Agenda Packet 9-12-18 Work Session

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46 Higher Education Social Services Hostile Political Environment • Presidential campaign was to “make America great again”. What does that mean? When things were worse for people of color? • I am really surprised it is happening here in Eugene. It is upsetting. • Have worries about deportation of some PI family and friends. Micro-aggressions • Does not like cultural appropriations. • Are micro-aggressions every day; white people just don’t see it. • They happen at UO and high school. • She has been asked five times a day about UO blackface incident. • I am trying to teach my son to drive, driving slow, white guy flips us off, tried to run us off the road, “go back to where you came from” (go back to Seattle?? My kid is in the car…). Ignorance. • Easy 20-30 things each year. • Being that marginalized population, each of us has exact stories. It is only when you get together that we hear them. • Usually, I can see it coming. I can’t even talk. • We need to support each other. We are out there on our own, and there is no-one advocating for us. Isolation and Need for Safe Space • Establishing relationships of support and help with newcomers is part of the culture. • Not a lot of Polynesians here. • I want everyone in Eugene to know what Samoans are. Samoans are going to make a difference in Eugene. • It is not easy to start off; you don’t know where to go to look for your people, to get help. • No people of color, all white, where are the average regular people? • Polynesians are everywhere, but are underground. • Tough if you don’t know anyone; it takes a while. • There has to be a place where you can find your people. • When I wear my clothes, I am Polynesian. • Biggest thing for us is respect. Respect is a two-way street. • Moved from San Diego; life was fast lane all the time; Eugene and Oregon is completely different. Laid back in the Islands; weather like at home, only difference is temperature; I’m comfortable in the life here. • Hard to move to a new place, new rules, trying to establish myself. • Island life is so different. • Pacific Islanders are easy going. • Don’t care about resumé, family name, what high school; connect on a familial level. • Would meet Polynesians at sports events. • In our culture you don’t automatically offer advice, you offer help. • Important to bond and be family; who is your family, your town, your high school. • So hungry to make connections that I would approach strangers in stores wearing Hawaiian t-shirts. • Want to share my culture with others, as at monthly Aloha show, third Friday every month, at Cosmic Pizza. Music, hula. Differences Within Pacific Islander Community • Found a hula class, that is where I started (when I first arrived in Eugene and was looking for other Pacific Islanders); run by Japanese woman who had left Hawaii 4 years before; cultures very different. • PI cultures are different from one another, not all Hawaiian. September 12, 2018, Work Session - Item 1