"Intolerable"

Murmurings Over Status In American Samoa

Second-Class

Citizenship

"Intolerable"

On the 64th anniversary in .pril of the raising of the United

tates flag in Pago Pago, the

sar-old American Samoa news aper Samoa News took a long, ard look at the question of olitical status in the territory, nd was little pleased at what it iw.

N its most important editorial in • its first year of publication, the amoa News said: “It is no longer ifficient to have the American flag an Samoan soil), and the fact that e are even less than second-class itizens is becoming intolerable. To orrow a Kennedian phrase, we nould ‘think out now’ our moves for )morrow.

“Discontent with the present olitical set-up is bound to continue > grow. It is poor policy to brush thing off with the excuse that our me is being put to better use else where.

“If the Samoan population is not t present equipped to decide on such question, there is but one alter ative and that is to get them ducated —not indoctrinated —so they ould reach their own decisions on , future political set-up soon.”

Samoa News said that a test esolution “thrown at” the local legislature in the last session or the creation of a commission to tudy the possibility of making \merican Samoa part of the State )f Hawaii.

Negative Attitude

The Lower House agreed to the ■esolution, but the Senate “refused o give it the full measure of con sideration such an important suggestion should deserve”.

The newspaper said that a negative attitude had been shown all dong on various proposals on the political status of American Samoa.

Independence, it had been argued, was almost out of the question, be :ause American Samoa was too poor and too small. However, that was before Van Camp, Star Kist, Coconut Processing, and Samoan Development

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Corporation had become factors in he territory’s economy.

Suggestions that American Samoa hould be merged with Western lamoa into a single independent tate had been decried by the terri ory’s leading chiefs because they eared a merger might down-grade heir titles.

Then, when the question of citizen hip of the United States was brought o the people 18 month ago, the idea vas rejected because the chiefs irgued that it did not respect the natai system, and that it would be ‘incompatible with the existing and situation in Samoa”.

“So 64 years after the first raising )f the US flag in the territory, \merican Samoa is still an insular jossession of the United States,” lamoa News said.

“It has a constitution that is currently undergoing its first five fears of trial. But the authority behind the document is the Secretary Df the Interior, not the US Congress.

“But what about tomorrow? Are ve content with the present status? \re we going to keep on procrastinat ing until we find ourselves face to face with realities for which we have not had any previous plans and thoughts?”

The newspaper’s opinions, to

gether with a letter from a New Guinea man published in PIM, April (p. 27) brought comment in the Samoan newspapers. [The PIM letter, signed for publication “Winds of Change”, said that the fact that the American Samoans owed America a great deal, just as the New Guineans owed a great deal to Australia, had nothing to do with nationalism.

Although they couldn’t afford it the American Samoans would “probably insist on going their own political way also”, and there was not likely to be a longish transitional period for America. America should fix target dates for Samoa’s future.] A letter, signed “Liberty”, published in Samoana, Apia, on April 29, commented that “our American friends may yet have to face up to reality”.

The writer said the Americans had “always disguised their colonial

possessions under other names, e.g., ‘unincorporated territory of American Samoa’, and similar high sounding but meaningless phrases”.

The writer added, “In this day and a ge of independence America is deliberately driving a wedge between the Samoan people. This is done in a number of ways. The grafting of a Stateside type of life, education and economy on the people of Eastern Samoa; the forced registration of aliens, i.e.. Western Samoans resident in Eastern Samoa, and other dis criminatory practices serve to drive the Samoan people apart. In this day of a divided Germany, Vietnam and Korea, we can add Samoa.

“It may be that many Samoans in Eastern Samoa prefer to stay under American domination, but the United States is not allowing the people there the right of self determination nor the opportunity to discuss union with their aiga in Western Samoa.