BY SYDNEY ROSS SINGER – Does the Aloha State actually have a bullying problem? If you are Caucasian and from the Mainland, you will certainly think so.
It doesn’t matter how long you live here, or if you were even born here. If you are white, locals will still call you a “haole”, a derogatory term that is Hawaii’s equivalent of using the “N-word”.
And the prejudice goes beyond name calling. White people are often treated with scorn. “Go back to where you came from”, seems to be the message. “You don’t belong here.” Sometimes it results in violence.
White children in our schools are harassed, intimidated, and physically abused. The last school day of the year in Hawaii, for example, is traditionally called “kill a haole day”.
Racism is as ugly in Hawaii as anywhere else, and is the cause of much of the bullying of school children and adults alike. Unless this underlying racist cause of bullying is addressed, efforts to stop bullying are doomed to fail.
To overcome racism we must be inclusive and tolerant of differences. The diversity of cultures and peoples must be embrace and celebrated to find synergy in our differences. We must realize that we are all “one”, with no group more important than any other.
Achieving this “melting pot” in Hawaii will be difficult. Language and cultural barriers are keeping people apart, making Hawaii more a patchwork of different cultures than an integrated whole.
If these different cultures were living together, say, in New York, then they would all be called New Yorkers. They would share an identity despite their differences. But you can’t do that in Hawaii, since no matter how long you live here you will never be a “Hawaiian”. That term is reserved for native Hawaiian people. Everyone else is just a “resident”.
Being native or not is an issue in Hawaii, and is a racial issue by definition. And while many native Hawaiians live with aloha, there are some who are resentful of what they see as foreign occupation of their islands.
If Hawaiians have first claim to these islands, then locals with Hawaiian blood have second claim, and immigrants, or aliens, have little or no claim. The stage is thus set for prejudice, racism, and bullying.
Of course, when alien people and cultures move in, they bring along alien plants and animals, too. Hawaii’s diversity of species from all around the world is a direct product of human immigration.
It is no surprise, then, that prejudice against immigrant cultures will result in prejudice against immigrant species.
The Hawaii government’s environmental policy gives preference to “native” species and has the agenda of “restoring native ecosystems”. While this native species supremacism is a national agenda, it has a powerful impact in Hawaii where it parallels political nativism and encourages racial prejudice.
According to this policy, species introduced to Hawaii after western contact are “alien”, and “don’t belong here”. Species introduced to Hawaii by native Hawaiians are “native”, and do belong here. The current focus of environmental management is to get rid of immigrant species to return the islands to their pre-contact “native” condition.
To those who desire and appreciate these immigrant species, this feels like environmental bullying.
Of course, this reinforces the racism problem. The more the government institutionalizes native supremacism in political and environmental agendas, the more it justifies and encourages a “we belong here and you don’t” attitude.
This is the recipe for hate, intolerance, and bullying.
For Hawaii to live up to its Aloha Spirit rhetoric, racial bullying must stop being tolerated. The school anti-bullying program must address racial prejudice. And there needs to be sensitivity classes to teach compassion and respect for others.
We must realize that what counts most about people is not where they are from, but what they have to offer. Remember, “Aloha” means compassion, love, peace, affection, and mercy.
Theirs racism throughout the fucking mainland!! THE WORLD against minorities. And you're crying about a little racism in a tiny island against white people?! PLEASE! GO BACK TO THE MAINLAND IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT. There you can go back to your ways of being racist towards minorities. Mad just because Hawaii has reverse racism? We fight back against your BS? The world belongs to white people. Let Hawaiians have Hawaii. Fuck. You have taken over/ruined the rest of the world. What more do you fuckers want?????
Where do you get such a screwed up out look on life?
Are you a student in the anti-American studies dept. at Manoa?
I heard the Hawaii educational system was way behind. I didn’t believe it but you just confirmed it with your ignorant response. In case you don’t remember this taught in school, Hawaii is a state of the Unites States. Good thing for you Hawaii is a state of the United States or you would probably wouldn’t exist. The “haoles” you hate so much protect your dumb ass from being taken over from a communist country. Then you would be begging for the “haoles” to come and save your ass. I’m a minority myself and have encountered some discrimination, but nothing like I have encountered in Hawaii. One week on this island, and already I dislike the people of Hawaii. The people of Hawaii are horrible human beings. Can’t wait to leave!
Sincerely,
Proud Haole
Hello
Want a fight ? We give you one you won't believe!
Haole killer ? That's a joke. Let our government untie our hands.
We will rip you and your kind from the earth.
Or let China have you. We could do both and you could not stop us.
Obvious troll is obvious…
Please Haole Killer, do yourself a favor (and to the world) and go kill yourself 🙂
There’s no need to pollute this beautiful island with a human excrement (such as yourself). And please, while you’re leaving, please take your hatred and ignorance with you as well,
Kind regards…
I hear there's a serial killer loose on Maui with ties to the police. Maybe you better work on that, and then work on your pathetic lack of an education, and then work on your welfare outlook on life.
You know once you start killing people, they tend to want to turn around and respond, you pussy. REaly manly of your type to ambush women and young men in the jungle. Cowards are the trash of the earth, and eventually their day comes, becomse real men destroy cowards hiding out in the bushes waiting to rape women who would deservedly spit in their worthless faces. Hate is a two way street. Remember that bozo.
I have lived in Hawaii since I was 6 weeks old and we move between California and Hawaii for 44 years. I attended Waikiki elem. Washington Intermediate and graduated from McKinley High in 87′ I am a haole but with brown eyes and long dark hair I only got picked on once I beat her a** not proud but some how I earned respect( we were in 7th grade) we are friends to this day and our kids ,kids play together. I have been off island for 15 years and just came back in Sept 2012. My grand-daughter was picked on a little bit but NOT by Hawaiian or Locals was new kids from Korea and Japan mean little girls but she is tough like her grandma and now first grade she had more friends than she knows what to do with maybe being Native American has helped us but in High School I had friends from all cultures and on Kill Haole Day I went and was almost all talk but for me personally I have much respect for Hawaii and the Hawaiian people. There are bad and good people everywhere so drop ego and attitude and smile carry love not hate and raise our children to do the same. I see where a lot of the problem lies yet that is another topic. Be part of the change and solution not the problem. Racism is taught it is not something we are born with!
Japan is the same way. If you`re not Japanese, you are non-Japanese. I think the experience is different for everyone. I have lived in Japan for 5.5 years and haven`t run into horribly racist comments or acts towards me. My other friends have been stopped by police or harassed because they are western. But as I read this, haole is just another random word for those who don`t care to differentiate between cultures. You are either Japanese or "Gaijin". Gaijin is not a horrible term unless it is intentionally used in such a way. If you always hear the word in a that way, of course you think it`s awful.
Hello
Do you want the white man to be pissed off and be the real racists that they used to be ?
It seems that at least in the U.S white's are backing down to everyone. Not for much longer.
We could reconquer you and rule you with a steel hand. Do you want that ?
Maybe we wll let the chinese have you and enslave you!
Hawaiians should learn to live and let live before forced to do it.
All we are we saying is ''GIVE WAR A CHANCE".
For all of you, you must learn with the brazillians how to live and get along with different races. You are all sick! Racism in Hawaii is a sad reallity. By the way, in the UFC we beat you all !! But we keep the skills just for the octagon. There is racism cases there as well, but it is isolated events. SAY NO TO WAR, SAY NO TO RACISM !!! And shut up everybody, if you like to travel around the world, keep cool, because you are always a haole when you leave your place !!! Those bullyng kids will live and die in the islands without never travelling anywhere. Shame on you!
Unfortunately, racism is found everywhere.
Whites against blacks and yellow, yellow against red and green, green against blue and purple, and so on.
The person above saying that: "non-Hawaiian should not have Hawaiian names” and that: "whites not knowing what their Hawaiian names mean are being disrespectful” is an ignorant troll. People should have all names as they please. 99% of people around the world have no idea what their name means, so get over it!
“Whites dropped bombs”
Who did?? I didn’t, and rest assured none of the “whites” that comes here for vacation or live did.
“White cultures have some wrong”
Who doesn’t?? America is a melting pot. There are no culture standards; therefore, all cultures at some point have some right and some wrong. Your arguments are invalid.
———
I was born and raised in one of the most racist places in the world. In fact the country (ex-Yugoslavia) was so racist that they even started an atrocious war against each other. For 10 bloody years I have witnessed neighbors killing one another. And why? Due to ignorance.
RACISM is the lowest form of ignorance…
You think you have a valuable reason to promote hate against other races, that this is part of your birth or culture right, that you can teach your children to hate other human beings because of their skin color and/or race?
NO!
In the eyes of God, we are all equal.
Yes, the annexation was a terrible wrong that was done to the Hawaiian monarchs and the Hawaiian people, but—it is time to move on!
Nothing will ever bring the things as they were before…
People that are coming here to visits and/or are trying to build a life of their own, are just as same as those (your ancestors) who came here as immigrants many years ago… The only difference is that they are white.
You have no rights to use your cultural background to promote violence, hatred and racial discrimination against anyone!
I am a resident Hawai'i Jap born in the U,S, and when I did visit Japan, I was considered an outsider because I did not fluently speak the language, and acted different. Do these people who meet me like this really have some sort of paranoid schizophrenia? Like in any other place on the Earth? Aloha and trust is my first mantra; somewhat
like in "The Rifleman"..
[…] most Hawaii residents are not racist, racism is still an issue. A couple articles on the topic: Bullying in Hawaii: A State of Denial | Hawaii Reporter – also skim through the comments at the bottom Hawaii Suffering From Racial Prejudice | Southern […]
My son was assaulted and brutally beaten on a sidewalk in Kailua, HI several years ago. A 15 year old hawaiian boy hit him in his face with his fist, breaking his nose, necessitating an ambulance trip to Castle Medical Center. His friends got together and ID'd the juvinal delinquent from photos in local high school year books. The hawaiian kid was ultimately brought to Juvinal Court and spent 30 days in criminal juvinal detention. My son who's a Doctor today has several surgeries to correct the broken bones in his face. I considered bringing a lawsuit on the kids parents, but decided not to in the end since they were on the lower end of the economic ladder without any measurable assets in the first place. Yes this occured on the last day of the public school day, Kill a Haole Day. Incidently, I'm caucasian and my son's mother, my wife is Japanese.
[…] Originally Posted by DewDropInn You give credence to someone who "sounds legit"? Really? Me and Barry hung together catching the bag waves on the North Shore. Wanna invest in the Big Kahuna Condo Complex and Shave Ice Extravaganza I've got going in Oahu? You pay me big dollar and I make sure you get invitation to da White House. You da kine bruddah! If you're haole, they don't want you there. Bullying in Hawaii: A State of Denial | Hawaii Reporter […]
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