As a Samoan and father, Sam Brown spoke about he has been impacted by the tragic death of a Pacific Islander youth, 15 year-old Solomone Taufeulungaki at the Melbourne suburb of Deer Park last week.
Sam Brown is also a community engagement worker/youth worker with the the youths and schools in the area.
He has praised the Pacific Islander community in Melbourne who came together in the spirit of reconciliation and forgiveness which has largely diffused any further troubles among the youths.
Social media, he says, is only a part of the 'bigger issues' which only the Pacific Islander community itself can address via its social institutions like the church and family.
However, there needs to be an honest evaluation of the disconnect that makes youth gangs attractive to some of the Pacific Islander youths in Melbourne.
