02-28-2007, 03:34 PM
Re: the influx of Micronesians. Kona and Kohala districts have had a very large influx of Micronesians moving in in the past decade. Their children now make up the MAJORITY of ESL students everywhere from Waimea to Honaunau.
The reason we're getting so many here is that the U.S. nuclear test bombing has made much of their homeland uninhabitable! From Wikipedia: "Between 1946 and 1958 the United States tested 67 nuclear weapons in the Marshall Islands, (part of Micronesia) including the largest nuclear test the United States ever conducted, Castle Bravo. Nuclear claims between the United States and the Marshall Islands are ongoing, and health effects still linger from these tests. "
So the U.S. gov't has been instrumental in quietly funneling these people who I found to be as loving and outgoing as the rest of most Polynesians (which they are) to Hawaii as it is more like their home. Parts of Micronesia are also already suffering the effects of global warming as some of the populated areas on some islands are now underwater.
Re: the repercussions of the nuke activity. After initially evacuating many of those islanders from their homes due to the radioactivity, the Navy declared the areas safe in the 60s or 70s and sent the people back to their islands only to discover that the islands were too "hot" and they set about quietly relocating them once again. Many of the Micronesian children in the public schools here have hearing problems, according to the Speech therapist at the school where I worked, because of the many untreated chronic ear infections (from the water they spent so much of their time in) they had as toddlers. There was one middleschool student who had so many handicapping conditions that I heard one adult refer to him as "glowing in the dark" from the effects of radiation.
Not only are many of these students having difficulties adjusting to their new lives in America, but their language problems are also a big reason so many Big Island public schools' standardized test scores continue to decline, despite all the effort of students and educators. No Child Left Behind rules make ESL scores count as part of the schools' overall grade and a school fails if it falls below the benchmark on any part of its student testing, including Special Ed and ESL.
So, yes, we do have a lot more Micronesians here than we used to but many of them would rather be in their own islands. So, Beachboy, there are many reasons people end up on Hawaii's shores. I just wish everyone would hold our federal govt accountable for this. Neither our state nor island gets any compensation from the federal govt for this under-the-radar campaign.
The reason we're getting so many here is that the U.S. nuclear test bombing has made much of their homeland uninhabitable! From Wikipedia: "Between 1946 and 1958 the United States tested 67 nuclear weapons in the Marshall Islands, (part of Micronesia) including the largest nuclear test the United States ever conducted, Castle Bravo. Nuclear claims between the United States and the Marshall Islands are ongoing, and health effects still linger from these tests. "
So the U.S. gov't has been instrumental in quietly funneling these people who I found to be as loving and outgoing as the rest of most Polynesians (which they are) to Hawaii as it is more like their home. Parts of Micronesia are also already suffering the effects of global warming as some of the populated areas on some islands are now underwater.
Re: the repercussions of the nuke activity. After initially evacuating many of those islanders from their homes due to the radioactivity, the Navy declared the areas safe in the 60s or 70s and sent the people back to their islands only to discover that the islands were too "hot" and they set about quietly relocating them once again. Many of the Micronesian children in the public schools here have hearing problems, according to the Speech therapist at the school where I worked, because of the many untreated chronic ear infections (from the water they spent so much of their time in) they had as toddlers. There was one middleschool student who had so many handicapping conditions that I heard one adult refer to him as "glowing in the dark" from the effects of radiation.
Not only are many of these students having difficulties adjusting to their new lives in America, but their language problems are also a big reason so many Big Island public schools' standardized test scores continue to decline, despite all the effort of students and educators. No Child Left Behind rules make ESL scores count as part of the schools' overall grade and a school fails if it falls below the benchmark on any part of its student testing, including Special Ed and ESL.
So, yes, we do have a lot more Micronesians here than we used to but many of them would rather be in their own islands. So, Beachboy, there are many reasons people end up on Hawaii's shores. I just wish everyone would hold our federal govt accountable for this. Neither our state nor island gets any compensation from the federal govt for this under-the-radar campaign.