Have you ever thought about it?
While I was at my recruiter's office getting more paperwork done, I noticed myself getting irritated by the minute. My recruiter tried pulling up American Samoa up through the system, and couldn't really find it. He constantly mistakes me for being Hawaiian (not that there's anything wrong with being Hawaiian, that's just not what I am).
There's also the fact that we have been a U.S. territory since the early 1900's, and we are still JUST being recognized as U.S. citizens/nationals. Our first acting governor was a PALAGI guy named B. F. Tilley, who was an officer in the Navy, for Christ's sake. Our island was used as a naval base, and in 1940, they developed a training and staging area for the Marine Corps. That's also when they started enlisting islanders into the U.S. Marine Corps.
I told this to my recruiter, and he didn't know didly squat about it. Pisses me the fuck off because do they mention shit about it in the U.S. history text books? BARELY! If anything, all you get is that we are a damn territory.
There are also ignorant people who say that we're a third world country? WTF?! Some people even say that the asvab we take in American Samoa is DIFFERENT. As in, they gave a-whole-nother test for us islanders because we're incapable of reaching the academic levels of the kids who are stateside?
Well, let me just say this.
I AM SAMOAN, BUT I AM ALSO AN AMERICAN.
I WAS BORN AND RAISED IN AMERICAN SAMOA, BUT I CAN SPEAK AND USE GRAMMAR BETTER THAN A LOT OF KIDS STATESIDE.
MY TEST SCORES AREN'T PERFECT, BUT I BET I STILL SCORED HIGHER ON MY SAT, ACT, AND ASVAB TESTS THAN YOU. (NOTE: I didn't even study)
What was the purpose of this post? To prove that AMERICAN Samoa needs to start being recognized for what it is. A PART of America, and not just some footstool. It's been a damn century.
Let's stop being ignorant people.