Football or Prison – The Limited Options Facing Polynesian Boys in America

The first time I read a book with the word Polynesian in it was when I read "Moby Dick" in middle school. Author Herman Melville wrote his famous novel sometime in the late 1800's and in it he wrote about a Polynesian shipmate, "Queequeg." He was described in the book as a “heavily tattooed Polynesian harpooner existing in a state between civilized and savage.” That description of the Polynesian male was written in the late 1800's, yet is an image that doesn't seem to fade even in 2011.

In my Polynesian family I have two younger brothers who are now 18 and 23 - Jr. and Christ, one named after my father and the other named after Jesus. Throughout their whole lives they have faced the pressure of being young Polynesian men viewed through the lens of mainstream America. Almost the same stereotype that author Herman Melville wrote about, heavily tattooed between being "civilized and savage.”

Ever since my little brother was 15 he was 6'4, 300lbs solid. To have a growth spurt at that age and to that extent is normal for a lot of Polynesian young men. His facial hair grew faster than that of some older men. His size has been a gift and a curse, getting him noticed where ever he goes. It’s either in a good way or a bad way, people either fear him or they sometimes want to be around him to portray the image of fear. He's had a lot of friends who admit to wanting to hang with him because of his size and not because he's a funny, intelligent guy.

My brother’s experience typifies what a lot of young Polynesians go through, again in the good and the bad.

A 2005 UC Berkeley study on Asian Pacific Islander prison reentry found that API men and women are incarcerated at a younger age than any other racial group in California. Also in the recent documentary, "In Football We Trust," they say that Samoans and Tongans are 56 times more likely to be in the NFL than any other ethnic background.

As different as those two statistics are, it makes a lot sense if you consider how physicality in America plays such an important role. People in America associate size with power: big cars, big houses, big muscles, everything big.

The first time my brother Jr.’s size and image came into play and foreshadowed the type of attention he would receive for years to come was when he was 15. He was out late and walking home when the police pulled him over. Three vehicles and five cops rushed him as he proceeded to lay flat on the ground in the arrest position. One of the officers put her gun to his head and cursed at him. He is 23 now and has had repeated episodes like that since, and I asked him, "Why do you think they treated you like that when you were 15?" He told me, "because I'm a big ass human being."

When he came back from New Zealand and stepped onto his new high school campus the football coaches walked right up to him trying to recruit him. When he walks with our mom, who looks like a small Chinese lady people ask her if she’s okay.

These are things that have become normal for young Polynesians. Even sitting in a courtroom or handcuffed on the curb, being treated as an adult rather than the average American teenager has become normal.

With my two younger brothers being arrested is casual. Being in the system is expected.

Last week I got a call from my father telling me my youngest brother, Chris, was arrested again and he sits in adult jail for the first time because he just turned 18.

This morning I got a text that Jr. was taken into custody on a traffic warrant. He has court on Wednesday for another case. How was he taken in? He was stopped while walking with Christ to the store at 11pm. Christ had been released and was drinking a soda. The cop suspected it was a bottle of alcohol and pulled them over while walking. After running his name he was taken in. Within a two week span both of them have been in custody. It doesn't surprise me anymore, it’s not a big issue to them. That's just how it has always been, it’s as common as a handshake.

I started writing this piece last week to compensate a quick video that I produced around the Santa Clara County criminal justice system. The video was based on my brothers, little pieces that cannot give the full view of what they go through as young Polynesian men. While working on the video, I asked my younger brother, Christ, to explain to me what his thoughts were on his time in the system. He didn’t understand what I was asking him for. To him seeing other Polynesians arrested or incarcerated is part of normal life to him. Everyone in my family except for my mother has been arrested in front of him.

A friend of mine, an older white activist woman named Betsy told me she read one of my pieces around Polynesian culture and says she loves my writing. As much as I appreciate it, it makes me want to stop. Yet another day, writing a story that Christ probably won’t read or doesn’t care about. A story about him, about my other brother Jr. about Polynesian men who sit in prison who can't think about life any different because it seems that America has picked their choices for them.

Because of Polynesian men's physical size, ethnic background, class and pre-conceived stereotypes, the many opportunities of America have been reduced to two choices: football or prison.