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LOL Good thing I'm engaged and I can change it if I like. Really that's so funny, I'm going to share it with my parents. Mom, did you know our family name means "the gas from out lower intestines smells like roses" in Hawai'i? She will get a kick out that for sure.
my boy friens is native hawaiian and i am white. i have went to kona (wear he is from) with him and met his hole family and they all loved me because i was very respectful and i ate their food lol :-)) the only reson i think that white people are having this problum is that there is no respect! dont look at the food and say what the F... is that that was the biggest issue that my 2nd family had with white people. i have had no problums!!
On racism in general, I have to say that in my experience it truly has always been a matter of attitude. I have been a member of a military family or in the military myself for most of my life and have lived all over the world - I have NEVER had anyone say anything racially negative to me. My mom is Mexican, dad is European/Native Amer. and I look Asian (go figure). The closest I've ever heard to a racial comment was when the nice old people on my paternal grandparents' street used to call my sisters and me "the little oriental girls down the street - those girls of Billy's". That's how we were described by the neighbors when they were referring business to us (when we sold GS Cookies, candy bars, etc). I can only assume they connected our appearance with the fact that my dad was in the Marine Corps and had spent a few years in Vietnam...I think they must have assumed he brought back a Vietnamese wife somehow. Anyway, they were always very kind to all of us so it wasn't a "slur", simply a way of distinguishing us from the other grandkids who were always visiting.
I lived in Okinawa as a military member and experienced nothing but kindness from the local population - I was on a local dragon boat team, understood about 1/10 of what was said to me, but had great fun. We frequented the local mom and pop bars and we had our local hang outs (off base spots). One of my farewell dinners was at this little place we used to go to all the time - we would take them a 6 pack of American beer and they would feed us local specialties 'til we had to be rolled out. When I left that evening, the owner took a couple of the hanging lanterns off the outside of his building and gave them to me as a going-away gift (these are my most prized souvenir).
When I lived in Sicily, the family who owned the building I lived in used to bring me figs and persimmons off the tree in the mornings for breakfast - if I slept in I would find a plate sitting outside my door. My friends/coworkers and I were often invited to parties by Sicilians who had heard we were nice Americani in the neighborhood.
When I was in Iraq, some of the nicest people were the locals who worked in the base "exchange" and worked in the little food shops.
I've lived right outside of major cities (Detroit/NY/VA Beach/San Diego/LA/Seattle), and in the suburban areas of many states all over the country. I've never had a negative experience as a non-local but I like everyone as long as they're kind. If they aren't nice people, I simply keep my distance when I can and follow my mom and dad's orders of "if you don't have anything nice to say, keep your mouth shut".
If everyone had compassion and empathy for each other as a human being rather than trying to distinguish between their likenesses/differences, and treated each other kindly they wouldn't have to worry about racism (notice I said everyone...obviously that isn't going to happen), but I think those who look for problems or aren't very accepting/tolerant themselves are the ones who have more problems. I'm not naive enough to think that it doesn't happen, but I do believe you can put yourself in situations that will invite problems. I don't think there's anything special about me or my life that has allowed me to wander through life as I have without experiencing any negative racial behavior - I think it's just the result of being nice as much as possible and not expecting dislike or hatred as a general rule. I'm pretty much as minority as they come - a total mutt of hispanic/native american/irish/german/french-canadian/italian descent, female, and have spent a great deal of my life around "foreigners" and as a minority gender in a male dominated field (I was a corpsman for the Marine Corps so I was generally maybe one of two girls out of 100 or more guys) so I think if anyone should have experienced racism, according to the general consensus of what constitutes racism, I certainly should have experienced it by now. I guess my point is, try to enjoy your experiences and if you do run into racism, just assume they're unhappy people misbehaving - and stay out of areas that are rough to begin with - some people are just not nice and if they didn't have racism, they'd choose something else to be vile about.
to my way of thinking it what you bring with you when you come to the island if come with a open mind and heart then you not going to have a problem with life there ..if come with a set of ideas the your going to have a problem somewhere down the line when liveing there ..
one night i was up really late because of beening throw off my sleep rythem because of jet lag and i walked around the hotel and out to a very spots there in hilo and everyone i talked to was nice to me and treated very well when i asked them questions about life there on the big island
most of the people i talked to that night where just like me and you with a mortage to pay and kids to take care of and i found a simple thank you goes a long way in dealing with people there ..
but that doesnʻt mean that I am not from Hawaiʻi, it just means that I just discovered this forum....
I find these posts very interesting. I agree a lot of people come to Hawaiʻi from the mainland with mainland attitudes and are very unpleasant to be around which in turn causes incidents where the term f###ing haole to be used rather freely.
However, there IS racism in Hawaiʻi, but I think it is not that common and is not just targeted toward whites, or towards people with mainland attitudes.
I am of mixed blood, but mostly look haole. I am fine if someone refers to me as a haole as a descriptor or even about how I speak as in "ʻolelo haole", but my first experience (that I remember) with being called a f###ing haole happened in kindergarten, the first time I was in a fight due to being a "haole" was in 1st grade (I would say I was beaten up, but I won). I didnʻt bring these things on myself, these incidents were the result of my skin color.
I grew up on Oʻahu but as an adult I moved to the Big Island. I have found that on the Big Island race isnʻt as big of an issue (except for the Micronesians do tend to be a target). My daughter didnʻt even hear the term haole in the derogatory way until she started middle school. So I find it interesting to hear that Hilo is so bad! I have noticed though that on the big island being called a "f###ing haole" is MUCH better than being called a "f###ing hippy"!
I have never lived anywhere else, so I really have nothing to compare it to. But my guess is that racism in Hawaiʻi is about equal to anywhere else in the US, but it may seem like more because we do often use race and racial terms to describe one another. Also it is probably one of the only places where white people are just as much of a target for racism as any other race (I have no research to back this up, this is just my opinion).
I'm a haole myself, and I've heard two pronunciations...
1) When said by a lovely Aunty of Native heritage, it comes out in the traditional way... ha OH lee...
Is it possible she's saying "hau'oli" (how-OH-lee) which is "happy"?
I've heard "haole" pronounced "HOW-leh" or "HAH-leh" (depending on who's saying it).
But back to the topic of racism: It might be helpful for people outside Hawaii to think of the Hawaii locals who would be considered "racist" as more or less the Hawaii-equivalent of "rednecks" on the mainland. That said, the vast majority of people in Hawaii (whether or not they're ethnic-Hawaiians) are not "Hawaii rednecks," they're good, decent, kindly folks. A smile and a deferential attitude will take you a loooong way in Hawaii.
Is it possible she's saying "hau'oli" (how-OH-lee) which is "happy"?
Not at all. She's using the traditional pronunciation of ha OH lee, and using it in the traditional sense... that of a foreigner, a non-native. The word was already in use BEFORE white people came along.
Not at all. She's using the traditional pronunciation of ha OH lee, and using it in the traditional sense... that of a foreigner, a non-native. The word was already in use BEFORE white people came along.
Ah, so she's saying literally "without breath" or "ha 'ole"
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This is my first post
I have noticed though that on the big island being called a "f###ing haole" is MUCH better than being called a "f###ing hippy"!
