Sipping Koko

January 22, 2020July 6, 2020

White Lies and How We Have to Unlearn Them

It was last year that I was looking for a Polynesian based movie to watch. I went to Amazon Prime and search, “Samoa,” and I had watched most of those. I then searched “New Zealand,” and a movie called White Lies popped up. I didn’t really know what it was about. The description read, “A medicine woman is asked to hide a secret that will protect one life and endanger another. Based on a novel by Whale Rider writer Witi Ihimaera, White Lies – New Zealand’s entry in the 2014 Oscar competition for best foreign-language film – is an intense drama that explores with great humanity and sensitivity such difficult topics as race relations, skin bleaching and abortion.”

January 8, 2020July 6, 2020

End Colonial Mentality: Jacinda Ardern as Pacific Islander of the Year – REALLY?

*Sigh* I can’t believe I’m even writing this post now. If you keep up with Polynesian news then you probably heard about Island Business naming New Zealand’s Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern as Pacific Islander of Year, and man did the flood gates open. I mean come on! Where is the one love here? So let’s dive into this cause there’s things we need to unpack in talking about this decision from the Fiji based magazine.

January 2, 2020July 6, 2020

End the Colonial Mentality: When Influential Polynesians Back Cultural Appropriation of Other Polynesian Cultures

The Koko is Real!

Y’all it’s barely the beginning of a new decade and year, and we already have some major koko and things to discuss. I wasn’t even planning on writing anything this week cause – well, it’s kind of the end of the holiday season and I’m recovering from a NYE hangover. Yeah, I rang in the new with a bang and then a headache.

December 22, 2019July 6, 2020

Take Up Space: Polynesian Money

The Start of an Idea

This has been a topic that has been brewing in the back of my mind. Especially with the holiday season upon us. Where are Polynesians spending their hard earned money for Christmas? It was also sparked from an episode of Trigger Warning with Killer Mike. The very first episode of this series is called “Living Black.” In this episode, Killer Mike is going from Atlanta, GA to Athens, GA and is going to be “living black” for three days. This means whatever he consumes or does is from a black business. Man, did I find that concept so intriguing. You see back in the day, there had to be solely black businesses because of a terrible reason – segregation. If you don’t know your, American history it was just a bad time. However, it meant that there was a black economy. In the episode, Killer Mike explains that he African Americans were able to keep the black dollar circulating for a very long time. Meaning there was a thriving Black community. However, in 2019, it takes only 6 hours, hours, for the Black dollar to go somewhere. That’s in comparison to 25 days in the Asian community and 21 days in the Jewish and White communities. Guess what I thought – how long does it take for the Polynesian dollar to be cycled out? My answer is probably minutes if not seconds.

December 7, 2019November 1, 2024

History Repeats: Samoan Epidemic 2.0

This post is a hard one for me to write, and I know that many have already talked about this topic, but there needs to be more conversations started about Samoa’s recent epidemic. This is not the first time something this tragic has happened to our country. She has actually been through this before, and it should be said that in the future it should not happen again. When I was in high school my history teacher told us repeatedly that we should be careful not to let history repeat itself. That’s why we learn history. This way it doesn’t happen again. Unfortunately, the history of 1918 hasn’t been taught as a warning, and I think that needs to change. I’m not mad at those that came before us, but there’s something to be said about something that happened just over 100 years ago happening again. So, let’s start with the past, how are here in the present, and what our responsibility is to those of the future.

November 20, 2019July 6, 2020

Polynesian Men, White Girls, Dating… OH MY!

I’m going to be stepping on some toes here writing this blog. This is a topic that has come to my attention through my own experiences, what I’ve seen online and other channels. Which is why I felt the need to write about it. Why do Polynesian men prefer white girls over Polynesian women? Notice I’m not saying Samoan men versus Samoan women or Fijian men versus Fijian women because I know what the arguments are there. “She could be my cousin,” “I can’t deal with the culture any longer,” (which by the way is a LAME excuse if you ask me. The culture part defs not the cousin part. Don’t date your cousin people.), and other excuses. That’s why I’m saying Polynesian men versus Polynesian women because it’s across the board. I did my “informal” research. So, let’s dive in.

October 22, 2019July 6, 2020

Plastic: How This Term Continues to Hurt Our Culture

This topic has been in the back of my mind for a long time now. It hasn’t been an easy topic for me to really formulate the words on how I feel about the term “plastic ________.” No matter what island you descend from, you can be called a “plastic Samoan,” “plastic Maori,” etc. if you happen to not know the intricacies of the culture you’re from, but guess what? Some of us didn’t get the choice. So, let me start from the first time I heard the term “plastic.”

October 1, 2019July 6, 2020

The True Narrative of Hawaii

First Things First: Hawaiians With Hawaiian Blood ARE Polynesians

Y’all don’t get me started on this. It’s absolutely ridiculous that there are people, especially other Polynesians from different islands spreading this narrative. Stating that they are sell outs without understanding the history and underhandedness of the United States is wrong. I know this because I used to think the same way. I never said it out loud, but I sure did think this way. Also the fact that there are many “Native Hawaiians” (and, I really hate using this term because no where in the world are people called “Native Samoans” or “Native Tongans” or “Native Fijians” and so on) are fighting for their land and culture right now. This situation is not an old situation. In fact it’s recent and ongoing. I mean Hawaii has only been a state for a little over 50 years. That’s not a long time, and truthfully it was stolen from them. I will get to that later.

September 24, 2019July 6, 2020

World Rugby vs. Pacific Islands: Does World Rugby Put Limitations on Polynesian Players and Pacific Islander Teams?

So, does World Rugby put limitations on Polynesian players and Pacific Islander teams? To be completely honest, I do believe they do. With the Rugby World Cup well underway, there has been one thing that bothers me. The fact that so many Polynesian players aren’t playing for their homeland country. I don’t know if this is their choice or the fact that there some underhand rules in place and setbacks in place that prevent them from doing so. I don’t believe that if you’re Samoan you have to play for Manu Samoa, but I do believe that if circumstances were different and you wanted to on the big stage, then you should be able to. Now, I’m going to place a disclaimer here and say that I’m not well versed in rugby and how all the clubs and professional teams work together or how the terms are set for players to play for one team. What I do know is that World Rugby has not been playing fair with Pacific teams.

August 25, 2019July 6, 2020

Sipping Koko

Let’s Talk…

“So’o le fau i le fau.”
Translation: “Join the hibiscus fibre to hibiscus fibre.”

Now, I don’t speak fluent Samoan, but according to the website I went to, that’s a Samoan proverb that means “Unity is strength.” This is something that I think can perfectly describe the Polynesian community physically and metaphorically. We are a people that when we come together there is great strength.