06-29-2008, 02:26 PM
For me, school (on the mainland) was a difficult time so it is important to address these issues because schoolkids are vulnerable. What I remember with the least fondness were all the social pressures. My brother and sister-in-law, who live on Oahu, homeschooled their kids. That is a challange in itself.
On the flip side I will say that as an adult living in Hawaii for the last 19 years, I have been all over the state, in all kinds of neighborhoods, and while I see ample evidence of unhappiness, class tension, even racial tension, I must say that if a skinny white nerd like me has avoided getting his butt kicked, it can't be all that bad.
What I see most is a very low standard for education particularly in more rural areas like Puna. People with less education tend to stick more with their own peer groups that not surprisingly are of similar racial background. They also are less financially secure, making them more resentful of change since it will probably be change for the worse for them.
There are three households that I think of as my immediate neighbors in Eden Roc. Two of them are husband/wife teams, I think with grown kids that are out on their own, who are building new houses. I would describe these four people as Haole. I don't know how far back they go in Hawaii except to say many years, and from things said, at least one of them may have grown up in Hawaii. They are all friendly. The third household is younger with elementary school aged kids. I know very little about them personally except to say that the husband is not haole. He is also intensly stand-offish and unfriendly, even paranoid. The wife seems to defer to him in all respects. The border of their property is festooned with no trespassing signs and even a small amount of barbed wire. He once accused me of trespassing on his property while I was clearing along the property line and has resisted my attempts to introduce myself. I can only speculate about their personal circumstances except to say that their house is definitely not new or large and based on a web search appears to be unpermitted. I also once saw him working at a retail establishment that later closed so I imagine that caused the family some financial grief.
Based on this example I might conclude that I was well received by the haole folks and not by the local folks. I think it is more accurate to say that the local folks in this admittedly inadequately sized sample had the least resources and were the most fearful of change. I also heard that they had wanted to buy the property before I bought it but didn't have the money in 2004 when properties were still cheap, while the other neighbors bought their property somewhat later after it had risen in cost. Again the economic angle is significant.
Last, I would say that haole can be used in either way. I have heard grandmothers lovingly describe their hapa haole grandkids, and I have heard the term said through clenched teeth. When refering to a male african-american youth, the term "black boy" might be accurate but it takes on a whole new meaning, one that everyone understands, when said youth is cornered and threatened by those of another race. so it is with the term haole.
On the flip side I will say that as an adult living in Hawaii for the last 19 years, I have been all over the state, in all kinds of neighborhoods, and while I see ample evidence of unhappiness, class tension, even racial tension, I must say that if a skinny white nerd like me has avoided getting his butt kicked, it can't be all that bad.
What I see most is a very low standard for education particularly in more rural areas like Puna. People with less education tend to stick more with their own peer groups that not surprisingly are of similar racial background. They also are less financially secure, making them more resentful of change since it will probably be change for the worse for them.
There are three households that I think of as my immediate neighbors in Eden Roc. Two of them are husband/wife teams, I think with grown kids that are out on their own, who are building new houses. I would describe these four people as Haole. I don't know how far back they go in Hawaii except to say many years, and from things said, at least one of them may have grown up in Hawaii. They are all friendly. The third household is younger with elementary school aged kids. I know very little about them personally except to say that the husband is not haole. He is also intensly stand-offish and unfriendly, even paranoid. The wife seems to defer to him in all respects. The border of their property is festooned with no trespassing signs and even a small amount of barbed wire. He once accused me of trespassing on his property while I was clearing along the property line and has resisted my attempts to introduce myself. I can only speculate about their personal circumstances except to say that their house is definitely not new or large and based on a web search appears to be unpermitted. I also once saw him working at a retail establishment that later closed so I imagine that caused the family some financial grief.
Based on this example I might conclude that I was well received by the haole folks and not by the local folks. I think it is more accurate to say that the local folks in this admittedly inadequately sized sample had the least resources and were the most fearful of change. I also heard that they had wanted to buy the property before I bought it but didn't have the money in 2004 when properties were still cheap, while the other neighbors bought their property somewhat later after it had risen in cost. Again the economic angle is significant.
Last, I would say that haole can be used in either way. I have heard grandmothers lovingly describe their hapa haole grandkids, and I have heard the term said through clenched teeth. When refering to a male african-american youth, the term "black boy" might be accurate but it takes on a whole new meaning, one that everyone understands, when said youth is cornered and threatened by those of another race. so it is with the term haole.