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When Alexis G. Tonasket Hoyt started learning their tribe's language, they felt they finally found what they'd been "pulled towards" their entire life. Tonasket Hoyt.
I’m Finally Embracing My Samoan Culture. Why Can’t the Media Do the Same?
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The author (right) performing a Samoan siva (dance) with her cousin.
Growing up, I was often asked what my ethnicity was. In the majority of these instances, someone would ask because they thought that I looked exotic which isn t the compliment that most people think it is. Whenever I replied that I am Samoan, I was met with a look of curiosity and the question, What is that? which is a little hard to explain as a child. With a lack of Pacific Islander representation in media like TV shows or movies to refer to, I always ended up describing Samoa as kinda like Hawai i because I couldn t really think of another way to describe my tiny cluster of islands that would be understood by someone that was unfamiliar. (For the record, these are two completely different ethnicities and cultures.)