crowded and exploited

[kimo55]

Re: crowded and exploited

heheheheheh...yeah, his name is Kimo.

hehehe is NOW forbidden.

****

the kid knows my name.

[Lei K]

Re: crowded and exploited

Wow Newroots, you don't give up. Understand by what I say I'm not trying to be mean but it's apparent that it's nearly impossible to get through to you.

My husband is of Irish ancestry and I love his ohana as if they have always been my own. I am into his Irish and Celtic culture because of my own love for it and to help out with my kids learning both sides of their ancestry. I don't like to be one sided. BUT as much as I love and have enveloped myself in his culture I will never "be" Irish or Celtic in any which way. I am my own mix of things of which I am VERY proud of and of which I also teach my keiki. For a very long time in my life my Portuguese father didn't teach us to be proud of what my mother is (Hawaiian/Chinese) and forced us after moving to the mainland to be "haole" which I will never understand. White people up here treated him like a second class citizen for being brown skinned and often just assumed he was Mexican as they don't seem to know the difference in California between one dark featured race and another. I was not even allowed to date another race but white! Believe it or not. I never understood his want to deny his culture and my mother's and turn us into something we weren't. I felt lost for many, many years until I was able to go get out of the house and afford to go back home to the 'aina regularly and rediscover who I was and what makes me so special. You need to reevaluate yourself and discover what makes you special and how beautiful it is to be what you are. Celebrate your culture, don't turn your back on it. Your ancestors are why you are living, they are in your blood and it's a wonderful thing. Don't disrespect that.

[1stwahine]

Re: crowded and exploited

Thank you for sharing you beautiful thoughts about respecting and being proud of one's culture and heritage. Today, I get that chance. I go to Kapiolani Park and although I'll be promoting the products I sell, I'll be amongst fellow Filipinos as well as others from different cultures. All enjoying the foods, products and what makes the Philippines the pearl of the orient!

Mahalo once again and may all have a safe and wonderful weekend! Got to get ready. Today, proud to be a filipina!

Mahal kita (I love you) everyone!
Aunty Lynn
momthresoldiers@msn.com

[Miulang]

Re: crowded and exploited

is that not possible for hawaiians? i dont think its just a superficial costume (as you say) on becoming a hawaiian. i just really really like the culture. and the people. my ties with the people on guam arent so good. thats why i'm so intereted in trying to be hawaiian. c'mon. cant i be hawaiian , if i learn the culture and respect the people. i know i dont have dakine bloodline. so is this possible or no?

First of all, Newroots, you need to make peace with the people around you. Examine why your ties with your people "aren't so good" and make amends. You will never be able to run away from being from the race you were born into. If you were born a Chamorro, you will always be a Chamorro, no matter where you eventually land. You should be proud of your culture and heritage.

You certainly can learn as much about the kanaka maoli as you want, but just learning about and respecting the kanaka maoli won't ever make you a "true Hawaiian". If you were born in Hawai'i (and not of Native Hawaiian ancestry) the closest you could come is to be called a "local" if you lived in Hawai'i for a generation or two, and even that would be a stretch since you don't seem to understand that you have to be born into a kanaka maoli family to be considered a Native Hawaiian. You can be hanai'd ("adopted" informally) but even that will never qualify you to be a true Hawaiian because you have no Hawaiian ancestors.

Nice try.

Miulang

[cezanne]

Re: crowded and exploited

Maybe that's what he's asking... what does it take to become a "local" in Hawaii? I dunno... we're beating a dead horse here.

[newroots]

Re: crowded and exploited

alright. now , i really get it haha. thanks for all your help people. ssssee ya laters.

[Royce]

Re: crowded and exploited

aloha. sorry i'm replying so late. i'm 16 , not 9-12 lol. for a kanaka , i thought since , the hawaiian culture and bloodline was kind of dying , a person can become one. but your right , if you dont have the blood than you cant , by definition , become a 'kanaka'. for a true hawaiian. i dont really know any hawaiians. i only know one. thats why i was asking what is a true hawaiian. heres a more clear question. if someone learns hawaiian culture , looks hawaiian , speaks the language , and gets along wid em good , can they call themselves a 'hawaiian'?

I just registered in HawaiiThreads tho I've been lurking for a long time. I have debated leaving this thread alone since it's been inactive for over two months, but I thought I should either drop my $.02 in or forever lurk and not admit my origins since I have this feeling it's been "tainted" somewhat.

I'm not originally from Hawaii but have been here for two decades as of this coming fall. I am not schooled in the Hawaii system so don't have a good grasp of "Hawaiiana" (my kids have to teach me basics), but I think I know more from 20 years' exposure here than if I was just wishing to be here from 3,800 miles away. I was born and raised on Guam tho I am not Chamorro-- my father was from Kona, my mother from the PI, my Guam origins are courtesy of my father's employment with the federal government in the early 50's ( I always wondered growing up why my siblings and I were the only ones in the neighborhood who used words like bambai and kaukau-- tanks for explaining Dad...).

Having said that, let me say Newroots that I know where you're coming from with your line of questions. Your concept of "becoming Hawaiian" is totally skewed because of the Guam concept of "becoming Chamorro". They're not the same, nowhere near, and personally I subscribe to the belief that there are no real Chamorros left because of that very concept. I can elaborate on the conceptual difference if you really are confused but I can see that, and totally understand why, several people's attempts to do so fail because they cannot understand your train of thought here.

I am not nearly as unqualified to know the Chamorro side of things. Tho not one by blood, my wife is Chamorro. I know the customs and traditions, speak the language, and Chamorros can't even tell I'm not "one of them" unless I admit it. Does that make me Chamorro? Someone had pointed out that being Hawaiian is not the same as being "Californian". That's exactly the way your and the common definition of being Chamorro has become... like being a Californian. Yet in the same breath, on Guam we attempt to revere that Chamorro-ness in the same sacred way Hawaiian is here... but it can't be done because there's no frame of reference, people on Guam can't even prove significant bloodline. If that's how Guam wants to define its Chamorros that's fine, I'm Chamorro too. But let's understand that what Guam decides to use as qualifying criteria to be called that isn't the same criteria Hawaii uses, or anyone else uses to define who they are.

[newroots]

Re: crowded and exploited

thats really offensive. you got it all wrong. your not chamorro , you know why... cuz you dont got ancestors haahahaha... it was kinda hard , to understand the whole ancestral thing but i get it now. but you dont get it bro. your wife , if not chamorro by blood , than chamorro by ancestry , if not chamorru by ancestry.. than shes not chamorru.

[kimo55]

Re: crowded and exploited

I can elaborate on the conceptual difference if you really are confused but I can see that several people's attempts to do so fail because they cannot understand your train of thought here.

Or newroots cannot understand others'.