Samoans Proud of Response to Verdict : Culture: Community defied stereotype and remained true to peaceful South Pacific roots after a jury deadlocked on police officer who killed two brothers, leaders say.

After a jury deadlocked on charges that a Compton police officer killed two Samoan brothers, Fuiavailili Alailima implored a group of angry and bewildered high school students to stay calm.

Many of the young people had grown up thousands of miles from the South Pacific, the birthplace of the traditionally peaceful Samoan culture, but Alailima exhorted them to remember their roots in this time of crisis. “Don’t live up to the stereotype of the big, bad Samoans,” Alailima said.

A similar message was preached at Samoan churches and community meetings--and it worked. This successful effort is being viewed as a seminal moment among Los Angeles County’s Samoans, who are grappling with cultural and generational conflicts as they adapt to U. S. culture.

“I wanted to cry from much rejoicing in my heart because of the way the community behaved,” said Chief Tua’au (Pele) Faletogo, chairman of the Carson-based Samoan Council of Chiefs, which represents 36 area chiefs.

“Our main concern was the gang members. We felt we should remind them of their roots, that even though we live in America, we are still Samoans. . . . There was much soul-searching after the verdict, but the community came out victorious.”

And now Samoans, led by their church elders, community leaders and the chiefs, or matais, are continuing to fight what they say are unfair stereotypes of their community as violent and primitive.

“We must do everything in our power to defeat that stereotype,” said David Barrett Cohen, a Samoan-American activist. “It is that stereotype that I believe led (Officer Alfred) Skiles to shoot 19 times.”

Jurors deadlocked 9 to 3 for Skiles’ acquittal and a mistrial was declared Tuesday. The decision prompted widespread outrage in the Samoan community.

Los Angeles County is home to 12,000 Samoans, the largest population in the United States. More than half the county’s Samoans live in Carson, Compton and Long Beach.

American Samoa, a group of small islands in the South Pacific, is a U. S. territory. However, Samoans are not citizens and cannot vote outside of the islands.

Many came to the United States from rural villages, with little education or technical skills. Additionally, the family oriented, clannish nature of their culture frequently rubs against the value placed on individualism and material rewards in America. A Samoan millionaire is as hard to find as a Samoan homeless person, one Samoan saying goes.

High Chief Papaliitele Alailima, of West Covina, said the peaceful outcome of the crisis is evidence that Samoans have retained their island customs.

“That system is based on family in which respect and obedience is the base,” Alailima said. “I can see that even though we have been out here (on the mainland) this long, they are retaining a good part of that custom.”

On the islands, Samoan matais are all-powerful. But on the mainland, the matais are mostly symbolic rulers, though they still command much respect among Samoans. In preparation for the Skiles verdict, the Samoan Council of Chiefs organized a community outreach effort in which leaders spoke at churches, schools and community centers to urge a peaceful response.

Faletogo took his message to the streets, venturing into the turf of a Long Beach Samoan gang. “We met in a field behind a housing complex in Long Beach,” he said. “We were apprehensive at first, but we ended up laughing and smiling. We even learned a little from them.”

The Samoan community held a peaceful march last week in Compton to protest the jury’s deadlock, and another rally is planned for 10 a.m. Thursday at the Compton Civic Center.

Many in the Samoan community viewed the Skiles trial as their own Rodney G. King case, in which the black motorist was beaten by four white Los Angeles police officers.

Skiles, the first Los Angeles County law enforcement officer in more than a decade to be criminally charged for an on-duty killing, has said he acted in self-defense when he fatally shot Pouvi Tualaulelei, 34, and his brother, Itali Tualaulelei, 22. The brothers were struck in their backs and sides by 19 bullets, according to autopsy reports.

However, Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard Healey said that in the Skiles case, “the level of violence considerably exceeds the level of violence in the King case.”

Prosecutors want to retry Skiles on manslaughter charges. He has been ordered to return to court June 1 to learn whether Superior Court Judge John Reid will order a retrial. The 12-year police veteran recently retired, saying stress from the February, 1991, shootings and the trial have left him unable to work.

Samoan-Americans have long accused law enforcement officers of harboring negative stereotypes of Samoans as being prone to violence. They point to another highly charged case involving Samoans and alleged police brutality: the raid by sheriff’s deputies of a bridal shower at the Cerritos home of Arthur Dole, a Samoan-American in 1989.

A videotape made by a neighbor showed deputies dragging guests from the house and hitting them with clubs after they were made to lie face down on the ground. The family and most of the 40 guests in attendance have filed a $40-million lawsuit against the county. Deputies claimed they were responding to a reported disturbance and were assaulted. However, jurors said they did not believe the deputies and acquitted Arthur Dole’s son, David, and two guests of felony charges stemming from the incident.

June Pouesi, regional director of the nonprofit Office of Samoan Affairs in Carson, said the Dole and Skiles cases indicate that police are predisposed to use unjustifiable force when encountering Samoans. She said some police officers irrationally fear Samoans because of their large physical stature.

“We are not looked upon as fellow human beings,” Pouesi said.

Compton Police Department spokesman Lt. Joe Flores praised the Samoan community’s response to the Skiles trial but denies Samoans have been singled out by police because of their size or race.

“Common sense is going to tell you that if you have a large person who takes a blow to the stomach with no effect, he’s going to get hit again if that is the force that is deemed necessary by the officer to take that man down, regardless of the ethnic group,” Flores said.

Many Samoans acknowledge that their physical stature is a source of pride and that it often draws attention. But they say people often misunderstand them because of it.

“We are a very peaceful, loving people,” said Faletogo, the council chairman. “A Samoan will give away his last dollar if he has it to help someone else out.”