Russell Thoulag, The Fourth Branch
… is completely unacceptable. It’s particularly harsh when Oiwi are the ones perpetrating it. As a people, we Hawaiians have lost so much through the institutionalized forms of racism that dominate life in Hawaii; generations of our people have endured unbelievable loss and grief. So when any of us joins in or tolerates bigotry against others, especially other Pacific Islanders, it’s really hard to look at. Yet, the frustration behind it is in some ways understandable because to us, Micronesians are yet ANOTHER in a long line of uninvited settlers who are taking from us.
But here’s the thing: if we feel that way about them, then we should be willing to address the overall issue of settlers, not just pick on the newest, weakest ones. And let’s be real about this- Micronesians are not coming to Hawaii as settlers the way rich and middle class haole people come here to retire in paradise, brah! They are coming to Hawaii because they are impoverished in their homelands, and theirs is a colonial type of poverty. And they can come here because the federal government has given them permission to come here. Why? Because the United States owes them for what the US has done in their respective territories.
So, my Hawaiian brudahz and sistahz, we need to be aware of our own role, our own complicity in the causes of the Micronesian diaspora in Hawaii Nei. And acknowledge that these aren’t people who were hired by plantation owners to slave in the pineapple fields. And they didn’t come here because they want to end up homeless on our streets and in our parks, as so many of them now are. And Micronesian children don’t enjoy poverty anymore than Hawaiian children, and it’s really, really hard for these little ones to be in Hawaii schools because a lot of times they don’t speak English and they are culturally displaced to da max.
And also, Micronesia is made up of a lot of different cultures, so any bigoted assessment of them as a people is incorrect. Their respective cultures are complex. To say “all Micronesians” is like saying all Pacific Islanders or all Asians or all Europeans.
Anywayz, here’s a link to a decent little JACL doco– Micronesians in Hawaii — it features a friend of mine, Russell Thoulag, so have a look. And also, read this (still fresh and relevant) piece Chad Blair wrote for the Honolulu Civil Beat a couple years back, No Aloha for Micronesians in Hawaii.