If you believe, as I do, that everyone is racist, you always laugh when countries like Brazil and states like Hawaii are singled out for uniquely wonderful racial relations. You know that is baloney. People only like and associate willingly with people racially like themselves -- unless as I do they prefer dogs.
7
Here in HawaiiNei there an old joke about a traffic cop who pulls over a speeder, and they immediately get into a long conversation about how they are related about ten relations down, of which about every ethnic group is mentioned ‘auntie dis and third cousin on dat side etc’. After the speeder is let go, the traffic cop repeats to himself this litany of relatives and realizes, he is not related to the last person on this long family link. And so it goes here, yes there is some racism, but nowadays we are all related, like to your crazy uncle at Thanksgiving.
I have visited all the main islands of Hawaii in recent years.
Sometimes ignorance is bliss, and I didn’t experience any hostility from anyone on the islands. That stands in stark contrast to the attitudes of the locals on most of the Caribbean islands I’ve visited.
The only negative encounter I recall on Hawaii (I cant even recall which island) was when I made a snarky remark about a drunk man staggering through a parking lot in midday.
He overheard me and said, “You better watch it, old man.” I turned to my son and asked, “Who was he talking to?” “You,” my son said.
I shrieked, “But I’m not OLD!”
6
It's not racial harmony, it's racial tolerance.
Honolulu is a big city but it's also a small town and in each segment of society, everyone knows everyone else's business.
And you'd better be careful about talkin' stink about somebody because you don't know whose cousin they are.
In Hawaii, you really do judge others by the content of their character - that's how business is done.
3
Willie Nelson used to say that after all his travels he found that where ever he went the people are all the same. Most people thought he meant they were good people. Occasionally someone would ask what he meant by people being all the same. He would say, where ever you go you find good people. That was enough to make them think he meant most people are good. He told the truth, he just never clarified that you find good people, but most people are not good.
That has been my experience, having lived numerous places and working in many others. You find good people where ever you go, but most people are not good.
The politicians and media won't say that because they need you to keep buying what they are selling.
1
I found the article useful. But the difficulty that I have with it and with much of the commentary is the absence of an an analysis of present-day structural racism.
Regardless of various people's perceptions of race realtions in Hawai`i, one fact is undeniable: white people have the greatest access to resources of any group.
One will find a disproportionate number of white people at the top of nearly every hierarchal organization in Hawai`i. As a group, whites make more money and are more likely to segregate their children in private schools (yes, I know about Kamehameha's "discrimination" against whites).
There are a lot of local haoles that do not feel discriminated against. The discrimination is against cultural signifiers that give the "tell" that a person is from the continent and not local. That is still wrong, but it isn't specifically racial discrimination.
Most people of color who grow up in the U.S. know what discrimination feels like, so it's less shocking when encountered. It's more jarring to people from dominant groups who don't have to face it until they travel somewhere where they no longer have cultural/racial privilege. And one has to wonder whether those people are really experiencing prejudice or just learning what it's like for everyone else who lives on the margins.
15
When I was there in '66-'67, some kids at one of the local high schools raised the Japanese flag on Dec. 7.
My husband and I have lived on Hawai’i Island (“the Big Island”) for six years and are raising two young daughters. We moved here after living in South Korea for three years, where we taught at a Korean university. Before that we both lived all over the mainland US, including NW Arkansas, Upstate NY, Alaska, Seattle, SF Bay Area and rural Oregon. Even after living in such a diverse assortment of places, the experience of living and raising a family in Hawai’i has been completely unique and overwhelmingly positive. As a white resident, I have certainly felt the stigma of a newcomer to the island. I struggle with the sting of being typecast as a haole and find myself confused at how to perceive some people’s frequent references to one another’s ethnicity. I’ve encountered hostility in simple interactions that seem based on my skin color. But in situations that take me out of my comfort zone, I’ve learned to listen more, take things less personally and go into interactions with a smile and an open mind. I’ve chosen to focus on the positive aspects of life here - warm neighbors, welcoming colleagues and a simplicity of small town life. My years spent teaching in South Korea taught the importance of humility, which has proven essential to being able to adapt to life in Hawai’i. It’s not always easy living here, but the diversity of people and experiences enriches our lives and teaches us to empathize with one another.
22
"The question, though, is not if Hawaii is perfect, but if Hawaii is meaningfully different when it comes to race than the mainland."
Of course it's different. But it's also different in LA vs. a small town in Missouri vs. Montgomery, AL These generalizations and these specific reactions and opinions are ridiculous. Each person has a unique set of experiences no matter what their "race" and no matter where they grew up and no matter where they go.
"None of this means racism is absent. But it does suggest that intergroup relations might be different from the way they are on the mainland."
Of course! Again, the "mainland" is not one thing, but nor is "Hawaii."
We lived there for six months and the one thing we noticed was that Hawaiians are very conscious of "race" and "ethnicity." Except for purely and obviously "white" people, and even purely and obviously "black" people, local Hawaiians wanted to know "what are you?" more than anyone on the "mainland" ever did.
7
Europeans and Americans devastated the Native Hawaiian population, much as we did the Native mainland population. The Native Hawaiian population peaked at about 300,000 in the 1770s. Captain Cook's arrival in 1778 brought deadly epidemics, and the Native population crashed, reaching a low of about 25,000 in the 1920s. To this day the Native population is only about half what it was 240 years ago.
Then, we sent missionaries to change Hawaiians' religion, forcing them into English-only schools that nearly eradicated Native language. Next, we sent commercial interests, who moved in and took over, expropriating property and disenfranchising Native Hawaiians When the last Hawaiian queen, Lili'uokalani, tried to reverse disenfranchisement, they overthrew and imprisoned her. Five years later, they engineered American annexation.
Native Hawaiians now represent only 11 percent of the population in their own country, and even at that percentage, they are underrepresented among Hawaii's upper and middle classes, and overrepresented in the poor and working classes.
The fact that white immigrants are outnumbered by Asian immigrants is small comfort to Native Hawaiians, who are outnumbered by both groups, both of which are wealthier and more powerful than Native Hawaiians.
To a disturbing degree, the touted "aloha spirit" distracts from the continuing effects of injustices visited for 200 years on the Native population by racist invaders.
18
Haoles in Hawai'i who move here and try to inject their values and goals will run into resistance. Strident demands for social and other changes are not always immediately received if at all. Haoles who learn to contribute to the community and culture, without trying to dominate it, are typically welcomed.
23
I'm speaking as an (old) haole born and raised in Hilo (educated in public schools), who lived on the mainland for many years but has returned to Hilo.
I missed any consideration of the issues caused by the influx of mainland whites after WW2, who brought with them racism and -- from what I've been told -- assimilated very poorly.
In modern times, it's important not to overlook the migration here of other whites who, whether racist or not, aren't interested in becoming part of the place at all. Certainly I see a lot of this on the Big Island -- gated communities and the like. Even as a white guy, I feel indifference if not hostility coming from them. We are the locals to them, all of us.
Which brings me to the local status. I look like any old haole guy from the mainland, and I don't blame anybody for thinking that's what I am. But as soon as I drop into local accent, or use pidgin, or mention Hilo High, everything changes. I'm just another person "from here." And that can be really important. If you're from here, then race is far less important. It doesn't go away, but it recedes. A lot.
Even as a boy (in the 1950s) I remember thinking that the tourists looked at us as if they were at a zoo and we were the animals. In truth I don't think that's changed much, especially in the Facebook/Instagram era where many tourists only want to demonstrate that they've been here physically. They don't seem to care about being here socially.
It's complicated out here.
54
@DM I lived in Hilo for two years in the mid 1970s and attended Hilo Intermediate school while my father taught at the University of Hawaii, Hilo. You're right. It was complicated. I made friends with people of all backgrounds, but then there were others who were hostile. I associated mostly with kids of Japanese decent with whom I had more in common because their parents were more likely to be professionals of one kind or another. Class, it seemed, was often more important than race.
One thing that sticks with me is the descriptions in the local paper of homecoming court candidates that went into great detail about ethnic heritage: 1/2 Chinese, 1/4 Pilipino, 1/8 Portuguese, 1/8 Hawaiian. etc. Where one fit in history of the local social order was very important, or so it seemed to me. As a newcomer white kid from the mainland, I was at the bottom of the pecking order, and I well-remember the way kids from different backgrounds would pick at one another, and being invited to "beef" by boys who thought I looked at them the wrong way. As many were kind and friendly and wanted to hear about the mainland and its misconceptions about the islands. On balance, it was a happy and formative life experience. There are days I do miss being able to see the wide Pacific from our kitchen window on Spring Street.
10
@DM - Old Haole Guy, you've perfectly described life in Santa Fe or Albuquerque, ca 1990s. Los turistas from Nuevo York looked at us like animals, played at being Indio, bought our land and raised prices to such a point that we could no longer afford our own homes. The best I can say is that once the wave of internal re-colonization passes, and the day comes when you're no longer quite as popular ("nobody goes there, any more"), you'll have things settle down and go forward. But damn! It's tough!
11
@PrWiley Oh, I loved those "courts." One year, at Hilo Intermediate, my girlfriend and I got to be the "Caucasian" representatives. Amusingly, her ethnicity was Portuguese.
As it happens, I showed that yearbook picture to a Hawaiian/Japanese friend yesterday and she could hardly stop laughing. "You! The haole prince!"
I'm not glossing over the underside. Even this haole prince got his butt kicked a bit for being haole. But that was rare.
6
I started visiting Hawaii in 1968, back when Honolulu and Waikiki were still accessible, very small and local orientated. I finally moved there after years of returning over and over again and had the time of my life.
I steeped myself in the local culture (I lived on Kauai) and made many close friends of every ethnicity. One of the locals invited me to a 25th anniversary celebration for a local Portuguese/Hawaiian family, and I asked if a Haole was welcome since these invitations were rare. I was delighted when she told me I wasn't a haole, I was a local.
Due to family I had to move back to the mainland and was very sad. This was a marvelous experience I embraced wholeheartedly. The acceptance was priceless.
10
I have mostly experienced Maui as the brother-in-law of a resident. The economic class divide on Maui seemed to account for most of the hostility of the have-nots to the haves. Like in US metropolitan areas, generations of racism seem to have a parallel outcome in income disparity and resentment. When native Hawaiians single out Haoles for physical attack, it seems that lack of law enforcement by police recruited from among natives gives whites a taste of what blacks get on the mainland. My relative left after 10 years due to the continuing hostility. I saw what was happening through many long visits. Smashed auto window glass at many scenic parking areas is a record of this behavior.
3
We lived in Hawaii for eight years, but since before then we lived in Japan for almost a quarter of a century, I could find little to fault in the 50th state's racial/ethnic attitudes. In Japan, race/culture/ethnicity. bundled up in an immutable Whole, are an obsession. In Hawaii, people seem much more flexible about identity and how it can be blended and mixed.
The major problem in Hawaii is excessive commercialization, which has gotten worse in recent years. Many local people can no longer afford to live there and move from the islands to cheaper places. In other words, Hawaii suffers the ills of many if not most other places in the United States. The problem with Hawaii is not "race," but predatory capitalism.
9
Your excellent writings on racial harmony/tensions in Hawaii are a gift to all Americans.
I have lived in other diverse places in America: New Mexico, Los Angeles. It appears that how long one's family has lived in the Rio Grande Valley of NM conveys status on the family's descendants. That is also true of Hawaii, whether you are of Portuguese, Hawaiian, or East Asian antecedents--or a descendant of Haole plantation owners or missionaries.
So, as in New England and other parts of America, length of residence is a primary indicator of status. However, because Hawaiian state residents are "hapa" (mixed) in so many ways, ordinary racial boundaries are different. One can claim attachment to many different groups and this contributes to "aloha." The culture is an amalgam of Polynesian, Asian, and American traditions. People are kind to one another, but making close friends is difficult for a newcomer.
7
Sample size N = 2, so this comment is meant to be taken with a grain of salt.
My white sister in law planned a 6 week trip to Hawai'i and came home after 3 weeks due to aggressive hostility.
When I first stated dating my ex-husband, who is a brown-skinned man born in Colombia, he also took a trip to Hawai'i. He reported that he never felt so uncomfortable in his life. He didn't know if it was because of his skin color or the perception that he was an outsider or mainlander, but he couldn't wait to come home.
5
I visited Kauai about two years ago. We were driving around, and someone had a GIANT sign on their front yard that said "Why do Haoles always lie?".
I realized right away that the rumors I'd heard were sadly true.
6
@Jon
It is a tough lesson to learn - that we pay the price for others actions or in-actions. It is not fair or right . . . but it is understandable. We took all they had.
Or maybe it was just a random thing. None of us know what it was. So do not say the 'rumors . . . are sadly true'. Do not spread the rumors whatever they are. Confront them in the historical context.
Haole don't always lie but it sure feels like it much of the time. Look at Trump.
9
@Jon
Yes, because everyone on Kaua`i got together and voted to put that sign up because it represented everyone on the entire island's feelings.
2
I played golf on Kaua’i about 20 years ago. Finished the round about 10 minutes after carts back time. Found the cart shack closed up and my tires slashed. No interest in going back.
7
@JPZiller
Twenty years ago, while I was m walking in the parking lot of the Ala Moana shopping center in Honolulu, I was almost run over by a local woman who shouted curses at me. That pretty much sums up the "spirit of Aloha" for me.
4
I have lived on Oahu for a short three years and teach at UH-Manoa. After having read the original article and the comments, I think that the most fascinating thing is that all of the points made - even the contradictory ones - are all simultaneously true. When it comes to Hawaii and race, there are no right answers and there is no one single truth. There is indeed racism in Hawaii and sometimes bad things happen. There is also aloha.
When I teach a seminar and go around the room having the students introduce themselves, one of the first things they point out is their heritage: “I’m John So-and-So and I’m Japanese and Filipino and I boogie board on the weekends.” Hawai’i may be a melting pot in some respects, but my students immediately identify what they “are” at the outset. If there is another Japanese-Filipino student in the room, a round of hi-fives might ensue. The primacy of this kind of self-identification in initial meeting situations would indicate that race and ethnicity is extremely important here. But in which ways? As a self-avowed “dumb haole” who makes no pretense of understanding the finer points of local culture, I have never quite known what to make of it and what it all means. But it sure is fascinating to watch and be a part of. I’m hoping my daughter (who is growing up as a local haole and who now comes home from school each day using little bits of pidgin) will be able to fill me in, eventually!
9
My mother's family background is Portuguese from Madeira, and they arrived in Hawaii in 1898 to work in the sugarcane fields. My Vovo's (grandmother) two best friends were Samoan and Filipina. Our extended family is of Portuguese, Irish, Tongan, Chinese, Hawaiian, English, and African-American descent. Our neighbors are of similarly mixed backgrounds and cultures. We eat foods like manapua, pao doce, lumpia, limu, crack seed, lupulu, sopa de peixe, bacalhau, and omusubi. It's much easier to get along with other people when your own background is mixed and you've had exposure to other cultures in your home and neighborhood.
14
If you want to be less racist without moving to Hawaii, join the military. I'm an Army brat, I grew up in the military around all kinds of people from everywhere in the world. I made friends with people of different races, ethnicities and religions. It's much cheaper than moving to Hawaii.
30
I’ve been to Hawaii many times from 1979 on. I had Hawaii in my region when I ran the South Pacific region for my employer so I worked with many locals of various mixed ancestry and have one friend who is pretty much only Hawaiian as far as he knows and have never experienced hostility in any way. But I’m more a man of the world so maybe it’s the vibe I send out that accounts for that.
During that time I would go to Tahiti on occasion and met a Hawaiian guy there who was married to a local but all their children had moved back to Hawaii because of better economic conditions. But my friend was doing really well in Tahiti because as he said his US (Hawaiian) work ethic meant he worked while the locals went surfing or fishing. I had to tell that story to my Hawaiian friends who everyone thought were lazy and we had a good laugh over a few beers.
I feel I’m very lucky to have traveled the world for decades and to have done it with my eyes wide open and with a curious mind. It will make you a better human no matter what your skin colour or DNA says about you. I like to tell people when you get down to it all of us started this journey in the Rift Valley of Africa a couple hundred thousand years ago.
10
"[Okamura] points out that white people can be perceived as either local (from Hawaii) or nonlocal and that may change how they’re treated, with more hostility directed toward those seen as nonlocal."
This was also my experience. I moved to the islands when I was 11-years-old. I experienced some hostility in my first two years being there, not from the general public, but from a handful of people who crossed my path. It was pretty much non-existent by the time I graduated high school. I also gained my own ability to pick out locals from tourists.
One thing however I disagree with Okamura on is that "Hawaiian society is organized not by race but by ethnicity." It is largely organized by ethnicity EXCEPT for white people (Portuguese being the obvious exception to said exception).
In high school, we had a diversity day, and one of the activities had our teacher asking the class what their ethnicities were. He started with his own, wrote it on the board, then asked if anyone had anything different. If you did, he added it to the board (Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Filipino, etc). There was one other white person in the class; she was German. After awhile, I raised my own hand to add Polish. The teacher told me to put my hand down because "we've already added haole."
16
I’ve read both opinions on this topic by Mr. Velasquez-Manoff, thank you for your diligence. I’m white, and I moved here to Hawaii 9 years ago from California, having grown up speaking French in Switzerland. I want to say that I’m one of those haoles who never experienced racism until I moved here. The kicker is, I’m so grateful. It was horrible, still is as it colors every aspect of how I live and work here, and I’m probably going to leave the state for that reason and others. However, what I gained from being treated as garbage simply for the color of my skin is an understanding of my fellow Americans, the non-white ones, who have almost all experienced what I have - except all their lives, not for most of a decade. You simply don’t get it until you live it. I’m a better citizen and a better man for it. And also the Aloha spirit is very real here, if not everywhere, and it’s that spirit of love and responsibility I will miss the most. That and swimming with dolphins, of course.
29
I was stationed in Hawaii in the Navy in the early '60s. Hawaii was a very different place then. Now, on Oahu, the population density, the intense traffic, and the pressure of surviving economically make living aloha more difficult. The one hundredth anniversary in 1993 of the overthrow of the Kingdom seems to have given permission to be angry towards white people in a new way, just as President Trump's behavior seems to have enabled angry behavior in others. It should be noted that there is not one Hawaii. Each of the main islands has its own character and personality. They are all beautiful. Some are more gentle than others.
8
@Michael Zucker I was born and raised in Honolulu. I'm sorry you experienced this, but want to add that for a long time military people were regarded as somehow unacceptable. I remember knowing that as a child, but not knowing why. And then the Hawaiian Sovereignty movement is more recently feeling empowered to speak up about grievances of the past. I think as the movement matures strategically the anger may be less what is expressed.
3
The happiest day of my life was the day I left Hawaii after living there for seven long and horrible years. Aloha, my foot!
8
In the "mainland" USA, the conventional wisdom is that only non-whites experience racism, because they are a minority. Why should Hawaii depart from that model, and somehow echo the mainland's conventional wisdom?
Maybe the conventional wisdom is just not true. If civilization is ever to control the worst effects of racism, it certainly won't arise from dogmatic belief in conventional wisdom, which in itself may be deeply racist.
9
"All that said, Kristin Pauker has some data, still unpublished, suggesting that whites in Hawaii don’t actually experience more prejudice than do whites on the mainland."
I really look forward to seeing this data. Do you know when she plans to publish it?
As a haole from Hawaii, born and raised, with family on one side going back to Portuguese immigration in the 1880s, and now returning to the islands as a military spouse, this has not been my experience, whether as a teen or as an adult. Being white in Hawaii is a mark against you, not for you.
14
One fault in this analysis is assuming that the "mainland" has a homogeneous attitude towards race compared to Hawaii. In fact, there are places on the mainland where ethnic diversity has reached enough of a critical mass to alter racial attitudes in ways that are different than either more homogenous mainland communities or Hawaii.
For example, Hawaii has a high percentage of Asians yet the overall population is small compared to NY or LA. That may be the cause of the greater ethnic intermixing and fluidity that Mr. Velaquez-Manoff observes.
An interesting contrast would be to study Southern California, especially places with high Asian populations such as the San Gabriel Valley. In contrast to Hawaii, repeatedly high immigration inflows have allowed ethnic Asian communities to retain their distinctiveness. With regards to those of Chinese ancestry, the distinction goes beyond ethnicity--there are Chinese Americans who have lived here for multiple generations, those who came from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia at the end of the last century, and more recently immigrants from the Chinese mainland.
What has struck me most in Hawaii is seeing how isolated it is from the rest of the world, which encourages the merging of identities. In contrast, you can't understand the ethnic communities in LA without understanding the places that they've come from or the world in general. In this sense, Hawaii and Los Angeles strike me as polar opposites.
4
I've lived in Hawaii for two years. If there's racism here, it's invisible compared to the racism of the mainland. Additionally, there's an attitude of "aloha" and the practice of "taking story" -- people here, on the Big Island at least, are open to one another. I find myself daily in interesting conversation with strangers. Sometimes I find myself waiting in line for people to finish their conversations. People are more open to each other in public than my relatives are in private. Racism can't stand up to that.
14
Kinda apropos in a way:
Back in the day my wife and Iived in a small, rural community in the mountains east of San Diego. There were three "ethnic" divisions: cowboys (white local descendants of more than one generation), Indians (Native Americans from local groups) and hippies (white non-cowboys with long hair). Needless to say, cowboys were dominant politically.
Socially, there was one bar in town. We learned very quickly to assay the patron distribution before settling in for more than one beer. If one "ethnic" group was in a majority, the other two would quickly make a temporary truce to maintain tranquility. Sometimes the majority would be too big and we would leave.
All other aspects of living were, more or less, normal for the early '70s...
4
Really appreciate the nuanced, thoughtful Op-Ed’s. Thank you. So much all or nothing argument these days, it’s nice to read these.
6
Racism can be thought of as the product of ethnic identity and politics. We view people as like us or not, using genetically determined ethnic cues (and language) and then make a judgement as to whether they are on our side or not. The threat scale then goes something like this: like us + on our side = no threat; like us + not on our side = a bit of caution; not like us + on our side = uncertain threat; not like us + not on our side = scary threat. On the main land, the ethnic similarity and political alignment parameters are starkly defined, black, white, brown, yellow, red while the “whose on our side” parameter is historically predestined to go along with the ethic identity, unless overwritten by wealth, class or other characteristics. So a middle class black man is still often viewed as a threat by a middle class white man unless something or someone intervenes to create more “like me, on my side” emotional context. But in Hawaii, the “like me” response can be much more complicated due to the greater diversity of ethnicities and multi ethnic mixing, while the “on my side” determinations can also be harder to suss out due to the wide variety of historical trajectories at play and the sometimes more subtle divisions between communities. The net result is that the incidence of violent interracial conflict, as we see so frequently on the mainland, is less on the islands, even though the root human behaviors are the same.
4
When we go to Hawai, we make sure that our local friends make our hotel/restaurant/leisure activities reservations so that we are not charged "haole" rates!
12
I really enjoyed the original article and this follow up as well as the comments. As I stated in my comment under the original article, Hawaii has a very different racial atmosphere than the mainland. The "in your face" anti-black racism of the mainland does not exist in Hawaii but that may be due to the extremely low population of blacks. I have vacationed in Hawaii over a dozen times and have only experienced racism from other tourists from the mainland. Being a tourist is quite different from being a resident so there is that.......
3
As an old white man living in rural Hawaii, I find that ethnic ( I refute the term race) divisions are rare. When I reached out to create relationships and offer my assistance to the local people, I was welcomed.
Today I am known as Uncle Rick and respected for my knowledge of the ocean and commitment to share that knowledge with my neighbors. I gave my Aloha without condition, and whatyaknow, it came back many fold. All of the academic discourse about ethnic relations reminds me of some wisdom I learned many years ago. Get out of your head and into your heart. Aloha Malama Pono
47
Despite the comments of these readers, I think your original piece was closer to the truth. Yes the situation is dynamic but overall it is is it's fluidity that makes it different. The ability to afford Hawaii is a much more relevant cause of disharmony here. I am white or Haole, but I find a simple smile is really all that it takes to set ill will aside. Let's face it the history is not really that good. Excellent work. Thank you.
9
Hawaii has the largest concentration of Asians and Asian Americans.
It also has one of the lowest concentrations of Africans and ethnic African-Americans and Latin Americans and ethnic Latinos.
We will see what happens if and when the concentrations of Africans and African-Americans and Latin Americans and ethnic Latin Americans rises significantly.
Of course, everything in Hawaii is aided and cushioned by the very large presence of the U.S. government, including the U.S. military.
Money always makes everything easier,
and there is plenty of U.S. government money in Hawaii,
including not only active U.S. military,
but plenty of retired military personnel
on comfortable -- even cushy -- pensions.
In addition, to its credit,
the U.S. military was --
thanks to none other than Harry Truman --
the first major institution in the USA to desegregate.
And furthermore,
the U.S. military is, by its very nature,
far more authoritarian and other social institutions,
and selected and trains its personnel in its rules --
and discipline to adhere to the rules --
including racial non-discrimination.
Not perfect --
but far better than nearly every other institution,
either in the USA or elsewhere.
That greatly helps make the path toward "racial harmony"
in Hawaii easier than elsewhere.
But, as mentioned,
Hawaii's putative "racial harmony"
has not really been seriously tested
with large concentrations of either Africans or African-Americans nor or Latin Americans or Latinos.
11
As someone who spent a good bit of my childhood, adolescence and young adulthood in Hawaii, I can attest to the myth that racial harmony exists in that place. As a young person I often wondered how such violence could exist in the beautiful landscape that was Hawaii, but violence was always just beneath the surface of life in Hawaii. Just as Margaret Mead's depiction of life in Samoa as a Pacific Utopia was discredited, so should the notion that life in Hawaii is utopian. It is anything but.
All humanity is riddled with anger and hate and unfortunately so are the islands of Hawaii. All peoples have prejudices and character weaknesses that they grapple with every day of their lives. If we are ever to say that we humans are truly an accepting and peaceful species, we must master these vulnerabilities that come in all shapes and sizes.
9
Many groups tend to self-segregate, but then wonder why they feel isolated from the main stream.....
6
I was USAF Dependant 1958-61, in Hawaii, graduating from Radford in first Senior Class 1960. I arrived with my "taught" prejudices, and left with a different idea about getting along. The majority will always discriminate against the minority. In Hawaii, the majority depends on which part of town or what function you are attending. "Honolulu" dominates all things in Hawaii, and many never look at the other Islands or even the other side of Oahu. Any "racial" discussion must include the numbers of ethnic heritage to be meaningful. But you must understand pidgin to really evaluate what/who is an ethnic "group". The transit Military population has some influence but that is always in flux. How many of what race or ethnicity were born there ? How many moved from the mainland ? Haven't visited in a long time, but it is interesting to look at a map and see how many "places/things/ activities" now have some new Hawaiian language identification. Wonder what Velasquez-Manoff makes of the Island of Niʻihau, and the "new and improved punctuation" of so many "Hawaiian" words. Suggest he explore the differences of Punahou and Kamehameha and McKinley and Radford High Schools. Like a lot of places . . . what "others" think of any town, city, region, state . . . is often contrived by the Chamber of Commerce. Aloha !
11
Since racism involves power and not merely distaste for another racial or ethnic group, we need to wake up and acknowledge that only whites can be racist, since in every country and every region of the world, whites sit atop the power structure. This is the case whether we are talking about Japan, South Korea, Singapore, China, Burma, Afghanistan, Rwanda, Iran, or anywhere in the Arabic speaking world.
7
@Middleman MD You're right about power being the essential factor that distinguishes racism from mere bigotry. But Whites do not sit atop the power structure everywhere in the world. The Japanese and Chinese had and have had powerful empires of their own without white dominance. Ask the Koreans, Okinawans, Tibetans, Uighurs, etc.
33
@Teed Rockwell
Seems to me that Middleman MD was being sarcastic.
6
check out the song from Keola and Kapono Beamer that sums it up nicely. we ain't perfect, but at least we're all aware of the imperfection....
https://youtu.be/kS2YLvGGtwY
6
@Morris Thanks Morris, that was funny. Been coupla' two times but me just mean old tourist man...
My entire extended family lives in Hawaii after immigrating from Japan four generations ago. However I grew up living in LA, NY and France. I had my first adult experience with blatant racism when I was visiting my Oahu family, and stayed in a pre-AirBnB host house. My ethnicity was not apparent when I reserved it, but the blonde hostess made it clear that I would not be welcome again when she said “Next time, stay on the other side of the island where ‘your kind’ are. “, as my Caucasian husband and I were checking out. I was so young and caught off guard, that her ugly hate did not register immediately. It was a sad reminder that fear of “the other” and hate escape no land. Fortunately in subsequent visits we have encountered so many lovely people.
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Racism exists in all iterations, in all of America, Hawaii included. It is poison that infects the soul of those who perpetuate it as well as its victims.
The difference is degree and as Velasquez-Manoff points out. There is less overt intensity when there is a greater degree of racial mixing which is what Hawaii has over any other place in the country. Harder to hate when you are related to somebody by blood or marriage.
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In ancient times, when we lived in small groups named tribes, the concept of 'racism' was non-existent. It was created later, so to give the appearance of race superiority to justify the exploitation of those unable to defend themselves, just because of some more advanced technology on the dominant group. Trying to be superior on the basis of our skin color or any such absurd feature, is not only ridiculous but stupid. And yet, it perseveres, like a rotten fruit in the midst of a basket of goodies we all ought to share equitably. It is unfortunate we harbor these subconscious biases, that go directly in proportion to our ignorance; now, if this ignorance is by choice, not wanting to educate ourselves in it's folly, it becomes malevolent. And Hawaii, sorry to say, has been contaminated as well, by our 'foreign' aid.
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Having lived here in Hawaii for 19 years as a white person, my experience jives with the other commentator that stated that racism here certainly exists but that there's probably a lot more tolerance of different races because there's so many and there's not a clear dominance by any. My biggest complaint is that we tend to stick to our own groups socially and there's not as much mixing as I'd like. But I have to take some responsibility for that as well.
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I'm a bit surprised the authors did not discuss 'Kill Haole Day' in the Hawaii public schools. It's no secret.
Hawaii is an interesting and complex milieu but not free of prejudice by any means. My own view is that prejudice is a universal human weakness, and the way to deal with prejudice is to prejudice with truth. But some days you're just better off staying home from school.
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Whoops. That was a typo on my part. That last clause in second to last sentence was garbled, and should read,
"And the way to deal with prejudice is to challenge it with truth."
Where is that cup of coffee?
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@Carl - personally, I recall "kill Haole day" as something more talked about in a foreboding way at the school yard with no actual action taken on the day (usually last day of the school year before summer break) with everyone just eager to go home!
However, I suppose it would depend on your neighborhood for how eagerly KHD was carried out.
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Born in Hawaii, left as a baby, returned as a 5th grader and lived through part of high school - attending Campbell HS in the boonies was no picnic back in the day, and KHD was a real concern. The racial harmony was a myth and the melting pot idea wrong....but that being said - I loved living there. I experienced racial animus in a way that was real and tangible and that gave me a way to understand others pain and mistreatment perhaps a bit better. To this day Oahu feels like home and I go back every chance I get. Not because of the beaches, or the tourist spots but because I miss places like the Pali, and Nanakuli, and eating Li HIng Mui until your lips pucker and dry out. Its a unique place that isn't for everyone, but for me...truly home.
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You don't have to have been born here to be a "local" white. As a haole who's lived in Hawaii twenty years, I've gotten along fine. I understand pidgin, but don't attempt to speak it; I've bothered to learn how to pronounce place names. And most importantly I recognize that I have moved to a new country, with its own culture. It takes a little humility. White people can move through life with with a tremendous sense of entitlement - what one of my local friends calls the "white is right" attitude - and for that reason never connect here. I see it in new arrivals, whites who never interact closely with locals except those who are working for them, who remain isolated in the tourist-postcard version of this society. Arriving here, it took me a while to notice the welcome that was being extended, and to believe it. But it's there, and real. You just have to quiet down and watch and listen.
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Since my comment wasn’t included I’ll give a brief addendum.
The hostility my wife and I met in Hawaii was hostile and hateful.
If this hostility toward an explosive Haole would occur at the wrong moment a violent altercation could occur.
These kinds of altercations have happened between car drivers over a perceived slight toward a Haole visitor or resident.
My point is that the hatefulness was beyond the kind found on the mainland.
It was dangerous!
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@Michael Kittle Lived here in Hawaii for 19 years. Never experienced anything like that. But acknowledge that there are jerks in all races.
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@Michael Kittle - ironically, some of the most aggressive driving and hateful attitudes I've seen in recent years here on Oahu are by haole military people that are only based here for a couple years and seemingly annoyed by the slower pace of local folks and can't wait to go back to their mainland paradises where they will be back in the majority.
That said, I have also observed that perhaps some of those attitudes have rubbed off on younger locals, unfortunately.
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@JL Pacifica.....we lived in Leilani Estates on the Hilo side of the Big Island for three years.
Just after we gave up on being able to enjoy our dream home that we had built, one of my neighbors three blocks away went berserk and shot his wife and two children to death.
A neighbor heard the shots and called the police. When the police arrived they saw the husband driving away with blood dripping from the trunk of the car.
The blood was the wife’s body.
I realized later that the husband was the same man who came to my house for a plumbing problem. He had behaved strangely and drove away without speaking.
That was our experience in living in Hawaii.
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If you want to see even better racial harmony, just visit Vancouver, BC, Canada. Canadians are a famously polite people coupled with all different faces and backgrounds. Perhaps we Americans can learn from the north.
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I'm only guessing, I don't suppose scientific study will help us much here, but aren't we all programed by nature to seek to associate with and value those most like ourselves, isn't innate racial harmony a myth? But, why? It goes to upbringing, those who look like us will probably have been brought up in similar circumstances, with life experiences, assumptions, education, like our own. It's easier for us to associate with them, we can 'read' them more accurately than those brought up in different circumstances; associating with them is more comfortable, convenient; we prefer it. We don't really care about race, we care about ease of interaction. If we find ourselves in a very racially mixed society we learn to accept others unlike ourselves because we have to, it turns out to be the 'easiest' way to interact. As American society becomes more mixed it becomes less racially conscious; this is a long learning process.
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I’ve been a regular visitor to Hawaii for four decades. I’ve been friends with a wide range of people who grew up there — (white) offspring of military personnel, “hapa” (mixed-race) born to families who have lived in Hawaii for generations, Japanese (ditto), and a few Hawaiians. It’s always been my impression that racism runs deep in the islands.
There is a definite hierarchy of “we were here first” entitlement in Hawaii, among groups who have long histories as residents. And there is a massive amount of resentment among those with Hawaiian ancestry, over the historic theft of land and the present-day exclusion they face from skyrocketing property prices. People from elsewhere (many foreign buyers) pricing “real islanders” out of the market.
Just because people are superficially genial and pleasant and determined to get along — full of aloha, as the Tourist Board likes to repeat endlessly — it doesn’t mean there aren’t other feelings being held back. I once got into a long discussion about Hawaiian history with a kind-mannered Hawaiian woman. What began as gentle instruction (places I should see, and why) morphed into a highly political lecture on land appropriation. I was being admonished, clearly, but with a smile.
But the animosity is sometimes overt. As a white tourist, I’ve gotten the cold shoulder too many times to count.
Some of the most offensive, racist talk I’ve heard in Hawaii has come from the mouths of white people who recently moved there! Very odd.
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White people are not welcome in Hawaii. Of course that’s an over-generalization, but Caucasian men are targets of ridicule, threats and violence. I’ve been threatened twice, punched in the face and beaten by a trio of thugs. I’m not a special case. A query to the Honolulu Police Department reveals the extent of the problem.
Odd there is such hostility when the vast majority of residents immigrated to Hawaii from Asia and other Pacific Island countries, yet they claim Hawaiian status.
It’s been an enlightening experience actually. I understand some complexities of racism better than ever. Hate is powerful and there are groups in Hawaii that are experts in such matters.
Mahalo Hawaii.
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@Ralph braseth Trickier too if you work on a military base because your car/truck is tagged as such for all to see.
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@David - The military hasn't 'tagged' vehicles for twenty years, not since the introduction of the CAC card. The only time you'll see anything even vaguely indicating that the vehicle is connected to any one of the various bases is if it has a parking permit on it.
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@Ralph braseth That's not racism, it's a reaction to racism. If white people are sad about it they can console themselves by getting a job and a house that would be denied to people of color.
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Based on my personal experience, people are naturally afraid of people and things different than they are. Unfortunately physical features which are usually aligned with a race are the first indicator someone is different. Based on this article, what we define as racism is very hard to prevent, it seems to occur naturally. There are obviously different perspectives, depending on where you live.
The ease to which people use the word "racist" always concerns me, it is clear it is a basic characteristic of most humans that has to be worked at to be overcome.
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@Hugh G Racism isn't natural; it's taught. The never-ending focus on using racial labels suggests we love race and the problem that it causes, otherwise we'd stop doing so. The news constantly will report that some politician is black or native american or gay or Muslim or whatever "difference" is the -ism of the moment.
Why don't they mention your height, weight, gray hair, wrinkled skin, eye color, etc? Because these are all differences that don't make us afraid, but it's not differences that make us afraid, but racism, sexism or the like that is taught by constantly pointing these traits out rather than arriving at a point in time where these are never mentioned unless they are the focus of issue. As long as pointing out age, sex and race is considered appropriate and polite, the focus will remain on them.
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"He added that nonlocal whites could adapt to local ways, learn a little pidgin, and then they’d be fine."
So assimilate, then. Don't stand out, or be too different. I think this is offensive when applied to non-whites and immigrants on the mainland. I think it's true here, too, with the caveat that most white people could probably learn something useful from being othered, and forced to adapt to another culture.
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@Poppa Gander Outliers to culture will always exist, and if it's okay to hate them for being an outsider, the racism, sexism, ageism, etc. will continue.
That you don't adapt will typically mean you'll have a less enjoyable experience, but it shouldn't be a reason to hate them for standing out or being too different. How does a physically handicapped person avoid standing out? How about a tiny or huge person?
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@David
I said it's offensive to tell people to assimilate and not stand out, not that it's "okay."
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@Poppa Gander when white people try to pick up "other" customs, they are accused of cultural appropriation
Racial and ethnic hatred thrives in multiracial and multicultural societies and is diminished in societies with little or no racial or ethnic diversity. The simple reason is that there is less friction between racial and ethnic groups in non-diverse societies.
The Southern Poverty Law Center documented Hawaiian racial and antic animosity in a report titled “Hawaii Suffering From Racial Prejudice.” Among other things, it noted that in Hawaii
“The last day of school has long been unofficially designated ‘Kill Haole Day,’ with white students singled out for harassment and violence.”
The SPLC also notes that “few people outside Hawaii realize the state has a racism issue. One reason: The tourism-dependent state barely acknowledges hate crimes. that Hawaii covers up racial violence by barely acknowledging hate crimes.” Hawaii is the only state that refuses to provide data for annual FBI Hate Crime Report. The other states report all hate crime complaints to the FBI, so we don’t know how common hate crimes are in Hawaii.
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@William Case
You nailed it.
Because Hawaii depends so much on tourism for its revenue, racism is covered up. Not that there is more racism or prejudice in Hawaii than any other place in America or the world for that matter. But just like any feelings or attitudes that are suppressed, racism actually is more prevalent and pernicious. As a tourist on a two week vacation, you'll likely never see it in a hotel or a beach. But living there changes your perception - and reality surfaces.
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To write about racism in Hawaii from a distant desk on the East Coast is the height of arrogance.
There is tremendous racism in Hawaii- everyone that has lived there knows that. There are slang racist terms for every single group there, which I won't repeat.
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@Scott
There is racism, or more accurately racial prejudice, in every corner of human society. To distrust/fear the other is a human trait that comes at the group identity stage of human development.
In the case of Hawaii. Certain people, of native decent, harbor racial resentments towards other groups, especially if those groups are seen as interlopers that have taken, through private ownership, vast swaths of the native land at the expense (perceived or actual) of the native peoples.
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@Scott
"There are slang racist terms for every single group there, which I won't repeat."
A lot of us use racial slang terms here, even sometimes using the label of your own ethnicity. People here are not as sensitive to those terms as are people on the Mainland. The labels help us get along unless they are used with animosity, which is easy to tell.
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I enjoyed reading all these comments. Half my family is from Hawaii (Portuguese heritage) and they have never talked about racial issues, but of course, I never asked. It just isn't that type of family. We never had racial conversations when I was a kid. I don't know what that says about Hawaii but maybe it simply says more about people. Some people don't care about race and ethnicity. They simply accept others.
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@Anthony, it is my impression that in the islands most of those of Portuguese ancestry socialize within a tight community of people with similar family history. So maybe the acceptance of others that you speak of is a separation from others. I have certainly heard an awful lot of disrespectful talk about the “podagee” in Hawaii.
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@Anthony Really? Nobody mentioned potagee or pocho and made fun of it? No popolo? Not that Portuguese differentiate themselves from haole unlike all others from Europe ancestry? While I understand your family might not have discussed this lame issue, to have missed it in the culture seems impossible to believe.
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