OPINION
Page 6 n THE ASIAN REPORTER
August 7, 2017
Volume 27 Number 15
August 7, 2017
ISSN: 1094-9453
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TALKING STORY IN ASIAN AMERICA
n Polo
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How Tongan America
speaks to us
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ele Kavapalu let loose a Tongan trill so
strong that it took mothers’ attention
from their squirmy kids, it took uncles
from their conversations among each other. From
corner to corner in our crowded church basement,
eyes turned to Mele’s elegant hands and arms, to
hips rolling as sure and steady as that deep blue sea
between here and her family’s island home. Mele’s
dignified mother and her lovely sisters, tears
streaming, swayed with her. And our achy little
earth moved with them all. So strong these women
are.
Mele’s traditional dance with her family, inside
their house of God, before all those folks gathered on
this River City summer Saturday evening — says it
all. Our Pacific islanders took quiet, though
enormous pride in this daughter’s star-spangled
graduation from Madison High School. And the
crown she earned to become a princess on the 2017
Rose Festival Court.
Here’s some of what got her voted there. Over the
last year, Mele was Madison’s student body co-
president. A first in that Portland school’s history.
She’s also known for standing tall as Madison’s
varsity women’s volleyball team captain. Every
year since arriving, Mele’s been standing out on the
basketball court, in track and field competitions.
Ask, and her classmates will tell you all about
Mele’s inspiring presence in sports and in packed
classrooms.
Characteristic of her stubborn commitment to
both her proud islander community and to
America’s robust mainstream, Mele strums
irresistible ukulele at Pacific islander backyard
lu’aus and plays a mean trombone in her high
school’s symphonic band. And of course, she does
each equally well. Her ethno-cultural crossover
ukulele singalongs on otherwise long boring school
bus rides, are legend.
How big and brave, how fun
On this evening, inside the United Methodist
Church’s Lents Tongan Fellowship, Rose Festival
2017 Queen Michaela Canete (Filipina American
representing Century High School) and princess
Biftu Amin (Ethiopian American representing
Cleveland High School) joined princess Mele for an
impromptu shot at the Jackson 5’s 1970 soul and
M
Likely the hearts of every hardworking
father and uncle and grandpa sitting
quietly with Madam Kavapalu’s
words, surely swelled with pride
for every tough and tender daughter
in that humble church basement.
pop hit “I Want You Back.” The crowd loved them.
Banquet tables ran wall to wall in the church’s
community room. Each heaped high with juicy,
whole, spit-roasted pig, with all kinds of blessed sea
life, a variety of breads, dumplings, and puddings
made of their beloved coconut, all that highlighted
by heaps of Pacific island and Pacific Northwest
fruits. Splendid feast notwithstanding, everyone
hushed when Mele’s regal mom, Madam Kato
Kavapalu backed by sisters Helen and Milika,
humbly presented her family’s successes and
sorrows, and their gratitude, to their church and
community elders.
Missing from the celebration was husband and
father, Ofa Kavapalu. Mr. Kavapalu passed away
from their lives nine years ago, in July also — but in
his absence, the hearts of every hardworking father
and uncle and grandpa sitting quietly with Madam
Kavapalu’s words, surely swelled with pride for
every tough and tender daughter in that humble
church basement. And in our blessed lives. Outside
Lents Tongan Fellowship, a cooling evening breeze
was bringing an end to another Oregon summer
Continued on page 8
Opinions expressed in this newspaper are those of the authors and not necessarily those of this publication.