HAWAII

I had the great fortune to vacation in Hanalei, Kauai this past spring break residing in a beach house where the sound of the waves put me to sleep. To give you some background Kauai is one of the 8 islands that encompass the state of Hawaii. It is the oldest island (closest to Japan) and is called the “Garden Island” due to its rich vegetation that even clings to the volcanic mountains surrounded by the clear turquoise water. (Jurassic Park, King Kong, Lost, and other films/TV shows were filmed here!) Needless to say, it is beautiful.

                   Kauai, like the other 8 Islands went through years of occupation and struggle for independence during the turn of the century. Hawaii had an emperor until 1891 was claimed a territory of the US in 1900.  In 1941, due to Pearl Harbor, the US declared Martial Law in Hawaii increasing US residency. By 1959 Americans who had lived in Hawaii for a year had the right to vote in for Hawaiin Statehood. (This vote excluded those native Hawaiians who protested US law)

Although I know little about the colonization/ statehood of Hawaii during my trip I couldn’t help but feel like an intruder. From the shaved ice with condensed milk, Guava EVERYTHING, roosters that crowded the street, to the relaxed atmosphere… the identity of Kauai is still very un-American despite its large tourist-based economy (around 80 percent American).  However, I almost only saw Americans during my vacation. It seemed that everyone I met moved to Kauai when they were young, usually from California, and decided to stay. – This reminds me somewhat of LA and the racial /cultural segregation that takes place. Although some “locals” told me that there is land allocated to those who hold a certain percentage of Hawaiian ancestry they didn’t mention it was only one percent (Race, Class, Gender, 47).

                  I felt flooded with questions on the relationship between local Hawaiians and the Americans who have moved here since the 1959 declaration Hawaii’s Statehood. What is this doing to Hawaiian culture? Language?  I asked some “locals” who told me that it wasn’t the older generation that was hostile towards Americans but the younger generation of Hawaiians. However, they said that if you showed respect to the Hawaiians the tension was usually eased. When it comes to language and culture it seems that, “Hawaiian language was banned in all private and public schools in 1896 and this ban continued until 1986 when it was rescinded through Punana Leo lobbying in1987”(Kauanoe Kamana and William H. Wilson). Currently, there has been an increased push to have Hawaiian taught elementary schools.

                  In the book Race, Class, and Gender: An Anthology, which I sited above, I stumbled upon a narrative of a Hawaiian woman named Haunani-Kay Trask who described that there was, “the world that we lived in- my ancestors, my family, and my people- and then there was the world historians described.” She describes how historians are like colonizers in that they only put value on Anglo- ideals transforming the belief that no own owned the land to and oppressive capitalist society.  She ends her narrative describing that in order to understand Hawaiian culture they must be willing to learn the language and prevent their Western way of thought to influence their analysis of Hawaiians. – this seems to echo some of the Asian American, Chicano and goals of the BPP’s for an accurate history.

                   After this narrative I couldn’t help but compare the experiences of Hawaiians with that of Mexicans and other ethnic groups. Looking  specifically at Whitewashed Adobe I can’t help but see the parallels between Hawaii and California’s history and culture defined by whites. Using Mexican and Hawaiian culture to draw tourists/ residence ( Mr. and Mrs. LA). It also led me to make parallels between the Chicano movement in Lopez and the articles we read for class today. It seems since the 1960’s Hawaiians have had a nationalist movement that can be relatable to that of the Chicano, Black, and Asian American movement in the struggle for a self-created- identity.

                  Legal rights are also a struggle for Hawaiians. Even recently in 2006 Hawaiians have been fighting to forge an identity and government separate from Americans in the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act of 2005. “A bill to express the policy of the United States regarding the United States relationship with Native Hawaiians and to provide a process for the recognition by the United States of the Native Hawaiian governing entity. “(http://www.govtrack.us/) Hawaiian sovereignty movements and other Native-Hawaiian activist groups seem to mirror the same struggle for legal rights and identity as other minority groups in LA.