Omai Fa’atasi

and the Disappearance of a Samoan Radical Presence in Carson, CA

Words by Esperanza Bey

In the outskirts of the Los Angeles metropolitan area lies a suburb, East of Gardena and Southwest of Compton, called Carson, CA. Carson is home to a historical community of Samoan Americans who migrated to the Southern California coast by way of the United States Navy following the end of WWII. Ingrained in the traditional Samoan American consciousness, there is a deep regard for family, religion, patriotism, and a plight to uphold the customary Samoan way of life, fa’a Samoa.

Omai Fa’atasi members pose outside of the Omai Fa'atasi Center building, 1977-1978, Visual Communications.

Faces (1972), Sauni Tuitoelau by Alan Ohashi

As the 2023-2024 Archivist intern for the Los Angeles-based AANHPI media arts organization, Visual Communications (VC), I had the pleasure of stewarding their Samoan American collection, which houses 3,000 digital-born assets. The collection consists of various photographic assignments from the 1970s, many of which document patriarchal figures within the Samoan American community. For example, in a 1972 photographic assignment titled Faces, photographers and VC founding members, Alan Ohashi and Eddie Wong, documented the professional and personal lives of Sauni S. Tuitoelau and the patriarch of the Sialoi residence. These men modeled the traditional Samoan American archetype, serving as pastors, city administrators, and shipyard workers.

Faces (1972), Sauni Tuitoelau by Alan Ohashi

Faces (1972), Sialoi Residence by Eddie Wong

Long Beach Naval Shipyard (1972), Sialoa by Alan Ohashi

In contrast to this traditional archetype is a series of photographs and a 30-minute documentary from 1978 titled Omai Fa’atasi: Samoa O Samoa, directed by Takashi Fujii. At first glance, the film’s narrative structure, colorful illustrations, and rigid edits seem to simply highlight Samoan youth culture in Carson during the 1970s. With scenes of Pasifika youth rocking afros, aviator sunglasses, and breakdancing, there is a stark difference between the men of Omai Fa’atasi and those depicted in the Faces series. 

Omai Fa’atasi, which directly translates to “come together,” was established in the mid 1960s as a Samoan self-determination collective.

Inspired by the teachings of the Black Panther Party, Karl Marx, and Malcolm X, Omai Fa’atasi sought to unify the Samoan community against systemic oppression. To the dismay of their elders who valued the traditional Samoan American approach, Omai Fa’atasi merged anti-colonialist and anti-imperialist ideology with the Samoan sovereignty movement of the 1900s and applied it to the political identity of Samoans in Carson throughout the 1970s. 

In breaking down the meaning of the phrase Omai Fa’atasi, the collective’s founder, Simi Potasi, refers to the term as a call to action, a call to come together and unite. He defines it as “a struggle for human dignity, the struggle to survive in this type of system.” 

Simi Potasi, 1977-1978, Visual Communications

Mabel Su’a, Tupe Su’a, and other members of Omai Fa’atasi, 1977-1978, Visual Communications

Later in Fujii’s film, Potasi explains how the collective developed as a means of self-defense against the harassment of gangs and police brutality, and to obtain the necessary skills to survive in the United States. He also discusses how witnessing other minority groups struggling for their rights motivated the founders to begin organizing. The collective’s approach was rooted in teaching Samoan history to the youth, especially that of anti-colonial struggles in Samoa.

In addition to offering classes to teach the history of Samoa, the Omai Fa’atasi center, located at 22022 Main Street, offered a food co-op, summer day-camps, community health fairs, a high school continuation school, a drug abuse program, as well as a newsletter to keep the community updated on events.

Caption: Film grabs, Omai Fa’atasi: Samoa O Samoa, 1978.

Although there aren't any pamphlets or physical memorabilia in VC’s collection that demonstrate Omai Fa’atasi’s political ideologies, there are oral history transcripts from the Los Angeles Public Library’s digital collection of the “Shades of L.A” series which touch on the movement. In an interview between Sojin Kim and the Foisia family on June 17th, 1996, Elizabeth Fosia, Kolokea Fosia, and Tuiofu Foisia, described Omai Fa’atasi as being “too radical,” according to the elders of the Samoan community in Carson. In other regards, some believed that the collective did not incorporate Samoan epistemologies enough, and instead identified more with Black and Latin American communities.

Image grab – Kim, Sojin. Interview with Elizabeth, Kolokea, and Tuiofu Foisia. Shades of L.A Interview Project, June 17, 1994. 047-088.

Despite the efforts of the Omai Fa’atasi, by the late 1980s, the collective had completely disappeared, and with it disappeared the political radical ideology that ruffled the feathers of a conservative community.

LEFT: Film grab, Omai Fa’atasi: Samoa O Samoa, 1978, 22022 Main Street, Carson, CA.
RIGHT: Google Maps screenshot of 22022 Main Street, CA, former Omai Fa’atasi Center.

When given the opportunity in 2024 to facilitate a dialogue with Omai Fa’atasi’s co-founder and other core members of the collective for VC’s Pacific Cinewaves series, “Talanoa: Samoan Stories in Carson,” I asked Tupe Su’a, Mabel Su’a, and Rovine Potasi about the disappearance of the collective. They explained that one of the main reasons for the dissolution of Omai Fa’atasi was the passing of Proposition 13 in 1978. This is discussed in the film by Potasi, who also attributes the closure of the Omai Fa’atasi center to this proposition. According to the California State Board of Equalization’s publication on California Property Tax, Proposition 13 inadvertently altered how public services were financed and administered in California. This had a significant financial impact on various sectors, including those that support cultural organizations such as Omai Fa’atasi.

Visual Communications Pacific Cinewaves series, Talanoa: Samoan Stories in Carson, 2024. 
Left to right: Mabel Su’a, Rovine Potasi, Tupe Su’a, Nina Sosefina, and Esperanza Bey.

In addition to the center itself having closed, the members expressed that many of them had experienced activism fatigue. Most of them already had children while serving as organizers and had to dial back their involvement in order to provide for their growing families. In the film, Potasi also mentions the impact of losing Omai Fa’atasi recipients to street violence, as 45 youth alone ended up in jail after the closure of the center. 

VC’s Omai Fa’atasi collection offers a rich reservoir of information to account for the presence of a radical history in Carson during the 1970s. Like many grassroots organizations of this period which experienced the loss of a headquarters and the dwindling of its core members, Omai Fa’atasi is a prime example of a movement that was forced to an abrupt halt. The factors that led to the collective’s demise highlight the nuances of disappearance as it pertains to records of political activism. However ...

It is essential that we, as archivists and memory workers, activate the narratives and preserve the history that still exists as a means to prevent further disappearance of the memory and critical social justice movements that these individuals established.

Omai Fa’atasi members pose outside of the Omai Fa'atasi Center building, 1977-1978, Visual Communications.

FURTHER READING

Kim, Sojin. "Interview with Elizabeth, Kolokea, and Tuiofu Foisia." Shades of L.A Interview  Project, June 17, 1994. 

Lewthwaite, G. R., Mainzer, C., & Holland, P. J. (1973). "From Polynesia to California: Samoan  migration and its sequel." The Journal of Pacific History, 8(1), 133–157.  https://doi.org/10.1080/00223347308572228  

California Budget Project. (1997). Proposition 13: Its Impact on California and Implications. https://calbudgetcenter.org/app/uploads/2018/09/Issue-Brief_Proposition-13- Its-Impact-on-California-and-Implications_04.1997.pdf  

“Anti-colonialism and Black Power: Indigenous Periodicals in the Pacific.” 2021. The  Funambulist Magazine. November 18, 2021. https://thefunambulist.net/magazine/22- publishing-struggle/anti-colonialism-black-power-indigenous-periodicals-pacific-angelique stastny 

Pulido, Laura. 2006. Black, Brown, Yellow, and Left: Radical Activism in Los Angeles. Univ of  California Press. 

Suaalii-Sauni, Tamasailau M., Maualaivao Albert Wendt, Naomi Fuamatu, Upolu Luma Va’ai,  Reina Whaitiri, and Stephen L. Filipo. 2014. Whispers and Vanities: Samoan Indigenous  Knowledge and Religion. Huia Publishers.

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