give better equipment, uniforms, high tech support, physical science medicine, etc. to the high school sports program. Maybe having a non-profit organization control the funds at disbursement to the high schools to ensure that they do not fall into the hands of those corrupt government officials, or someone dishonest in the DOE who might ensure that the quality of those involved in the football programs excels. Also, more importantly, create opporunity for these young atheletes to hone and polish their academic skills as well, to increase their knowledge base to give them a better chance at surviving the college level education that they will encounter as well as coaching and develop for necessary coping skills they will need when they encounter culture shock in the US. For those young men who haven't had the opportunity to travel to Hawaii or the US mainland, adjusting to the fast paced lifestyles in America as opposed to the life in the islands is like night and day.
Coroporate sponsors from Samoan owned businesses and Samoan atheletes who are extremely well paid, ie. Troy Polamalu, Jr. Seau, etc. (even though they were not raised in American Samoa) would help the programs in American Samoa gain even more credibility. Money = alot, but its not everything, no money for the program means more struggling for these students.
Rob Tualaulelei
Henderson, NV
Posted by: | August 15, 2007 08:27 PM
I would like to commend the writer for being so straight forward. Even to the point of "overemphasizing" the negative aspects of growing up and playing football in American Samoa. The article and photos though make me think of Rudyard Kipling's poem, "White Man's Burden."
To really be fair, I invite someone to write about other boys that live in a modern house, sleep on a bed, drink gatorade, buys his own football shoes and equipment, attends football clinics off-island, takes advanced classes, a member of the NHS, parent's income is above the poverty level, parents own two cars, and parents are decent law abiding citizens; but have the same aspirations like all the other Neemias in AS.
I will be more than happy to point them out or talk about them.
American Samoa is the same as any other borough, town, inner city, or State in the USA. There is poverty and wealth. There are good and bad people in the gov't. And there are clean and unclean areas.
Why do we villify people for eating at MacDonalds. As the late Robert F. Kennedy would say, "why not?" Be thankful we have a MacDonalds.....and a Kentucky, and a theater, and and many other luxuries that many other Pacific Islanders just hear about and see on TV.
Why do you think there's such a large influx of foreigners in AS? The US might be the country of choice for aliens, but American Samoa is the island of choice in the Pacific because of economic opportunity.
To Neemia, and the thousands of other boys looking at football as an "opportunity," why not?
If the Lord has blessed us with the talent and skill for football as an avenue to "success," forget what other people say. And if more kids can get to college on an athletic scholarship, then the gov't should look into investing more money in these programs.
FIFA just did with a new soccer field. Now more opportunities for soccer scholarships.
For those that talk about rugby, sorry. Colleges and universities don't offer rugby scholarships. It is also not a sanctioned sport in our DOE athletics program.
Forget about what other people say.
As for the girls, there are opportunities for scholarships in volleyball, softball, basketball, soccer, tennis and golf.
(Although tennis and golf are not part of the curriculum.)
One thing is for sure, more and more opportunities are opening up for Samoans to play football in colleges and universities because of those that have blazed the trail.
It seems this is the one sport (so far), where Samoans excel and can compete at the highest level.
"Always look for the positive in every situation."
Stop reminding us about the negative things. Better yet, "put up or shut up!
Best of luck to Neemia.
ES-
PPG, AS 96799
Posted by: | August 15, 2007 08:46 PM
Great advice ES, I've got to play Devils advocate and say, "you're crazy if we are going to forget about the negative things."
How can you be in denial about a government that is so corrupt. They constantly ask for money and ask for more funds, but don't want the US to have any say in how the funds are spent. They want the US taxpayers money but will not take accountability for what they do with it. Why not put more money into programs that help students like Ne'emia instead of increasing the Governors salary and the legislature who don't do anything but make more and more committees and frivolous meaningless studies that take away from those who need the funds the most, the citizens of AS who are struggling to make ends meet and send their kids off to Iraq, or find some way to the land of opportunity. Don't tell us to shut up, that is what this forum is about, if see what we're supposed to be doing on here. We compete to open the door to opportunity but if someone is dipping in the cookie jar, why not slap that hand and discipline him/her....stop the denial.
Posted by: | August 15, 2007 10:50 PM
Great article on the islands.... I wish people would quit saying American tax dollars.... Samoans pay taxes also that live in America..... Every ethnic group and government is corrupt so get off it.... the point is Neemia has a dream like every teenager in America, he just happens to live in American Samoa.... The article and photos have brought back alot of memories.... I think its great that
This sounds just like the time I lived in Samoa. I was there from 1970 to 1972 to start the Community College of American Samoa. I lived the first year in a house in Mapusaga, across from the Mormon high school. The second year, we moved to Tafuna, by the airport, where contract employees lived.
Your story about the gathering at the airport when the planes arrived and departed took place when I was there. In those days, the flights went from Samoa to New Zealand, Australia, and Fiji, as well as Hawaii and all the people from Western Samoa had to come to Pago to leave the area.
I officiated in the first high school football games on the island. The kids didn't know the rules and it was up to the officials to call penalties, even if you really didn't want to call back touchdowns or other really good plays due to some error by a kid who didn't know the rule about clipping or holding.
I loved my time in American Samoa and wish I could return some time in the future. I loved the Samoan culture and traditions. It sounds like things have gone downhill economically since my time there.
Alan Hopkins
Alturas, CA
hopkinsa@citlink.net