Am I Hawaiian?

[hulagirl]

mmh.. I don't know... I think to be proud of something that you have not contributed to (since you were born into it) is somehow a strange thing. I believe we should be proud of our own achievements because we actively participate in what we have achieved. But I am proud of my son cause he is the coolest little buggah out there, so I guess it works to be proud of someone or something. Just for me, nationality is not something I am proud of, and that doesn't even have to do a lot with German history. Ok, a bit. Because we are taught the Nazi German history in school inside out, we do feel ashamed of what happened back then, and most people here do not show that kind of national pride that I experienced in the US. At the soccer world championship in 2006, it seemed to me that for the first time, it was ok to have a German flag in your front yard - and it was a relief somehow.
I appreciate my roots, and I am glad I was born into what I was born, but I am not proud of it. I am proud of my Mom for having brought me into this beautiful world! Big Mahalo to my MOM

Oh, and I believe you could call yourself any nationality if you felt you belong culturally, socially and linguistically. I have a friend here who has 100% Indonesian blood, but he was adopted by a German family when he was three. So he was raised in our culture with all its values, speaks German, and totally feels German. He just does not look typically German. I guess he would call himself a German with Indonesian blood.
Weird, when I think about it though, I would probably never call myself Hawaiian though, even if I had never seen anything in my life besides Hawaii. I would feel like a fraud. Complicated, that issue ...

Hi Johanna,

Yeah I get what youʻre saying but if that is so true, why do so many people say that they are proud to be american then? same thing, right? what have american people done to contribute to being an american other than pay taxes? even the elections are decided by other people regardless of what the popular vote is, so why the pride issue there? Itʻs okay to be proud to be american but not okay for you to be proud to be a race that your ancestors were? I donʻt get it.

I donʻt feel that you could call yourself any nationality if you wanted to. Damn, I love Jamaicans but can I call myself Jamaican because I love them? Maybe I can get some dreads and a rasta cap and walk and talk and dress Jamaican. Will that make me Jamaican? No. It would make me a non-Jamaican who loves the culture and language. I could say I am a Jamaica enthusiast but I could NOT say I was Jamaican because Iʻm not. Same with your friend. He was raised by Germans, but he couldnʻt say, "yeah Iʻm german" because he isnʻt. He could say "I was raised by germans."

Yes, it is that great cultural divide, but it is what makes each of us unique. I think if we all embraced that fact that we are who we are and our ancestors were who they were, we could move on from there. We SHOULD be proud of who we are and where we come from, but we should also remember that we are all human and yes- we all came from Africa but whole civilizations were built in different areas of the world and have been living in various places for centuries. Regardless of when or how or why people like the Polynesians migrated, they all did it, and they were all very well established long before foreign interference. All ethnicities are unique, their practices and traditions are unique, the people are unique, and we should tolerate, respect and support that.

You canʻt change who you are, who your ancestors were, at a whim, or just because you feel like you should have been. You canʻt be Hawaiian, so be "from Hawaii" or "Hawaiian at heart." Thatʻs all Iʻm saying. Itʻs one thing to have respect and love for a culture, and another thing to deceive and lie to others about being that culture. If you have true love for something, you donʻt steal, lie or cheat from it, you cherish, protect and respect it. Thatʻs all Iʻm saying.

Again, just my humble opinion.

[cynsaligia]

Re: Am I Hawaiian?

Yeah, I pretty much got that when I took Spanish class in HS. I already know the Ilocanos are heavily Spanish-influenced when I did a term paper in ES. Still, my dad's name is better than my boring English name.


You're probably missing the point. I don't have that many next-door Filipino friends that speaks a lot of Ilocano to reinforce my speaking the native dialect language, unlike the Kalihi or Waipahu neighborhood.* I lost that (about 98%) and goes with what I'm exposed to everyday, English with a dash of Hawaiian. In fact, I feel more comfortable speaking Pidgin English than standard English.

I personally hate when telemarketers working for a Philippine-based business asked me if I'm Filipino and when I say "yes" they start speaking in the native tongue, like they naturally assumed I can converse.

Maybe I should be mad at myself more.

*Ironic since I have lived in Kalihi for 20 years after moving from Moloka'i.

hmm, i don't think i did miss the point. there is a richness to living amongst your people, or at least people who came from the place your parents/grandparents came from, even if living in such a community is living economically poorly.

it's funny. in my adult life, i am surrounded by fewer people of my heritage, but i suppose the absence of that former constant has made me more curious about my parent's/grandparents' culture/home, etc. i speak more ilocano now than i ever did living with my mom and mama, who spoke it constantly to each other (and to me, tho i would answer back in english).

i've never had the experience of a filipino telemarketer/call center person assuming i spoke the language, even after i've given my last name. interesting that you have. i even pronounce my last name in the proper filipino way, not the anglicized way.

you might consider forgiving the filipinos who work in call centers/telemarketing for assuming you speak the language, tho. so many filipinos from the PI work/live overseas, as i am sure you know. i have cousins who work and live in the UK, saudi arabia, india, hong kong. the overseas filipino worker (OFW, as they are called in the PI) is the backbone of the PI economy. my aunt, who married a swede and lives in hong kong, speaks english with a mixed filipino/british accent. it's very odd, but apparently, not uncommon.

you mad brah??

silly child. you thought that was being mad?

Hey all...

I actually think itʻs interesting that so many people were against Hawaiians, our language, our culture and our ways years ago but now it seems like everyone and their grandmother wants to be Hawaiian.

I think itʻs nice that you are proud of where you came from. But in all honesty, if I came from say, Germany, could I call myself a German, just because I lived there and I felt like I could identify? No! Itʻs ridiculous and crazy to think that I could because Iʻm not German.

I personally think the Chinese culture is wonderful. I am mixed and have 25% Chinese, and I am proud of it. Our Chinese people have a very interesting history in China as well as in Hawaii. You should be proud of who your ancestors were and not try and create false ones by using the word "Hawaiian." And I mean this very respectfully.

If you are struggling to come up with a name, why not just say, "Hawaii local." Or that youʻre "from Hawaii." Itʻs not lying, it wonʻt make you feel like youʻre saying something you know is wrong, because itʻs true.

Hawaiian is Hawaiian no matter what way you look at it. Weʻve already had so much taken away from us, why take that word too?

JMHO.

i agree with a lot of what you say here. i'm aghast at the fact that there are many filipinos from hawaii who go on to live in california that claim being "hawaiian." makes me want to take a slipper to their hindquarters. just because you are from hawaii, live in the local way for decades, have an appreciation for poi and kahiko, does not make you hawaiian, any more than living in the philippines, loving kilawen and pinapaitan, knowing how to dance an tinikling, and speaking a good bit of taglish makes you filipino.

to me, that kind of claim is practically fraudulent.

HOWEVER...

the analogy is a little bit different when you compare other countries to any place in america, including hawaii. america has a chaotic history of stolen lands and displaced people on one side, with newly invented identities, fresh starts, opportunity borne out of leaving the past and native countries combined. add to this the complication that when one says s/he is american, s/he is very likely making a claim about nationality or citizenship, not ethnicity (because there are native americans--the only ethnic americans we have). being german or japanese or swedish is generally not only an ethnic thing, but a nationality/citizenship thing.

and maybe therein lies the problem. i think if you are someone like the original poster, wondering how to identify yourself, then ask these very separate yet related questions: "what is my nationality/citizenship?" "what am i ethnically?" "what am i culturally?" "how do i identify with the results out of what come of those questions?" and "how/where do i fit it?"

[Shredder]

Re: Am I Hawaiian?

the analogy is a little bit different when you compare other countries to any place in america, including hawaii. america has a chaotic history of stolen lands and displaced people on one side, with newly invented identities, fresh starts, opportunity borne out of leaving the past and native countries combined. add to this the complication that when one says s/he is american, s/he is very likely making a claim about nationality or citizenship, not ethnicity (because there are native americans--the only ethnic americans we have). being german or japanese or swedish is generally not only an ethnic thing, but a nationality/citizenship thing.

and maybe therein lies the problem. i think if you are someone like the original poster, wondering how to identify yourself, then ask these very separate yet related questions: "what is my nationality/citizenship?" "what am i ethnically?" "what am i culturally?" "how do i identify with the results out of what come of those questions?" and "how/where do i fit it?"

why u mad for sistah?

But this proud of being what you are stuff is kinda funny. Everyone is basically FORCED to be proud of what they are because of what? They are stuck being what they are and they can't change that. lol

[Johanna]

Re: Am I Hawaiian?

Hi Johanna,

Yeah I get what youʻre saying but if that is so true, why do so many people say that they are proud to be american then? same thing, right? what have american people done to contribute to being an american other than pay taxes? even the elections are decided by other people regardless of what the popular vote is, so why the pride issue there? Itʻs okay to be proud to be american but not okay for you to be proud to be a race that your ancestors were? I donʻt get it.

I donʻt feel that you could call yourself any nationality if you wanted to. Damn, I love Jamaicans but can I call myself Jamaican because I love them? Maybe I can get some dreads and a rasta cap and walk and talk and dress Jamaican. Will that make me Jamaican? No. It would make me a non-Jamaican who loves the culture and language. I could say I am a Jamaica enthusiast but I could NOT say I was Jamaican because Iʻm not. Same with your friend. He was raised by Germans, but he couldnʻt say, "yeah Iʻm german" because he isnʻt. He could say "I was raised by germans."

Seriously, I don't know why Americans say that. (NO offense! If you feel proud, thats good) No, not any nationality of course. But would you not call yourself an American? You probably have US citizenship, right? Even though you are not a Native American (Probably, I don't know for sure, of course). So my friend has German citizenship, even though he has no German blood. Identity is not a blood issue to me... in a multicultural world, this would become a confusing matter, because who is 100% anything nowadays? And that's good!! Diversity is a good thing, and as you say, everyone is unique. "tʻs one thing to have respect and love for a culture, and another thing to deceive and lie to others about being that culture. If you have true love for something, you donʻt steal, lie or cheat from it, you cherish, protect and respect it. Thatʻs all Iʻm saying." I totally agree with you on that.

[Johanna]

Re: Am I Hawaiian?

the analogy is a little bit different when you compare other countries to any place in america, including hawaii. america has a chaotic history of stolen lands and displaced people on one side, with newly invented identities, fresh starts, opportunity borne out of leaving the past and native countries combined. add to this the complication that when one says s/he is american, s/he is very likely making a claim about nationality or citizenship, not ethnicity (because there are native americans--the only ethnic americans we have). being german or japanese or swedish is generally not only an ethnic thing, but a nationality/citizenship thing.

and maybe therein lies the problem. i think if you are someone like the original poster, wondering how to identify yourself, then ask these very separate yet related questions: "what is my nationality/citizenship?" "what am i ethnically?" "what am i culturally?" "how do i identify with the results out of what come of those questions?" and "how/where do i fit it?"

Very good point!! That was what I was trying to say, hulagirl, but cynsaligia just knew better how to express what I was thinking!