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ASIAMS.NET |
ASIAN AMERICAN ISSUES
Is Honolulu an Asian American Paradise?
magine a place where everyone looks like Jason Scott Lee and Kelly Hu. Where trade winds keep the air balmy year-round, day and night, and the horizon is always piled with dazzling cumulus. Where you can always find a Zippy's for saimin and teriyaki plates heaped with rice and macaroni salad. Where it's the Whites who are the minority.
AA Paradise?
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A stroll through Ala Moana Shopping Center or Kapiolani Park will satisfy anyone that in Honolulu Asians are the majority. This impression is borne out by the numbers. The city's 610,000 Asian/Pacific Islanders comprise 68% of its 900,000 total residents, making the Honolulu area the nation's third largest AA population center. Even excluding about 100,000 native Hawaiians, Samoans and other non-Filipino Pacific Islanders, Asians make up 57%, over twice the percentage for Whites (26%).
Honolulu is also unique in being the only major metro area in which Japanese Americans outnumber all other Asian nationalities. JAs (200,000) are followed by Filipinos (170,000), Chinese (54,000), Coreans (23,000), Vietnamese (8,000) and Indians (1,500). McKinley High, Honolulu's first public school and the alma mater of Daniel Inouye, Hiram Fong and Bette Midler, is known as "Tokyo High".
Racial harmony, marketed as Aloha Spirit, has become the island's trademark, but the various Asian nationalities originally arrrived not in the spirit of multiculturalism but to serve as strikebreakers to help the Big Five keep each preceding nationality of laborers in line. It is only during the past half century or so that Hawaii's Asians have come to see the advantage of joining forces to resist an exploitative white minority.
Asian immigration to Hawaii began in 1789 with the arrrival of a few Chinese artisans. Hawaii was still an independent kingdom. Asians were few until various European and American entrepreneurs began seeing the potential for big profit in sugar cane. They used cold-blooded machinations to gain power over native Hawaiians, then brought over 46,000 Chinese laborers between 1852 and 1899.
As Chinese workers grew in number, they began making demands for better wages and working conditions. The Big Five's response was to recruit 180,000 Japanese between 1886 and 1925. As the Japanese became the islands' largest ethnic group, they too began organizing to fight inhumane working conditions. The plantation owners sought to break them by bringing over 100,000 Filipinos. As citizens of a U.S. territory, they were exempt temporarily from the barrage of anti-Asian legislation directed against Chinese and Japanese immigration. About 3,500 Coreans were also recruited between 1904 and 1905.
The first instance of inter-Asian cooperation on the islands was seen in 1919 when 12,000 Filipinos and Japanese jointly staged a strike. For the most part, however, the Big Five's ruthless tactics and absolute economic dominance remained intact until World War II. Only after Hawaii became a state in 1959 did Asian numerical strength begin translating into political and economic power. Today Honolulu's commercial and professional life is dominated by Asians, though many Whites enjoy above-average affluence thanks to old-money connections and a steady influx of wealthy mainlanders seeking a retirement home.
The surf and luau lifestyle is, of course, only a pretty myth for most Honolulu residents. Like other Americans, they spend most of their days earning a living. Unfortunately, the majority are employed in tourism, an industry that had been stagnating for nearly a decade even before 9/11. The islands' strategic location between East Asia and North America -- not to mention its appealing lifestyle -- has begun attracting a small influx of tech jobs, but Honolulu's economic prospects remain uncertain for the forseeable future.
Is Honolulu an Asian American paradise? Or is it just a remote outpost irrelevant to the most ambitious Asian Americans?
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WHAT YOU SAY
[This page is closed to new input. --Ed.]
(Updated
Tuesday, Apr 1, 2008, 06:02:47 PM)
Pake Girl and Masa,
I came back to leave a message for you two, since I said I would. Don't post me back, because I won't be coming back to this site after I leave this post for you two.
First of all let me just say that I am Chinese Hawaiian with a bit of Irish and a bit of Cherokee. Everyone from Hawaii knows about Hawaiian homeland and about blood quantums. I am about seventy percent Hawaiian, twenty percent Haka Chinese, a bit of Irish, and a bit of Cherokee. I have Chinese facial features and my skin is light yellowish brown. But my body is Hawaiian, and my last name is Hawaiian. I've always been a good athlete, and I was one of the top athletes in the state during my time. I was also one of the smarter kids. I took GT classes in highschool and scored high on both SAT and ACT. To tell you the truth the smart kids used to harass me all the time about being in their classes in highschool, but I was an easy going guy with them so it didn't really bother me when they teased me. I did put one of them in a trashcan once, but that's another story. I went to college in the mainland and played football.
When I was growing up in Hawaii, I never witnessed any body looking down on me or my friends based on race. Mostly the ones doing the looking down were the rich kids, and they happened to be mostly white. I did notice the kids from the ILH schools had the stuck up attitude, but that wasn't race that was social status based on wealth. The kids that went to Kam are the same too, even though they are not wealthy. I guess the perceived social status goes to peoples head. I never wanted to go there or any private school, I liked my public school.
I'm sure a lot of kids must have gotten picked on and teased, but I never saw any group get picked on more than any other group, with one exception. I saw that the FOB filipinos got a raw deal from everyone, including the local filipinos. It's not right, but it happened. The only ones who compared to the FOB filipinos but were still a distant second were the haole kids and the popolo kids. Everyone else got the same amount of teasing depending on where you lived.
It's true that there is a strong presence of AJ's in politics and in business, but it's not because they looked down on the rest of us. It's probably because they assimilated more than the rest of us. Just remember their generation had something to prove especially during the world wars. I believe they serve the state well in congress. Uncle Ben on the other hand, I would like to pull his ear.
People shouldn't confuse the strong presence of Japanese nationals owning businesses in Hawaii with the AJ's. Some how I think Uncle George meant well when he helped those businessmen. Anyway the Japanese nationals are our number one tourist group, and they will probably always be.
Getting back to you two. When I was in college, I met Native American kids from reservations. They were all motivated to succeed in college and do things. Amazingly, most of them wanted to go back to the reservation. Their reservations aren't the ones you see with gambling on it. They came from poor reservations that were ravaged by alcoholism and other social diseases. I couldn't understand at first why they would go back, but they helped me understand why. It was because they wanted to help their people and make the reservation a better place. Some of them were studying nursing, and were very excited to go back to the reservation to help in that field. But there were some that vowed never to set foot on the rez again.
Masa obviously you are choosing to stay in Hawaii. Hopefully you have a stable occupation that will enable you to do so. I don't know you, but I know people from Pearl City and Aiea. Most of them are not well to do, and most are AJ or Chinese Hawaiian. Don't put her down because she chose to live across the ocean.
Pake Girl whatever reason you chose to live there is your own kuliana. I hope you find what your looking for over there.
I just wanted to say that I was always considered a MOK in highschool, and I had friends who were MOKs and SOLEs. Some of us were muscular with six packs. I was two hundred twenty pounds and I had a thirty two inch waist and bricks. I don't know if you meant the MOKs and SOLES were big or if you meant we were fat. I just know like Masa said there are all shapes and sizes. I had fat friends too, so just like anywhere else even over there you get all kinds.
There is nothing wrong with speaking pigeon or pidgin? And mahu kane speak it too.
I hope you two have some tolerance for others who don't share your views.
Don't fight because it will only frustrate you both.
For anyone planning to visit Hawaii, the islands offer a lot to tourists. If you want to relax and leave the city life behind you, then Kauai, Hawaii (Big Island), Molokai, and Parts of Maui are your best bets. Molokai and Kauai if you just want to veg in your hotel, do a little site seeing, and a little bit of physical activities. If you like to drive, then Hawaii (is not the main island) and Maui are your best bets. You can take long drives on scenic routes. If you want the night life and the relaxation, then Maui and Oahu (the main island) are your best bets. There is something for everyone here looking to vacation and get some rest. If you are looking to hook up, then you better stick to Oahu and Maui, and stay in the city areas.
Please consult your concierge at the hotel you stay at for more information about places you might want to avoid.
Take care.
A hui hou.
For Pake Girl and Masa
Sunday, May 19, 2002 at 06:31:20 (PDT)
[And your kids, if they stay on the islands, will probably end up working in the tourism "hospitality" industry, catering to visitors who are expecting happy natives and grass shacks.]
I guess some peopleās perception of Honolulu is based on the Hollywood images they see on TV. I live in Honolulu, so I am aware of the crime, the unemployed and the homeless population. A few blocks away from where I live is a homeless shelter. Since I live on Oahu, I expected everyone living there to be Asian, but thereās quite a number of white people (probably mainland Haole) living there, too. Life is hard in Honolulu. And when some people do come here, they have unrealistic expectations about the Islands. A few days ago, Forbes Magazine published an article about establishing a business in Hawaii. It equated conducting (and creating a business) in Honolulu as career suicide. Since Iām not in the business field, I canāt say whether itās true or not, but I can say a number of businesses in Honolulu have failed. Two tech companies shut down in downtown Honolulu. And Squaresoft (the maker of the Final Fantasy movie) is facing financial difficulty and might be in process of pulling out of the Islands.
hitmonlee
Friday, May 17, 2002 at 17:11:25 (PDT)
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