As lucky as I am, I was assigned to call the TONGAN people of Los Angeles. Gahleeeee, you know we all know each other! If not, we know someone who knows someone else. I had a list of 65 Tongans to call, which was a speck of powder compared to the thousands of Asians my colleagues had on their call list. But anyways, I worked with what I had. I only had a handful of people who answered their phone and majority of the phones were cut. A good 5 people hung up on me, copped attitude, and straight lied to me (laughing that I'm calling). I just have a few things to say about my first experience. It was FUN! And to my surprise, I was never discouraged and embarrassed to call and talk to my Tongan people in a professional manner...even the fobs! ;) Just a few things had me thinking today:
(1) My TONGAN people! Please pay your phone bills! I forreal memorized the woman operator's voice memo *dial-up tone* THE NUMBER YOU DIALED HAS BEEN DISCONNECTED. ahaha..Nah, just jokes. But this was one repeating factor. Noone's phone was connected!
(2) I took on this assignment because I miss outreaching for voting! But I also did it because Tongans are not only underrepresented, but the very few of us who are representatives, we don't take callers seriously because they're palangi! I thought as a Tongan young woman, I'd be able to reach out to my people, talk a little fob, and connect them to political issues in the way Tongan people appeal to it! I was sad for people (and I remember yall names haha) who rudely refused to talk to me about voting. We (as outreachers) are not selling you anything! We are doing a public service to give our people a better understanding, and more knowledge about voting and how it affects you. If you don't know what I'm saying, but would like to, HOLLA AT ME! I'll get you to phone bank, and see how it goes. I have never appreciated survey people who call until I was calling around doing the same thing and I LEARNED A LOT! And I bet you would too :)
(3) Thank you to my home girl AMELIA SILI for taking time out of her day to answer my phone (she was on my calling list) call and willingly answering my questions. You rock! And I'm so happy to have you as a committed voter and CARING about issues that you are concerned about- education, healthcare, and immigration! Right on sister! And one inspiring man made my day. 65 year old Tongan elder from the valley. [cannot disclose his name] But I call him and tell him the whole getdown of who I am and what organization I'm calling on behalf of and to my surprise, he tells me he's got his sample ballot, knows where his polling place is, and is going to vote on TUESDAY! *tears of joy* Then our conversation goes on as I asked him more questions and he answered with what his policy concerns are and why he votes. He's not even a vote-by-mail! He said he likes going to polls. Now see, this was all I needed to hear to make me feel like my time phone banking was well worth it. Even though he is an elder, I respect him for being ENGAGED in his duties as an American citizen! I hope I get to meet this man one day so I can get to know more about him...we need more Tongan men proactive like him!
(4) I noticed something different in me today. I have no idea where it came from, or if this is just my first time noticing it, but I was very open to interacting with other people. I'm so Polynesian-oriented that I tend to isolate myself from mingling with other races. Atleast until today. I was talking with everyone in the room, made some new friends, and landed some new opportunities to further work with immigration reform projects! SCORE! I'm so proud of myself (not to toot my own horn) but honestly, my heart has opened up to new experiences and helping out my community.
I know this was a long ass blog. But I promise I only did this to vent because I don't have much friends...haha. JK! I'm super excited for what else YOUR VOTE MATTERS campaign has coming up. Shoutout to APALC for the great hospitality and new learning experience! If you ever get a call from a phone banker, please don't ignore them...it just might be me ;) lol
