Pacific Islanders hope cultural district will ensure “seat at the table”
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People wearing Polynesian traditonal garb at the Holiday Inn at San Francisco International Airport. Photo: Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Walk through Visitacion Valley and Sunnydale and you’ll immediately be able to tell which community has made its place in these neighborhoods.
- On one corner, you’ll find the shop Polynesian Island Luau with its vibrant mosaic of island wear. A few streets down and you'll see the Samoan Community Development Center screening a documentary about local mental health initiatives.
Why it matters: Pacific Islanders have played a critical role building up the city since they first came to California's shores in the 1800s. San Francisco's new efforts to establish a Pacific Islander cultural district are intended to honor their contributions over the last 150 years.
Context: Pacific Islanders make up less than 1% of the city's 808,400 people today, according to census data. But that wasn’t always the case — at one point in the mid-1800s, Native Hawaiians comprised 10% of the population.
- San Francisco saw a surge in Pacific Islander migration after World War II, when colonization enabled the U.S. military to recruit Pacific Islanders into their ranks.
- Once the war ended, they arrived seeking opportunities with the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, the Mormon Church, local farms and more.
- In more recent years, rising climate threats have also forced many Pacific Islanders to relocate to the U.S.
Yes, but: "Decades and decades of neglect" have led to high poverty rates and health disparities, community advocate Faauuga Moliga told Axios.
- Lack of access to sustainable employment, housing and quality education have forced many to leave the city, said Moliga, a former school board member who was San Francisco's first Pacific Islander elected official.
- Those inequities were exacerbated during the pandemic — by May 2020, Pacific Islanders had the highest COVID-19 death rate of any racial/ethnic group in California.
State of play: The goal of the cultural district is to help reverse those trends and "contribute to the fabric of the city," Moliga said.
- The grassroots effort to establish it began in 2017, but a big challenge was getting the community to recognize its possibility, noted Gaynor Siataga, director of the Pacific Islander community resource hub the Hut.
- "They felt like we’ve never gotten anything from the city before," she told Axios "because we never have."
- After the Board of Supervisors approved the move last winter, local leaders convened a working group to collect data on priorities and needs, something that's been historically lacking due to the way Pacific Islanders are lumped into the AAPI category.
- They are now working to put together an advisory board, annualize more grants and hold meetings to hear from community members.
What they're saying: "It feels good to be seen, to be acknowledged," Moliga said.
- "Before, we weren't even at the table," he noted. The district will be "instrumental in … moving the needle," but the city must commit to making it a long-term investment.
- "Look at our ancestors — this work took years and years and decades and centuries before us," Siataga added. "The point is to have that longevity for generations to come."