For Immediate Release
August 7, 2013
Please Contact: O. Fahina Tavake-Pasi, National Tongan American Society | Phone: 801. 467. 8712 Cell: 801. 915. 4475 Fax: 801. 487. 2656 |Email: fahina36@hotmail.com
POLICE BRUTALITY- AGAIN!
Victim of the System, Tongan Man Dies In Arizona
Salt Lake City, UT – August 1, 2013 – The National Tongan American Society (NTAS) and the Pacific Islander of the United States (PIOUS) coalition unite to speak out against police brutality in Mesa, Arizona. Pacific Islander organizations, friends and supporters will gather tomorrow, Saturday, August 2, 2013 from 8.30 PM – 10:30 PM at the International Peace Garden at Jordon Park, 1060 South 900 West, Salt Lake City, for a Peace Rally/Candlelight Vigil calling on Mesa Police Departments to end Police Brutality. In May, Mesa police officers used unnecessary excessive force to contain Matangi Tai. Interview of Tai in Phoenix jail clearly indicate language and mental health barriers. Twice victimized by the system, Tai died in jail never receiving the translation or mental health care he needed.
Using words of the great Martin Luther King, NTAS and PIOUS reaffirm the fact that legal officers of states and federal have sworn to maintain “law and order which are in place to ensure justice.” Both organizations are “cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states and cannot sit idly by (in Utah) and not be concerned about what happens (in Arizona). Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
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The National Tongan American Society
The National Tongan American Society advocates for social justice and provides health, education, immigration and citizenship programs to Pacific Islanders. Last year, the NTAS won the organizational award from Organization of Chinese American of Utah and in 2013, NTAS was a recipient of a national leadership award from Leadership Education of Asian Pacific Islanders (LEAP).