WHITE Racism!!!! (condo, crime, race)

[Topher]

Originally Posted by dmoon808

[SIZE=2]Not to be cynical but for being at least some what educated you should learn to form your own opinions based on your own experience‘s. just my thought tho. What do I know. Im 21. I moved to Hawaii on a lim and haven’t seen my family sense Christmas.
[/SIZE]

Hey Scorpy..what part of W.Va do you hail from?. I'm a lifelong Michigander but I lived in Fayetteville W.Va, moving there during the recession of 1975. ( at risk of dating myself).! To this day, I still think of some of the great friends I made in my senior year of high school. Looked up some of them or at least what happened to them on a school yearbook site. One friend died young due to drug use while in the military and others moved away to who knows where. To this day, 32 years later, I still get a smile on my face remembering times long past. I had a big city attitude moving to a small "hick" city back then, but truth be told, I think more about those people that I only knew for a year more than those I spent my entire formative years with, just outside of Detroit Mi., I wouldn't trade the memories for anything!! R.I.P...Danny Ashmore. Gary Rowe, Whatever happened to you after your tour of duty in the army/paratroopers? I had a crush on your younger sister and she had one on me too, I think. Didn't have time to develop a relationship before I moved back to Michigan though...

[scorpy01]

Originally Posted by Topher

Hey Scorpy..what part of W.Va do you hail from?. I'm a lifelong Michigander but I lived in Fayetteville W.Va, moving there during the recession of 1975. ( at risk of dating myself).! To this day, I still think of some of the great friends I made in my senior year of high school. Looked up some of them or at least what happened to them on a school yearbook site. One friend died young due to drug use while in the military and others moved away to who knows where. To this day, 32 years later, I still get a smile on my face remembering times long past. I had a big city attitude moving to a small "hick" city back then, but truth be told, I think more about those people that I only knew for a year more than those I spent my entire formative years with, just outside of Detroit Mi., I wouldn't trade the memories for anything!! R.I.P...Danny Ashmore. Gary Rowe, Whatever happened to you after your tour of duty in the army/paratroopers? I had a crush on your younger sister and she had one on me too, I think. Didn't have time to develop a relationship before I moved back to Michigan though...

I'm from the northern panhandle, very near Wheeling.

You're right about this state. Others may think we're all uneducated hillbillies but I think it's just that the people here, for the most part, are just decent and good. I guess that makes us different.

Oh, and I graduated high school in 77 so I guess we're about the same age.

[GoingtoHawaii]

There's racism everywhere... just not always against white people and sometimes white people have a hard time dealing with it. I understand that, white people aren't used to it and it's foreign. I'm white so I don't expect an exception!

However it's how we process this that will make or break us in Hawaii or anywhere else in the World. Although I am of a caucasion decent, I believe that white folks don't understand what racism really feels like, and that's why places like Hawaii feel unwelcomed. Of course depending on the location, this can differ greatly.

Never feeling racism before, those who aren't accustomed can put a serious spin on what it's really like. So what if people snicker? Go about our business, show the locals you mean what you say and earn they're respect! If you can't do that without really meaning it.. then Hawaii probably isn't for you.

However, I feel that Hawaii is an AWESOME place for those of us that have never experienced racism before. It's an excellent opportunity to understand how humand kind REALLY works. The bottom line is that racism is found EVERYWHERE and has been going on for generations and beyond. Is it right? NO

But understanding it's never been right, it's been happening anyway. And it's prominent in most U.S. cities in one way or another. It is experienced anywhere in the world (which is very possible and plausible everywhere, not just in Hawaii)

Hawaii isn't special in that it harbors more racism, drug addicts or down and out times than anywhere else in the country, in fact after checking into area facts and numbers, there are plenty of places that Hawaii trumps for many of these things bitched about on this forum.

[sevenofsix]

I saw this recent video on youtube about a white guy leaving hawaii, I thought it was relevant.
YouTube - Why I left Hawaii - It ain't all it's cracked up to be!

[Sweetbeet]

I don't get it... what happened to the dog??? I watched that whole boring video and you never find out what happened to the DOG! (Or did I miss it?)

[Ana Fosdick]

I have not lived in the islands for awhile, although I'm planning on moving back this Fall. I am part Hawaiian and have occasionally been subjected to racial attitudes on the mainland because I simply wasn't white. What is especially annoying is when I get an irate response from people who were subjected to racism in Hawaii like somehow my ethnicity insinuates guilt. I must agree with dmoon although perhaps with less venom. A dual perspective seems to exist with many white people when racism is directed at them versus other ethnicities. I don't sanction violence of any kind; for my part, trying to keep in mind that "an eye for an eye", ironically from the Christian Bible, may be temporarily satisfying but ultimately, all it does is generate more ill feeling and perpetrate a vicious cycle of hatred and suspicion. Stepping back and looking at the big picture is hard to do (something I have to work on all the time), but the simple axiom that people are people sees to help me .

[scorpy01]

Originally Posted by Sweetbeet

I don't get it... what happened to the dog??? I watched that whole boring video and you never find out what happened to the DOG! (Or did I miss it?)

I think the dog just died. Traveling back to the mainland with a dog can be a pain, especially if the dog isn't already chipped. We thought about sending our dog over to my son so he could have a little bit of home there but the thought of Belle being in a dog crate in the underbelly of the plane just didn't work for us.

[jenalove]

Umm...yeah, about the video - of course if you don't like outdoor activities AND THE OCEAN you are not going to like Hawaii...not sure why he decided to stay for as long as he did under those circumstances.

[scorpy01]

Originally Posted by jenalove

Umm...yeah, about the video - of course if you don't like outdoor activities AND THE OCEAN you are not going to like Hawaii...not sure why he decided to stay for as long as he did under those circumstances.

Because the weather is glorious? The land is magnificent? The general atmosphere is supposed to be laid back and friendly?

I do love the ocean and the outdoor living. My blog posts gushing about how wonderful Hawaii is go back to my first visit in 2001. It was only over time (and after my son lived there) that I saw the ugly part of Hawaii.

I'm okay with every area having these dark sides. I'm not okay with anyone making excuses for it. I just don't understand why the good Hawaiian people can't just stand up and say, "Racism against white people is wrong and we won't stand for it" the same way that I (and other whites) have stood up and renounced racism against others on the mainland. Even more troubling, where is the local Hawaiian government in all of this? Aren't there laws against this behavior,especially when perpetrated by officials at state colleges, universities or even law enforcement?

[Mathguy]

In my experience, younger white people have been educated to not be racists and repeat the errors of previous white generations. Younger people of other minority groups have not been bombarded with that message and in my experience (having friends from many different ethic groups) tend to say and do things that my white friends just wouldn't.

In fact, I've had minority friends claim that they CAN'T be racist because they are in a minority group and they don't have the power blah blah blah.

Well, this is anecdotal information but it tends to track with what is found in federal hate crime statistics. Minority vs. Minority hate crime is disproportionately common.

I find suggestions by posters here that victims of racism should be viewed\treated differently based upon thier skin color to be a rather pitiful attitude. I still think back to a college friend (a complete pacifist and supporter of equal rights) who was beaten by a mob after the Rodney King verdict (in a state 1500 miles away)....and basically your message to him is "Suck it up whitey, you had it coming." Sad.