Dear Editor,   

As we count down to the upcoming November election, I have a humble request and plea for both the incumbents seeking to retain their seats and the new candidates vying for the opportunity to serve in public office.

I am looking for legislators in the next regular session who are willing to confront and address the potential long-term health impacts that COVID-19 may have had on our community. After all, health is the foundation of a thriving community. 

We cannot overlook the growing concerns about the health and well-being of our people, especially when many families are witnessing what they perceive to be an unusual number of deaths.

How can we expect our community to thrive, prosper, and make sound decisions for our future when the health of our people is a serious concern? A healthy population is essential to a strong, productive, and resilient society.

Our leaders must be willing to ask difficult questions, examine the available evidence, and pursue honest, transparent investigations into the health trends affecting our community. This issue deserves serious attention — not political avoidance — because the health, lives, and future of our people matter.

Why is this such a critical issue to me?

Because I believe that when our elected officials and the legislative officials failed to acknowledge and openly examine the concerns surrounding COVID-19 and its impact on our people, we become more vulnerable to future government initiatives presented as measures of assistance, protection, or public benefit without sufficient public scrutiny.

Before the COVID-19 mandates were enforced, a small group of us who opposed the mandates took the initiative to write letters and send electronic communications to some of our political leaders to express our concerns. Unfortunately, none of our letters or electronic communications were ever acknowledged or responded to. Our attempts to raise concerns with those entrusted to represent our people went unanswered, leaving us without the acknowledgment or engagement we had hoped for from our elected leaders.

Following the pandemic, I began hinting to some lawmakers to establish a Committee of Inquiry to investigate these concerns and bring relevant public-health data before the people of American Samoa. I wanted to see an evidence-based examination of mortality rates during and after the pandemic, including reports of unusual numbers of deaths, sudden deaths, and deaths across different age groups.

To this day, I have yet to see the kind of formal inquiry and comprehensive public presentation of data that I have been calling for.

Members of our community continue to talk about what they perceive to be an unusual rate of deaths among people of different ages since and after the COVID-19 pandemic began. These concerns deserve to be heard and investigated seriously. I am not asking anyone to accept assumptions as facts. I am asking our leaders to make the relevant data available so that we can establish what happened, whether mortality rates changed significantly, and what the evidence reveals about the possible contributing factors.

Our local healthcare providers and public officials have a responsibility to address legitimate public concerns transparently, honestly, and with evidence. The questions deserve serious investigation, not silence or dismissal.

Why should this matter to every one of us?

Because public trust cannot survive on silence. When people raise questions about matters affecting their health, families, and lives, those questions deserve appropriate answers. We cannot expect our people to move forward with confidence if important concerns remain unexamined.

I am also concerned about our willingness, as a community, to reflect honestly on our experiences. Pride can become an obstacle to truth when we refuse to question decisions, reconsider what we once believed, or admit that we may have been mistaken. If we cannot learn from our past experiences, how will we recognize warning signs when similar situations arise in the future?

I believe that when our elected officials failed to investigate legitimate public concerns, we risk becoming more vulnerable to future government policies that may be presented as acts of assistance or protection but could have implications for our rights, freedoms, and ability to make informed choices.

This is bigger than politics. It is about accountability, transparency, public health, and the protection of our inalienable rights and freedoms — including our right to make informed decisions about our own lives and bodies.

I believe candidates seeking public office should be willing to confront difficult questions, listen to their constituents, and support appropriate investigations when credible concerns arise. Public service requires the courage to seek answers, even when those answers may be uncomfortable.

If our leaders cannot demonstrate a willingness to examine difficult questions about the past, how can we confidently trust them to protect our interests in the future?

A PERSONAL PLEA TO THE VOTERS OF AMERICAN SAMOA

As a non-eligible voter in American Samoa, I make this personal plea to all those who have the privilege and right to vote: Please choose your candidates wisely.

Although I am not eligible to cast a ballot, I am a taxpayer, a member of this community, and a person whose life is directly affected by the decisions you make when you elect your leaders.

The consequences of your choices do not affect voters alone. They affect all of us who live, work, raise our families, pay taxes, and contribute to the well-being of American Samoa.

I may not have a vote, but I still have a voice. And I hope that voice will remind those who do have the right to vote of the responsibility that comes with it. Please do not take your voting privilege for granted. Go to the polls and exercise your right to participate in shaping the political future of our community.

Look beyond personalities, family ties, political loyalties, and campaign promises. Examine the candidates' records, their willingness to be held accountable, their positions on issues affecting our people, and their commitment to protecting our rights and freedoms.

Choose leaders who are willing to listen, ask difficult questions, demand transparency, and serve the public interest above personal or political interests. Your vote is not merely a privilege; it is a responsibility to the people whose lives will be affected by your decision—including those of us who have no vote.

Please vote thoughtfully. Vote responsibly. Consider the future of our children, our families, and our entire community. American Samoa belongs to all of us who call it home. While we may not all have the same political rights, we all share in the consequences of the decisions made by those entrusted with public office.

Please go to the polls. Exercise your right. Make your voice count through your vote. And choose wisely — for the well-being of our people and the future of American Samoa.

Our people deserve transparency. Our concerns deserve a fair hearing. And the truth—whatever the evidence ultimately establishes—deserves to be pursued.

If we cannot openly examine the decisions and consequences of yesterday, how can we confidently protect the rights and freedoms of tomorrow? To remain silent is not the same as resolving an issue. 

Sometimes, accountability begins with the courage to ask the questions that others would rather leave unanswered.

Ia tumau le aao agalelei o le Atua i luga o Amerika Samoa.

Ma le fa’aaloalo tele,

Sinamaitai Esera Meyer

[EDITORIAL DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed by the author of the above LTE is theirs alone, and does not reflect the views and opinions of Samoa News or any employee thereof. 
Samoa News makes no representations as to accuracy, completeness, correctness, suitability, or validity of any information in the above LTE and will not be liable for any views and opinions expressed in it.]