The Samoan vote in Long Beach.

What's clear and present for the future of Long Beach, CA is bold leadership that is inclusive of the diverse voice of community.

What better opportunity for the community to be heard than on election day, any election day for that matter. Sad is the case for over 4 million residents of Long Beach, who continue to allow less than 10% of its electoral to determine this city's future.

The Samoan engagement

In a study conducted by Long Beach ICO in conjunction with Tafesilafa'i Inc, of Samoans living in Long Beach, only a third of them (95) were registered to vote. Of the registered voters, only 9 of them were frequent voters and 38 infrequent voters. The study found that 51% of the registered voters never bothered to vote and 5% voted absentee ballot in at least one of these elections. This meant that of the 7,200 Samoans living in the city of Long Beach only 0.0013% of Samoans meaningfully participate in the electoral process.

In 2009, Reverand Dr. Misi Tagaloa upon the insistence of a community coalition threw his hat in a special election to replace outgoing long standing council-member Bonnie Lowenthal in the first district. Running on the premise of simply defying the odds stacked against him, Misi boldly went where no other Samoan has gone. His campaign slogan, "Voice of the Voiceless" whom most of the organized labor unions were oblivious to and politics as usual were not ready for. Funded and operated entirely by community volunteers, and PacBiz: The Association of Pacific Islander businesses and Professional pro-bono services; the community launched a landmark campaign.

The 'Go Misi' campaign, had the least name-recognition but outweighed other campaigns by over 500,000 lbs of food. Yielding zero-sum contributions from any organized labor or corporation, Go-Misi banked over 500 trained volunteers and organizations of Samoan, Tongan, Chamorro descent to phone-bank, read district maps, follow scripts, table debates, hold rallies, fundraise, canvass odds/even, stay on target and learn the ropes of running a campaign office.

The Go-Misi camp had its own celebrities. Flying in from American Samoa, was Governor Togiola and from Washington DC, Congressman Faleomavaega Eni Hunkin to one of several community fundraisers, which raised thousands at a time.

While then Senator Obama was campaigning on the streets of Alabama, the Go-Misi camp, were canvassing Long Beach, Compton, Carson and Lynwood putting up Go-Misi lawn signs and talking up Long Beach.

Today, Long Beach is set to elect or reelect it's mayor. Five of nine districts seats are up for grabs, including the city attorney, prosecutor and auditor slots.

The polls are open today from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. for Long Beach voters who have not already cast mail-in ballots in the city's primary election.

Of course in this great city of ours, elections are usually quite predictable. It's never the little-guy, who toils away on a small street corner nourishing the souls of hundreds. It's never the one whose name is known only to those who come three times daily for a warm meal.

Reaffirming that democracy is never a spectator sport, the Go-Misi camp leveraged the battle for a seat to engage in protest and dissent.

As strategic as we were as advisors to the candidate, Misi often argued for the will of the community. To my daily chagrin, his vision wasn't to takeover a council seat, but to take on the war against families: the poverty-stricken, pink-slip looming, children-left behind kind. The one's who continue to hide in the shadows of this self-boasting "International city"

Go Misi was about illuminating the immigrant experience, protecting the integrity of cultural values, expanding the realm of social justice beyond the pulpit and often fighting against our own complacency. Managing a campaign with over 500,000 bosses to answer to was not an easy feat. I would not wish those 8 months on anyone (kidding Misi).

Go Misi, had we won, would have thrived on building a symbolic table large enough for everyone to break bread.

Today, we rest our laurels on Robert Garcia this go around in the city. We trust our friend and comrade will continue to listen to the people of the first district as he has proven this past year.

Polls are still open for us Long Beach. Get out the Vote!