U.S House Committee on Natural Resources
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — US territories looking at independence from the United States, was one question of interest raised by a congressman, during last week’s remote U.S House Committee on Natural Resources, Insular Affairs hearing in which Lt. Gov. Talauega Eleasalo V. Ale testified from...

![“We have our communal land culture that provides that the land is for the native people of American Samoa,” Lt. Gov. Talauega explained. “That would automatically be a violation of the Equal Protection Clause, if the provisions of the [US] Constitution apply to American Samoa.” Lt. Gov. Talauega Eleasalo V. Ale](https://www.samoanews.com/sites/default/files/styles/teaser/public/field/image/talauega_testify_0.jpg?itok=HjPLW79r)