Tongan Haters in Utah Use "Black Lives Matter" to Show Their Own Families Are "Racists" Featured
Sione Ake Mokofisi
Tongan Haters in Utah Use "Black Lives Matter" to Show Their Own Families Are "Racists"
Author: Sione Ake Mokofisi - Part XIII
Column: Media Analysis: A FaceBook photo shows a middle-aged Polynesian lady in Ogden, Utah, holding a sign reading: "Tongans for Black Lives Matter." It got my attention although I seldom search the social media. And I wanted to know who elected this lady to speak for all Tongans in Utah.
I responded, "All Lives Matter," and the floodgates opened with the most ruthless and filthy language postings. Posts from women folks were the most vicious.
They cussed me out to shut up because I didn't belong in the conversation, and F*** this and F*** that, etc. The absurdity of it all is they're enjoying their right to free speech, but nobody else should.
Insults and cussing, swearing, and name calling came from supporters of the Black Lives Matter sign carrier.
She claims to have a college degree, but her vocabularies were limited to profanities. 'Some told accounts of growing up (in America) learning from their parents and family members how Tongans are "racists" towards "darker skinned" people. Someone posted that her mother forbids her from suntanning in case she turns black.
This seems to be their definition of Tongan racism.
What is "Racism"?
I asked repeatedly to define what they meant by "racism," but nobody responded directly to the question. I asked one of them if a Tongan has denied them their human rights, free speech, right to work, right to pray, etc. Nobody answered the question except telling me to F*** off.
Well, when I returned to the FaceBook page, it said "no longer available." Perhaps the FB no-cussing police had deleted their filthy posts.
They were mostly young women who were (supposedly) told by their elders to avoid dating black people.
One lady said her family elders told her to abort her baby with a black boyfriend. How many of these cases are the norm and how many are isolated cases? Nobody could provide statistics as evidence, and nor do they care.
A young man who claimed he was born in the U.S. cussed me out as an OLD TONGAN who "had no concept of what Black Lives Matter means" and that I must shut up. I asked if he was born in the US or USSR, and he should know what free speech meant? He wants to speak freely but I should shut up because I was not born in the America?
I don't find this a common behavior among second and third generation Tongan-Americans, except we call it "palangi wannabe" (fie pālangi) but that would be racism against white people, wouldn't it?
Do You Abuse Parents Same Way?
And I asked the most vocal lady if she cusses and insults white people in her community, the same way she cusses me out and other Tongans. She said that she talks to white people the same way. but I told her that she is a liar.
She does not live in a black community, and she could not possibly go around cussing and insulting white people where she lives.
Studies have shown that non-black people who do not live in black communities know very little about blacks' plight, and often do more harm than good to blacks.
I asked her if she treats her parents and family at home the same way she's been talking to me and abusive to Tongans in general? She said No.
I told her again she was a liar, because people usually do to other people what they do at home. She did not reply, because she could not prove to me that she does not abuse her parents at home.
I left a reminder for them that Tongans have lived along with Fijians for centuries. And that American blacks were not the first dark skinned people we've seen.
That there are more Tongan-Fijian marriages than White-Black marriages in America. The Tongan Royal Family has close Fijian blood relatives, and the whole Lau Group in Fiji are fluent Tongan speakers.
(Mr. Mokofisi is a senior bi-lingual writer and media analyst, including the social media. He's a graduate of BYU-Hawaii where he was the first Polynesian editor of the university newspaper; he holds a MBA degree and is a doctoral candidate at the University of Phoenix-Arizona. He taught Business Management and Communications at Tonga International Academy, Nuku'alofa, Tonga.)
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