Monday Oct. 12, 2009 in the parking lot of Bangkok Chef Manoa at 12:15pm we waited for a car backing out so that we could pull into their parking space. A tall haole guy with brown hair walks in the middle of the stall and refuses to move, shaking his finger at us, saving the space for his friend with blonde hair in pony tail in the white truck behind us. I am local hawaiian, asian female raised on oahu, and that behavior to me is rude. Could it be because I was asian, female or local, that this haole guy thought he could abuse us? Rude people come in all types of colors and sex. It’s pitiful when you gotta explain to someone that rude behavior such as coming out from no where to save a parking space for a car who is not next in line, is unacceptable. Only girls were in the car, the haole was lucky, cuz he may have been hurt if the guys in our family were with us. His action was completely avoidable. If this is a cultural difference such as he’s not from oahu, I hope this story helps save his life, and the life of his driver one day so they don’t get their okoles beat down.

Next time haole, don’t be fooled, cuz local girls will kick your okoles too, you lucky that day. So haole boys, no be jerks, be respectful and learn to think of others before your own selfish needs. If you want to live or visit oahu do what the locals do.

Yes, tourism and the military presence have a role in the history – but it goes further back than that…almost 200 years back to when the first white missionaries came to Hawaii. Yes, that was a long time ago – but to understand the present you need discover the past & in this case you cannot stop with the rise of tourism or the presence of the military – you need to go further back to the Hawaiian culture pre, during, and since the first white missionaries arrived.

The first wave of Polynesian settlers in Hawaii were a collectivist culture, highly supportive of each other and overwhelmingly focused on the broader, long-term social and survival considerations of living on a Pacific island.

When the first white missionaries came to Hawaii, around 1820, their new religion created a polarization between the existing social classes. It was at this time that colonization began and led to the eventual domination of the ancient Hawaiian culture by this new foreign (haole) culture.

Remember – the Hawaiians traditionally regarded the land as being everyone’s responsibility to care for and maintain it, whereas the western concept of private land ownership was completely incomprehensible to most Hawaiians. As a direct result of this circumstance, by 1848 the Hawaiians had lost almost the entirety of their homeland to foreigners and commercial interests, and many Hawaiians were homeless and landless.

It’s key to remember that the Hawaiian collectivist culture (as it was described prior to the arrival of the missionaries) – is still expressed today in the ‘Aloha Spirit’, which consists of giving open-endedly to share wealth, food, and communal support. This traditional spirit of collective giving contrasts rather severely with the spirit of imported western entrepreneurial commercialism (which also still exists). While there are and have been benefits from both ‘cultures’ – there are also times when they clash.

Greater effort needs to be made for all people to understand how other nations and other people view life and maintain the beliefs that make their lives personally, spiritually and culturally meaningful. The interest and study of cultural ways, social norms, and the attainment of a basic understanding – is the only way real progress can be made towards resolving tensions between radically differing racial and ethnic groups. This is as true in Hawaii as it would be anywhere in the world that Americans find themselves. I believe it is the younger people who are more often doing the antagonizing – but perhaps even that is a ‘normal’ part of the immature growth phase.

It’s not our responsibility in the present to figure out the details of the past or the reasons behind the why’s. What’s done is done and we cannot hold the past in the present. Nothing will ever entirely erase lingering local resentment over having lost homelands to what they view as culturally naive, economically overbearing, self-centered, and profit obsessed outsiders who think that America’s worship of rugged, entrepreneurial individualism is the only legitimate socio-political philosophy in the entire world.

Furthermore, little can be done to reduce haole paranoia about being singled out for rude, perhaps hostile treatment by locals.

The only thing we can do on an individual level is to renew our efforts each day to acheieve a more loving and generous understanding of each other’s lives and cultures.

I apologize for the long comment but I felt it was necessary. I also want to thank my friend Kaliki Kalei who has been a great kumu (teacher) of ancient Hawaiian culture.

Aloha & Malama,
Angelica

My favorite part was when a local in one of the cars said “Go home? I live here.”