How Racist Are You?

[Lei K]

Re: How Racist Are You?

^^ I think I love you Pua'i.

[Konaguy]

Re: How Racist Are You?

I think it would depend on the context in which it was used, but I'd be hesitant to slap the "racist" label.

I completely disagree, I've run into a lot of racist people during my life living here.
Even though I was born here in Kealakekua (in what is the current Kona
courthouse) some people can't get past that I'm fair skinned (thanks to being
50% Norwegian, 25% Finnish, 12.5% German and British) and can't tan
at all. Thus when I was younger, and to an extent today, I run into people
who treat me poorly because I'm haole.

For example, I met this girl who I originally met online. She met me in real life
and gave me the silent treatment for the most part I was with her that day.
She told me finally that she doesn't like haole guys (even though I told her
that I was haole from the get go). I ultimately drove back to Kona crying
after what she told me.

The way I look at it now is for the first time in my life I'm truly happy living
here.I've moved on from the pain associated with the harassment and racism I faced when
I was younger. For a long time it really dragged me down, to a point that I contemplated
moving away to the mainland.

[damontucker]

Re: How Racist Are You?

I seem to like all people...so I don't consider myself to be racist at all.

Opinionated... yes, but not towards any "race," just things in general.

[Lei Liko]

Re: How Racist Are You?

I completely disagree, I've run into a lot of racist people during my life living here.

Aaron, I'm sorry that happened to you.

However, I still stand by my opinion that it depends on how it is used.

I could be with Agnes Medeiros one day talking story, and in stereotypical fashion she just cannot shut up and I blurt out, "Ho...you soooooo podagee!" Am I looking down on Portuguese locals by saying that? Absolutely not. Going off on that tangent...what about Frank DeLima jokes then?

And I recall time spent in Atlanta one summer and was called a "damn chink" by a random guy while eating dinner with a friend and his family in an upscale restaurant. Did it make me feel inferior? You bet. The fact that he was ignorant enough to classify me as a "chink" when I wasn't even one pissed me off even more.

So again, it depends on how the context in which it is used.

[Konaguy]

Re: How Racist Are You?

It is water under the bridge, I've moved on with my life. Although I would
not wish what I went through on anyone. It was a very difficult and painful
part of my life. Making things worse was I stuck out like a sore thumb,
as I was the tallest person in school, 6'4" currently.

[damontucker]

Re: How Racist Are You?

Whoa dude... I would have loved to have had the height in High School!

Just got to ask... did you play basketball?

I'm not racist... but I'm sure jealous of a guy who can dunk a basketball!

[nachodaddy]

Re: How Racist Are You?

Let me tell ya a story Aaron;

I first came to Hawaii when I was 17. Meant to stay for two weeks, ended up staying a year. Back then, I had black hair halfway down my back with peroxide streaks and due to genetics can tan very easy, plus I had a good base tan coming from Cali.

I knew what localism was early, used to localize breaks back home. Started hanging with a "loose" crowd, a surf crowd, couches to sleep on, rides to bum, etc..... I KNEW even at my young age the less I said, the less people would think I was not a local. I saw what locals did to non locals, mean terrible things, so I did not talk much, grunted a lot, lots of non verbal comms like head nods and eyebrow raises. I reiterate, was not trying to be local, just trying to step lightly and not have to fight 7 guys at once.

There was this other guy in our group, never could tan, white as a sheet, but he talked this thickest pidgin ALL THE TIME. The guy never could shut up, always talking, always had something to say. He was really hard to understand, thick @ss pidgin. A big goof off also. A clown.

We were chilling one night in a friend's backyard and there was a party going on. I was sitting by myself getting hammered and he comes up to me, just him and me, everyone else was inside, and starts yammering about how I was so quiet. Yammer, yammer, yammer, and then I said "why are you always talking, why don't you STFU for a while". Since this is the most he has heard from me in months and I was ready to beef, he kinda stepped back and explained to me, in perfect non pidgin English, that he was born and raised on Maui but used to get harassed a lot when he was younger cuz people thought he was haole so he invented this whole personna so people would just leave him alone. Then he tells me that no one vibes me and he wished he was darker skinned. That was a lot coming from him and I knew it.

So, I tell him why I was so quiet, and we both got a good laugh out of it. Both of us just wanting to be left alone. We both smoked a bowl and just kinda talked about all kinds of stuff till the wee hours. The next day, business as usual, me quiet, him being a loud goof off. After that, he would come and talk to me when no one else was around and I gave him mad respect for that.

He lives in Arizona now, married a haole, three kids. He does not have to pretend anymore. He has never gone back just to even visit.

Rascism is just a word but it can really suck. People minimize it, dispel it with humor, pretend it is not there, but it is always there, always there. Made a good guy leave his home over that.

Something to chew on....................

[damontucker]

Re: How Racist Are You?

Great Point of View reference Nacho...and I agree 110% about just keeping the mouth shut.

I was lucky being half black/half white when I arrived here so I looked a "bit local" it wasn't until I opened my mouth when people did realize I wasn't from here...

But still then... once I told them I was mixed... it did seem to mess with their heads for a minute or so.... I wouldn't tell them what I was... I just said mixed... not until they truly asked... mixed what??? would I tell them....

I know racism persists...it sucks...

[Composite 2992]

Re: How Racist Are You?

There was this other guy in our group, never could tan, white as a sheet, but he talked this thickest pidgin ALL THE TIME.

...he kinda stepped back and explained to me, in perfect non pidgin English, that he was born and raised on Maui but used to get harassed a lot when he was younger cuz people thought he was haole so he invented this whole personna so people would just leave him alone. Then he tells me that no one vibes me and he wished he was darker skinned. That was a lot coming from him and I knew it.

So, I tell him why I was so quiet, and we both got a good laugh out of it. Both of us just wanting to be left alone. We both smoked a bowl and just kinda talked about all kinds of stuff till the wee hours. The next day, business as usual, me quiet, him being a loud goof off. After that, he would come and talk to me when no one else was around and I gave him mad respect for that.

He lives in Arizona now, married a haole, three kids. He does not have to pretend anymore. He has never gone back just to even visit.

That would make a cool scene in a movie someday!

Personally, I'm 100% Japanese. My wife is 50% Filipino. My business partner is a haole guy from the northern Midwest. My best friend is part Hawaiian-Chinese. All my dogs are mixed breeds.

[Hi Tone]

Re: How Racist Are You?

I asked my mom if she experienced any racism growing up in hawaii back in the 30's. She said the haoles use to tease her and call her a "stupid kanaka".

[Konaguy]

Re: How Racist Are You?

Rascism is just a word but it can really suck. People minimize it, dispel it with humor, pretend it is not there, but it is always there, always there. Made a good guy leave his home over

Well for me, I stopped feeling sorry for myself. I realized the past is just that, the past. There isn't anything you can do to change the past. But you can change the present and the future. Thus along with turning 30, I've gotten more
happier and content with my life.

[Konaguy]

Re: How Racist Are You?

Whoa dude... I would have loved to have had the height in High School!

Just got to ask... did you play basketball?

I'm not racist... but I'm sure jealous of a guy who can dunk a basketball!

I didn't play competitive basketball in high school. I really wanted to get
out of school.. badly. Konawaena wasn't a very pleasant place to go
to school. So I just went class, pretty much.Making things worse, my mom was teacher up there.

I can dunk on the 8 foot rims. But not on the regulation ones

[lavagal]

Re: How Racist Are You?

I am ashamed to say that I used to be horribly racist. It was my background, it was growing up in NJ, it was having to ride my bike through the black neighborhoods to get to the swimming club. But it was also my parents. Totally a nurtured trait. When I joined the service in the late 70s, this manifested itself even more, I am afraid to say.
It wasn't until I moved to Hawaii (actually transferred to Hickam via the USAF) that I was able to straighten myself out. Sure, part of it was being on the receiving end of racism. Being called an effin' haole this or that once or twice shook a little sense into me.
I have grown tremendously and do not now consider myself a racist. Maybe I am wrong. I don't argue that someone calls a Chinese person pake, that Japanese people think they are better than me, that Hawaiians snub me at times. All I can do is raise my own children to be pure of spirit and accepting of all, and hope that their world will accept them as readily as I want them to accept others.
And there are other things that made me reconsider how I treat others: being between pregnancies and fat, having Bell's Palsy, knowing that no matter how long I live in Hawaii, and it's now 25 years, that I will never really get what being Hawaiian is all about. But my kids were born here. We have friends and families and know children who are a wonderful blend of various races and it all seems right. Some day it may get to the point where it's all moot.

[GeckoGeek]

Re: How Racist Are You?

So, my BOLD fellow HawaiiThreader's just how racist are you?

What's it to ya, shorty?

Seriously, for me it's less of race then of culture. Some cultural persona I get along well with. Others I'm just not comfortable with and keep them at arm's length.

[lavagal]

Re: How Racist Are You?

I'd like to add that when I travel back east and in my travels on the mainland in general, I encountered expectations of racism, or anticipations of racism, and of realizing that my white face wasn't a common occurrence in some parts or another. I found it interesting, worried that I might become a victim in some way, and was saddened by those realizations.