17 Nov 2016
To our first time Nesian City readers, on behalf of our team I wish to welcome you to our page.
This page has been the brain child of my wife I for almost three long years.
My family and I reside in Sydney Australia and as such I have always believed in the "Australian life style" but with one defining difference, I am Samoan and like many of my generation I was born in New Zealand but was brought to Australia at a very early age.
I have always tried to fit in to what I thought was expected of me, as a pacific Islander I played football hung out with other pacific islanders and generally acted the fool and stupid but this was what I believed was expected of me, you watched it on TV, heard it from friends but mostly it's how people acted around you.
Our parents came to Australia for a better life and better opportunities for their children and for the most of us this is true. It wasn't until I had entered high school that I noticed that there we're a few differences between "Pacific Islanders" and everyone else.
Well the Aussies were Aussies, the middle Eastern's were Lebs and Asians were Asians but Islanders we were FOB's.
These are the labels given to us by the generation before, the real question one should then ask themselves is do we past this prejudice to the next generation or do we try to be better then those who came before us? To truly understand why it is important to protect the next generation we should look into the past and try to learn from it.
'Fob's" A name that was derived from prejudice and elitist. People who believed that because our parent's spoke broken English, worked physically labouring jobs next to no education it would be ok to look down and label pacific Islanders 'Fresh Off the Boat" This is not the first time the word "fob' has been used, before Pacific Islanders Asians we're given this demeaning title but since the 70's we the pacific Islanders have bore this insult.
I do not point out these facts out to incite or demean anybody or person but to knowledge where we have come and where have been and where we are going.
I watch the younger generation and see how they now wear the 'Fob' title like a badge of honour it's tagged all over there school bags graffiti on train stations and walls in public places and it's in their speech to one another but I wonder if they know where the name came from, the battles their parents and even their grandparents had to face under that provocative word.
Which brings me to our topic of the day, one of the most common views people have towards all 'Pacific Islanders is the assumption that we are all violent and I won't lie when the News reports on violence it's usually followed with the words "A male of Pacific Island appearance"
of course this does not reflect well to the community at large but the impact it makes in the pacific island community it's even bigger with long term effects.
This is the reason why Nesian City Weekly was created, to show case positive Pacific Islanders both here and around the world, those who are refusing to be placed in a category refusing to be labelled, showing our people that we can all contribute to this world in a positive manner.
We will report everything from the news of the week to light and fun pieces but our focus will always be on the show casing of 'Pacific Islanders' Nesian's all around the world and so it is with our sincerest hope that you spread the word and join us as we present the News and Nesian pride to the World.
Mike Taei
Nesian City Weekly
Editor & Executive Officer