11-10-2008, 07:28 AM
I can't resist the Texan thing. I was born and raised in Texas, having had family there since 1852, but live elsewhere by choice. Am I still a Texan? My relatives all say "yes." They do not, however, consider any of the Bush family to be Texan, referring to them as money-grubbing oil opportunists. (Oddly, some of those relatives who make such references to the Bushes have voted for them. My dear mother, the matriarch, has never voted for a Bush, always referring to the current president as "that idiot who let the ranch roads go to hell when he was governor.")
Bringing this back to Hawaii, I would caution the president-elect's supporters on the use of the term "Hawaiian." Certain elements in this state become upset if anyone other than their particular ethnic group use that designation, with or without the qualifying "native." When my Texan relatives asked me if I was going to become Hawaiian, I had to explain to them that I would never have the genetic credentials for such a designation. Neither does Mr. Obama.
Cheers,
Jerry
Bringing this back to Hawaii, I would caution the president-elect's supporters on the use of the term "Hawaiian." Certain elements in this state become upset if anyone other than their particular ethnic group use that designation, with or without the qualifying "native." When my Texan relatives asked me if I was going to become Hawaiian, I had to explain to them that I would never have the genetic credentials for such a designation. Neither does Mr. Obama.
Cheers,
Jerry