Racism Against Whites (Caucasians) in Hawaii – The Real Deal
If you read online about racism in Hawaii you may think that you’ll have to face a lot of racism in Hawaii if you are not Hawaiian or local. If you are just visiting, don’t even give it a second thought – you probably won’t see it as long as you don’t harrass the turtles or dolphins or dump your trash on the ground. If you are moving to Hawaii, then this discussion is for you.
Are white kids discriminated against in school in Hawaii
(Local generally means dark-skinned but not black, and having been born in Hawaii or lived there for a long time. In my experience, common races considered to be local are chinese, japanese, portuguese, filipino, and samoan or tongan. Often, locals in Hawaii can claim two or three or more of those ethnic groups in their backgrounds. Many of them even have some haole (white) blood in there somewhere.)
I want to be very clear here that I did not find racism against whites to be a problem for me in Hawaii. I lived in Hawaii for 14 years, all of it in Puna or Hilo. I am white, my husband is white, and my son is so white he is almost clear 
. My husband occassionally felt discrimated against because he was white, but he worked as a police officer, so discrimination and bias and violent thoughts were the norm in that line of work anyway.
I never felt discriminated against, not in my job, not at the beach, not at restaurants, not at the university – never.
My son lived there from birth to 6.5 years old, and he had plenty of local friends of all races, and he loved them and they loved him. (he did go to a private preschool where there was no discrimination but was homeschooled at age 4 on – NOT because of the schools, but for personal reasons).
I had many caucasian friends, some who did feel discriminated against, and some who didn’t or didn’t say. I knew many people who moved back to the mainland because they felt they couldn’t get jobs. I never had this problem and neither did my husband.
Two things that I think are important as a non-local living in Hawaii are
1) Don’t discriminate. Just let go of any preconceived notions or beliefs you may have in your head about what a certain race may be like or what kind of tendencies they have. These kinds of beliefs are written all over your face, whether you voice them or not. These kinds of beliefs tend to be circular, meaning they come back to you in the form of beliefs other people hold about you.
2) Be yourself. Don’t start saying Aloha and Mahalo and A Hui Hou to everyone you meet. Don’t give yourself a Hawaiian name as soon as you get to Hawaii and insist everyone call you that from now on. Don’t join the sovereignty movement. Be interested and respectful and who you are. If who you are changes over time (years and years) because you are immersed in the local culture, cool. If you are all of a sudden pretending to be Hawaiian, not cool. (in my humble opinion).
So, will your kids be discriminated against in school?
Yes, sometimes, in certain schools there have been highly public instances of apparent racism against white students.
But in my opinion, if you took a group of kids in school that seemed to have a racism issue, made them the same race, and put them in a school in another country, the ones doing the discriminating and bullying would just find some other reason to discriminate or bully or fight with the others.
Instead of f***ing haole it would be f***ing weirdo or f***ing geek or whatever. That’s just how school is in many cases, and the race issue is just an excuse for the kids to play out their drama and a scapegoat for the school and the parents and everybody else to get up in arms.
What do you think? I would LOVE to hear from you and I would really appreciate it if you could keep your comments clean. thanks.
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2 February 2010 |
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9 Responses to “Racism Against Whites (Caucasians) in Hawaii – The Real Deal”
1
Keola Adonis
3 February 2010 @ 2:21 am
I have to say that I was really upset when I read all those comments about whites having a hard time in hawaii and being called haole. I am asian, but my husband is half white and half asian. He does not look asian at all. He looks more white. We were thinking about living there in a couple of years. I was really unsettled about hearing about the racism from locals. I don’t know if that is the best place for our whole family. My children do look more asian but I fear that them being a non local will also cause them to be ridiculed and bullied. It’s already scary to move to a whole new environment considering we have lived in maryland our whole lives and to read this is really upsetting. I can see that u have been able to make this a good environment for yourself, but there is just so much overwhleming negativity for my family. Thanks for ur post.
2
lisa
3 February 2010 @ 12:47 pm
Hi Keola. My post was supposed to be on the reassuring side of this issue
It should be totally fine, really. I’m as white as they come and I worked a county job and everything and had no problems. I am certain that you will love Hawaii if you give it a chance.
3
Cheri
14 February 2010 @ 11:11 am
My husband and I are thinking of travel nursing to Hawaii and I have been reading alot about this issue. I am white and he is Latino. Do you feel there are areas with more racial discrimination than others. Our dream has always been to go to Hawaii. We are so disappointed to hear about this issue. It is 2010. The riches lady in America is black and we now have a black president. “from Hawaii” Time to get over it and move on. We are all children of God and when we insult each other we insult him.
4
lisa
14 February 2010 @ 12:54 pm
Hi Cheri, there are supposed to be areas with more racial discrimination, but again I will refute this, because I lived in one of those for many years: Puna on the Big Island. It was a very local place, people referred to it as the wild, wild, west … and yet I had no problems.
As for the rest of your comment. This is not a blacks vs white issue. In fact, in my opinion and my experience, blacks are discriminated against maybe as much as whites.
This is a Hawaiian or Hawaiian-supporter versus whites issue. If you don’t know why Hawaiians would have any reason to feel anger or prejudice towards white, then look around here: http://hawaii-nation.org/ .
I’m not saying I agree or disagree with the views on that website, I point them out because they catalogue the central issue that I have heard many times as the reason why some Hawaiians push against whites in Hawaii.
Something else I want to offer here is that whites may be generally unwelcome or ‘looked down upon’ or ‘talked about in a derogatory way’ by many races in Hawaii in the same kind of way that ‘Americans’ are ‘talked about in a derogatory way’ in many other countries of the world.
5
searider76
16 February 2010 @ 10:27 pm
Wow….have been annoyed with the one sided view of Hawaii and am pleasantly surprised to find this site. If you don’t know the real history of an area then you bring the view of foreign eyes. Live/see it through the eyes of the oppressed…then look for justice and seek peace….
6
kona1224
20 February 2010 @ 10:41 pm
in Kauai there’s big problem with the racism like that, being i grew up there 50 percent of my childhood,, i got into a lot of fights over being a white ranch kid from California, now where I’m at its not so much, but there’s still bits of it, such as with the county, and trying to get kids ukulele lessons and such…..that’s why always keep my head down, don’t pay nobody no mind
7
Courtney
1 March 2010 @ 3:27 pm
I have live on Oahu for a year now. I am white, married to a white man, and working as a journalist while finishing graduate school. My husband and I have both been victims of hate crimes here. Once I had a van of three local guys literally try to run me off the road as they screamed racial obscenities at me. I have had my car engraved with racial obscenities…I could go on and on. I was not allowed to enroll in certain classes at UH because I was not of Hawaiian or Japanese ancestry…at a STATE University. I have been passed up for jobs because of my name. For those of you who will criticize me…let me say that I am glad to know what it feels like…to be the minority, to be discriminated, to be hated and treated less than human. I will take this lesson, learn from it, and look at Hawaii with a much different lens. For those of you who think this is false, please read the news articles on how many white kids commit suicide in hawaii alone, due to hate crimes.
8
Clara
9 March 2010 @ 2:55 pm
You guys may think that a litle bit of teasing is bad. there’s worse. Much worse.
I am a white teenager in hawaii and I am in High School. I have been a target for the Kill Haole Day. Yeah i know. crazy right?
9
lisa
10 March 2010 @ 1:47 am
Hi Clara, you are right. That is much worse. and it is deplorable. If I were your mother, you would not be in school, but not because in Hawaii whites are discriminated against, but rather, because school is an institution that fosters these kinds of fear tactics.
I went to a high school where EVERYONE was white. and I was targeted ocassionally … and I was white.
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