I Not Haole...I Portuguese!

[alohabear]

I am confused...Whenever I hear Portuguese people in Hawaii bad mouth Haoleshttp://www.pantheon.org/articles/h/haole.html it makes me wonder, aren’t the Portuguese Caucasians? I mean Emeril Lagasse on the food channel looks like a mainland haole to me! I’ve seen Haoles in Hawaii with darker tans than some Portuguese. So what do you think, are they haoles too? If not, what is the difference?

This thread is not meant to offend....Aloha!

[Miulang]

Re: I Not Haole...I Portuguese!

I am confused...Whenever I hear Portuguese people in Hawaii bad mouth Haoleshttp://www.pantheon.org/articles/h/haole.html it makes me wonder, aren’t the Portuguese Caucasians? I mean Emeril Lagasse on the food channel looks like a mainland haole to me! I’ve seen Haoles in Hawaii with darker tans than some Portuguese. So what do you think, are they haoles too? If not, what is the difference?

This thread is not meant to offend....Aloha!

There's a difference between the local Portuguese ("Portagee" or "Pokiki") and haoles. The local Portuguese came mostly from the Azores and Madeira and emigrated to Hawai'i to work in the sugar fields. The last big wave of Portuguese immigrants arrived around 1913, which would make that group one of the oldest immigrant populations in Hawai'i. Without the Portuguese, there would be no linguica, no sweet bread, no malasadas! Oh yeah, I almost forgot! They made the first ukulele, too, and inspired the invention of the steel guitar.

Miulang

[Glen Miyashiro]

Re: I Not Haole...I Portuguese!

Alohabear, it makes more sense if you realize that it's not a racial thing, it's a class thing. Like Miulang said, Portuguese immigrants to Hawai'i worked in the plantations like the Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Filipinos, and Puerto Ricans did. They might have been field lunas, but they weren't seen at the same level as the American, Scottish, and Norwegian bosses. Therefore they weren't haole.

[alohabear]

Re: I Not Haole...I Portuguese!

Alohabear, it makes more sense if you realize that it's not a racial thing, it's a class thing. Like Miulang said, Portuguese immigrants to Hawai'i worked in the plantations like the Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Filipinos, and Puerto Ricans did. They might have been field lunas, but they weren't seen at the same level as the American, Scottish, and Norwegian bosses. Therefore they weren't haole.

oK...But they are Caucasians. Lunas were still the boss of the field laborers(peons). ,so were looked at ( but not quite)as the (haole) management. This was because they were "white" skined,but a lower classed (haole) "brother". When I define "haole" I mean caucasian...not the newcomer meaning.

[newroots]

Re: I Not Haole...I Portuguese!

i guess so. if emeril is cockasian and portugeze. but the old immagrants from hawai'i probably wouldnt be considered cockasian.

[Glen Miyashiro]

Re: I Not Haole...I Portuguese!

oK...But are they Caucasians?

Yes. But that's not very informative, considering that "Caucasian" covers everybody originally from Europe, plus Russians, Turks, and a bunch of other West Asian types.

[kimo55]

Re: I Not Haole...I Portuguese!

i guess so. if emeril is cockasian and portugeze. but the old immagrants from hawai'i probably wouldnt be considered cockasian.

huh huuh huh huuuuh. he said "cockasian".

[alohabear]

Re: I Not Haole...I Portuguese!

This articule shows that the majority of all Portuguese that came to the U.S. and Hawaii came from the same place. I guess growing up in Hawaii with it's many cultures makes local podagees different!

[Fondoo2]

Re: I Not Haole...I Portuguese!

huh huuh huh huuuuh. he said "cockasian".

Ahhhhh shud up Bevis j/k

[Glen Miyashiro]

Re: I Not Haole...I Portuguese!

it makes me wonder, aren’t the Portuguese Caucasians? I mean Emeril Lagasse on the food channel looks like a mainland haole to me!

Oh and one more thing -- Emeril Lagasse is half Portuguese and half French-Canadian. I think he looks more French-Canadian.

[alohabear]

Re: I Not Haole...I Portuguese!

BTW...what does the Census Bureau classify "local" Portuguese? Do they mark "other" or white?

[Glen Miyashiro]

Re: I Not Haole...I Portuguese!

This reminded me of something I heard on the radio recently. NPR's show Talk of the Nation had a segment on "Working Toward Whiteness":

Today, names like Mancuso, Weisman and Conan only hint at their ethnic roots. But 100 years ago, any of them would have immediately been recognized as belonging to a distinct ethnic group, complete with stereotypes and discrimination. Talk of the Nation looks at how America has expanded the definition of whiteness throughout history.

The time period they're talking about, the America of 1900 or so, is the same time period as plantation-era Hawai'i. Back then, "white" (or in Hawai'i, haole) didn't mean just anyone from Europe. It meant WASPs, white Anglo-Saxon Protestants. Not those swarthy Latin types like Italians, Spanish, and... Portuguese.

[Ailina]

Re: I Not Haole...I Portuguese!

Since this thread is about Portuguese, I have a question that is somewhat related....

When I was in Hawai`i, people used to use the term "pocho" to refer to something that was "junk" or "half-`ôkole" (as I interpretted it). Like "pocho car."

A friend of ours uses the term "ghetto" a lot, and my sister and I suggested she say "pocho" instead. But something in my na`au told me that's not right either.

I looked it up online, and I learned "pocho" is short for "Portuguese," and many people consider it a racist slur. IS it a racist slur?

[Glen Miyashiro]

Re: I Not Haole...I Portuguese!

Hoo, now that's a good one. It probably depends on who you ask. Frank Delima would probably say no. Lee Cataluna would definitely say yes.

By the way, Mexicans also use "pocho" but they mean something else entirely. (Arturo, you wanna chime in on this one?)

[arturo_h]

Re: I Not Haole...I Portuguese!

Yea, in Mexico it is considered a racial slur. I don't know about other spanish-speaking countries, but in Mexico it refers to a Mexican who has been "Americanized." It can also refer to a Mexican who has lost their roots, so to speak.
Arturo