Racism is alive and well in Hawaii. It just looks a little different that it does on the mainland. Quite a few years ago, a woman I had recently met exclaimed “Judy, they’re prejudiced against us!”

This woman was caucasian, from the western US. I guess she thought that if she could be magnanimous enough to overlook other people’s skin color, they should do the same for her? She lasted less than a year before moving back to the mainland.

The good old days.

I was born in Hawaii in 1954, and have lived here most of my life. There were Kill a Haole (caucsian) days at the public schools when I was growing up. The local kids would pelt our car with guavas when we drove through Hawaiian Home Lands. There were parts of Oahu where haoles were not safe. I was aware of the hostility, but it never really bothered me.

I’m pretty sure the private school I attended admitted only caucasians and Hawaiians when I was young (it’s a little foggy). I know my step father was the first president of one of the private clubs in Honolulu to successfully argue that admittance should not be limited to haoles.

Things had changed a little by the time I was in high school. There was a flourishing of Hawaiian language and culture, giving pride to many Hawaiians for the first time in generations. The music produced during that time was fantastic, and included a hilarious song by Keola and Kapono Beamer called Mr. Sun Cho Lee: https://youtu.be/kS2YLvGGtwY In it they made fun of many races, but in a gentle way. It concludes with the lines “one thing I wen notice bout this place, all us guys we tease da otha race, it’s amazing we can live in da same place”.

Not any better now.

Those were gentler times. As more and more people have moved to Hawaii, consuming more of the resources and trying to impose their values on the locals, resentments have grown. Life used to be easy, and now many locals are hard pressed to make a living. Many are working multiple jobs, and, as real estate prices rise, commuting to work for hours each day. When they do have a little time to relax, they are being crowded out of the places they used to love by throngs of tourists.

While most local people are gentle, fun loving, and generous, there are definitely people who hate haoles. I know several people in my town who will never acknowledge me, and I’m fine with that. I understand why some locals, and especially Hawaiians, despise haoles.

Here is an account from someone who spent time in Pahoa: https://www.theprofessionalhobo.com/racism/

And some follow up to comments to an article published in the New York Times about how people in Hawaii are less racist: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/10/opinion/hawaii-race-ethnicity.html?referringSource=articleShare

Be prepared to earn trust, or be isolated.

Racism is alive and well in Hawaii. Don’t expect to be given a free pass if you’re white. You need to prove that you are honest, humble, hard working, respectful and generous, or you will never be accepted by most locals. http://yrh.ewp.mybluehost.me/2019/07/25/the-hawaiian-people-and-their-culture-make-hawaii-a-unique-paradise/

There are certainly caucasian enclaves, and as long as you’re happy remaining in such an enclave, you may be happy here despite the hostility of many locals. But then, why live here?