On the recordJune 1, 2015
This month, 72 Samoans who were exiled to my home, the Northern Mariana Islands, will receive the ceremonial farewell they were never given--100 years late. In 1909, the 72 Samoans were exiled to the Mariana Islands by the Governor of German Samoa, Wilhelm Solf. Their crime: the chiefs had tried to reinstate traditional Samoan practices outlawed by the German colonial regime. The Samoans remained in the Marianas until 1915, when they were repatriated by another colonial power--Japan. Their story was almost lost in time. But thanks to the work of the Northern Marianas Humanities Council, the history of these exiles has now been documented. ____________________
