Carson Again Refuses to Rename Park

In an action decried as racist by critics, the Carson City Council has once again turned down a proposal to rename Winfield Scott Park after a popular Samoan community leader who was known for his volunteer work with troubled youths throughout the city.

The council, which in June rejected the suggested tribute to the late Harry T. Foisia, deadlocked 2-2 on Tuesday night. The vote led supporters of the tribute to denounce the council and specifically accuse Mayor Michael Mitoma, its lone Asian-American, of discrimination against Samoans, who are Pacific Islanders.

Mitoma, who denied the charge, joined Councilwoman Sylvia Muise in voting against renaming the park in honor of Foisia, a longtime city worker who died last December at age 39. Councilwomen Vera Robles DeWitt and Juanita McDonald voted in favor of the name change. Missing the vote was Councilwoman Kay Calas, who had earlier asked that the matter be postponed until the council’s Oct. 15 meeting.

The vote followed an appeal for the name change by a crowd of Samoan leaders and activists, including current and former professional football players. After the council again balked at the proposal, many supporters were left stunned and angry.

“It’s racism,” said Foisia’s sister-in-law, Liz, who said the group may launch a referendum to rename the park.

For months, Liz Foisia and other Samoan-Americans have maintained that the city consistently ignores the contributions of its Samoan residents and has treated them unfairly--charges city officials deny. The group points to the relative ease with which the city dedicated four other parks, naming three for African-Americans and another for former Councilman John Calas, who was white and the late husband of current Councilwoman Calas.

After Tuesday’s meeting, the group’s leaders said the vote illustrates the sharp differences among Asians and Pacific Islanders, who are often mistakenly viewed as closely aligned in needs and culture. Many said the name change has become a rallying point for the area’s Samoan community, beset with high poverty and school dropout rates.

Mitoma “is not doing right by our community,” said Fuiavailili Alailima, founder of the Pacific Islander Student Union at Cal State Dominguez Hills.

“It shouldn’t be an Asian-Pacific Islander issue. But the problem we have in our community is (lack of) representation. There’s no one we can cry to on the council, no one we can look up to to swing a vote in our favor,” Alailima said.

Mitoma has maintained that he generally opposes naming a park after any individual and in this case did not want to set a precedent by naming a park after a city employee. He also complained that Foisia’s supporters attempted to pressure him by threatening to oppose his reelection next year if he did not vote to rename the park.

“The thing that I’m hearing is that it’s an ethnic issue, and I don’t think that’s an appropriate way to name a park,” Mitoma said. “Unfortunately, I don’t just represent one group. I’m perceived as the spokesperson for the Asian-Pacific Islander people in this city. But I was elected by the city as a whole, and I cannot in good conscience look at this as just a Pacific Islander issue.”

Foisia’s supporters, who include family members and non-Samoan community leaders, have lobbied for the name change since June, when council members first denied the request and instead voted to name the city’s emergency operations center after Foisia.

Viewing that action as an insult because the operations center is in the City Hall basement, the group continued to push for the park tribute.

Samoan leaders said the renaming drive comes down to recognition--not only of the contributions of Foisia and other Samoans to the city, but also of the seriousness of the problems facing their community.

David Barrett Cohen, a former Republican candidate for the 27th Congressional District, told the council that “Samoans everywhere, regardless of whether we live in Carson, have a very special tie to the city of Carson, in much the same way as Vietnamese-Americans have a very special tie to Westminster and Chinese-Americans to the city of Monterey Park.”

Cohen, who is of Samoan and Jewish descent, said the city’s tie with the Samoan community has “put Carson on the map. The Carson High School football team has put Carson on the map. I submit to you the Samoan community has had a lot to do with that.”

San Francisco 49er center Jesse Sapolu and former Seattle Seahawk defensive lineman Manu Tuiasosopo also spoke in support of the name change. The players spent parts of their youth in Carson.

Foisia, a city code enforcement manager, was revered in the Samoan community and had the title “high chief” bestowed on him in 1986. He helped found Samoan Athletes in Action, a group that brought famous football players to Scott Park to run football clinics for area youth.

Before the city’s incorporation in 1968, Winfield Scott Park belonged to Los Angeles County. Winfield Scott was a famed general in the Mexican War and was commander of the Union Army at the outbreak of the Civil War.