Given that most did not know anything about fa’asamoa and could not speak the Samoan language, it is not surprising then that responses to the question “was it fa’asamoa or the Samoan culture the reason why you joined the gang?” Were mainly “no”. Even the small group of Samoan- born participants who knew about fa’asamoa and able to speak the Samoan language responded by saying that the cultural identity was not the main reason why they got involved in gangs. And yet there were various accounts from the participants of examples where they exercised
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F.O.B stands for “Fresh off boat” and used to describe immigrants that have arrived from a foreign nation and have not yet assimilated into the host nation’s culture, language and way of life.
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fa’asamoa practices and spoke in the Samoan language in the gang they formed or joined. These included passing on knowledge to other gang members, about fa’asamoa, how to speak the Samoan language, the practice of prayer before meals, fundraising for crises or special events, and participating in a member’s family celebrations.
Most of the participants learned about fa’asamoa and how to speak the Samoan language from other gang members. They learned about fa’asamoa when they came into contact with their member’s parents. As Rasik comments below:
“…when I go to one of the boys house, I always show respect to the family I just act good in front of the family yeah just, I maybe gangster and stuff but I still got I still know my Samoan, my Samoan heritage and like the way we respect and stuff.” (Rasik)
Some of the participants mentioned they always spoke to each other in the Samoan language when they were together and those who did not know how to speak Samoan quickly picked up the language. This not only strengthened their cultural identity development but brought the gang members closer to each other. See Aomas’s comment below:
“Yeah we always talk in, nah, when we tell jokes, speak Samoan and…pretty much speak Samoan all the time you know. Yeah like you know when you’re talking about like say if some other people are there and they are not your race can just talk. You feel more, more like home, more like family.” (Aomas)
Church and religion is very much part of fa’asamoa and some of the participants shared that within their gang they would always pray before having their meals and for other members and their families. As B-Red shares below:
“In the gang, when the mea ‘ai (food) comes and when Cap B is around yeah he does his lotu (prayer). He’s like “sole, youse guys wanna eat?” we’re like, “aye?”
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do your lotu…(B-Red)
Few of the participants recalled another practice that is a key aspect of fa’asamoa which was fundraising for special events or family crises for which they would ask their members for donations so the gang could offer a contribution/gift to the even or crisis. As B-On remarks below:
“Ah fa’asamoa like if we had birthday like for example like one of my sister’s twenty-first, all the boys came around there was like twenty-five of us at my house. We all put in money all the boys came with twenty bucks to give it to my sister…” (B-On)
Not only would B-On and his gang members raise money or “chip-in” for gifts to their family members but also buy bonus tickets, to support one of their member’s family fundraising projects.
“…yeah and bonus tickets as well for families we buy just to support the family yeah we save up and chip in. We put all our money in an envelope and just say from the PBS boys and then we give to like one of our usos (brothers) and the uso will give it to his mom…the mom sees us around she’s like “ah ia malo” like she’ll like be friendly to us cos like we supported their family yeah.” (B-On)
B-Red added that another way the gang practiced fa’asamoa and supported one of the member’s family members was when he and other gang members performed a siva Samoa (Samoan dance). It touched the mother’s heart and it a rare moment where the gang and the family, who did not like the gang because their son was involved in them, were close to each other.
“Ah like we went to one of the boys’ dad’s birthday. So we all siva Samoa around him…the family they all like that’s good like the mom she goes “I like to thank my son’s friends, these guys made this night even better, youse guys just showed us that we can you know, youse guys maybe bad, look bad, dress bad, but youse guys got a heart for Samoans.” (B-Red)
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So fa’asamoa may not have featured as a cultural socialization experience for most of the participants during their childhood, for some they were exposed and taught about fa’asamoa after joining a gang during their adolescence. The effects of gang life on the cultural identity development of the participants is quite profound and exposes another side of gang culture particular Samoan youth gangs. When it came to choosing the gang over their Samoan culture participants were asked “was being a Samoan a reason why you joined the gang?” Over half (15 out of 25) of the participants said “yes”, 6 said did not know, and 4 said “no”. For those who said “yes” it was because the gang was a Samoan gang and they were proud of being Samoan as it gave them a sense of belonging. See LOP’s response:
“Being a Samoan ah yeah some of it is like to represent who I am and that’s how proud I was of having to represent it and pride.” (LOP)
Whereas for those who said “no” it was because they were following their friends as SW remarks:
“Nah it was my own decision…mmm and some of it just all school mates, just
mainly fuck school boys yeah”(SW)
Overall it seems that cultural socialization was not a strong experience for most of the participants especially in their family home and having it passed on by their parents. Most participants did not know anything about fa’asamoa and how to speak the Samoan language (gagana) in their childhood and beyond except for some participants but this latter group over time lost their ability to do so. The few participants who still held on to their knowledge of fa’asamoa and how to speak the gagana from childhood to adolescence credited their parents for encouraging and teaching them, which was usually through reciting scriptural passages from the Bible, observing Samoan practices depending on the occasions, for example, the ifoga (reconciliation) ritual for forgiving transgressions and
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the ava ritual for welcoming guests. Life in Samoa was predominantly about learning and practicing fa’asamoa and the gagana but it was also filled by negative memories such as being bullied in the villages and even those who were sent to Samoa for a punishment.
However, those who were sent to Samoa for a punishment returned to New Zealand with a stronger understanding of fa’asamoa and an enhanced ability to speak the gagana. For those born in Samoa and migrated to NZ to settle struggled to adapt to the NZ way of life particularly with the English language and discrimination. Even NZ-born Samoan people experienced similar issues especially dualism; learning fa’asamoa and gagana (Samoan cultural identity) and the New Zealand way of life. Living in NZ made fa’asamoa and gagana difficult to keep up and pass on but the interesting aspect about this finding is that one way cultural socialization was transferred was through gang members teaching and passing it down to its members. So some members joined the gang because it was a Samoan gang (not a Tongan or a Māori gang) and was attracted to not only its activities but also its promotion of fa’asamoa and gagana. Not all Samoan gangs (and there were two main ones covered in this study: Red Army and Pearl Baker Stylez – see Chapter 6) promoted cultural practices. Others joined for other reasons like it were a gang originating in school and not ethnicity, it was a gang that was not contradictory like church, and it was a gang that represented the neighbourhood.