Don’t Disregard the Facts: Stereotypes of Hawai’i

Posted on November 14, 2023 by JimS

By Azure Acosta
Student at Kapi’olani Community College
University of Hawai’i

This memory goes back to the early 2010s. I was just a preteen in middle school and loved to spend countless hours of my free time playing video games. This hobby is where I connected with my ongoing best friend, Kelsy, of 9–10 years. We played many video games together and met a lot of new people along the way. Chatting with strangers around the world online through massive multiplayer games was, and still is, easy. We attempted to make friendships through the games that we played, but they never became ones that were long-term. This is a story about one of those people.

My memory is fuzzy as to who this person was, but I will refer to this stranger as Chad. The night that this happened was like any other night for me. I was sitting on my bed with my light blue Solo Beats by Dr. Dre headphones on and my laptop in front of me. Kelsy and I were chatting through Skype and playing a game called League of Legends. In one of the League of Legends games that we played, we met Chad. The first impression that we had of him in-game was that he seemed nice and chill to play with, so we ended up adding him to our friends list on the game. As a result, we also added him on Skype to chat with him in a call. To begin with, the conversation included standard introductory questions that we asked each other. We found out that he was around our age and lived on the mainland. Everything seemed normal until he asked us where we were from.

“We’re from Hawai’i,” I replied.

Chad was surprised by my response. Other people that we’ve met online have reacted similarly, so I thought nothing of his initial reaction. The shock was usually followed by a comment about how cool and lucky we are to live in Hawai’i. Although, Chad had a different response.

“Oh, I didn’t know you guys were technologically advanced,” he said.

I was quite confused as to what he meant.

To clarify, I asked, “What do you mean?”

“I didn’t know you guys had internet. I thought you guys still lived in grass huts and wore coconut bras and grass skirts,” he replied.

At first, my best friend and I could only laugh off the ridiculous notion. In fact, I thought that it was a joke and that he was just trying to be funny. The tone of our voice expressed confusion as we repeated his words back to him. In a way, our response was to make his idea seem ridiculous. To our surprise, he was being genuine about his knowledge. After recalling that moment, the major insight I gained from this experience is that ignorance is interconnected with racism, whether people mean it or not.

Ignorance is shown in the stereotypes of every culture. Stereotypes are not always true, but some people interpret that information as real. For instance, Chad believed in the stereotype of coconut bras, even though that was not an accurate representation of Native Hawaiian women in the past. Also, coconuts were not used for that purpose in Hawaiian history. His belief in Hawai’i living primitively was not comprehensible either since the islands have tourists that visit every day and stay in hotels. Even though Chad’s belief in Native Hawaiian stereotypes may seem small and insignificant to some people, having that mentality can unintentionally hurt others. Rackliffe stated, “I learned that some people are mistreated based off of stereotypes.” Fortunately, the stereotype that I experienced did not cause any emotional or physical harm to me or my best friend. On the other hand, there are people who have had a different experience, and it all stems from somewhere.

An idea can start off small, but stereotyping can develop into behavior more inherently racist. While writing this paper, I realized that Cervantes’ post about what she learned from her racial experience made me recognize that there should be more diversity in the representation of Native Hawaiian women. She stated that for Hawaiians, like herself, “There are expectations of how you should look. People often assume you should have dark skin, dark eyes, and definitely dark hair.” If a person looks different from the stereotypical standard, then s/he is judged by her appearance, which affects how she is treated. How someone looks shouldn’t devalue them as a person or make them feel any less of their race. For a more accepting society, education is one way to refute stereotypes and racism.

The solution to putting an end to ignorance, stereotypes, and racism, as a whole, is to educate people. Hawai’i has a deep-rooted history before and after being forcibly colonized by the United States. Trask responded to a caller who didn’t understand Hawai’i’s history. She said, “Our country was stolen . . . . You’re ignorant, woefully ignorant.” Real-life experiences highlight the ignorance of tourists, but social media proves it as well. People from the mainland don’t always possess knowledge of Hawai’i and only view the islands as a vacation spot.

Chad could have researched Hawai’i to better educate himself. If he had done a quick Google search, he would have realized that his views of Hawai’i were far from the truth. Ultimately, at that moment, the responsibility was on Kelsy and me to educate him ourselves. Some people don’t realize that their words or actions are racist until someone speaks up about it. Fawcett’s classmate, Dana Anderson, asserts that for the Hawaiians and locals, “It has to do with appreciation and respect.” Tourists would have a better understanding as to why Native Hawaiians and locals are passionate about their home if they took time to learn more about Hawai’i’s past and present.

In conclusion, some people will not realize that they are being ignorant. Whether it is through stereotyping or by other means, those ideas are inherently racist and can become worse if someone doesn’t speak up about them. Education is the solution to handling racism. For those who don’t understand the history of a different culture, researching on their own or consulting others who can provide information can lead to understanding and respect.

Works Cited

Cervantes, Ka’ena. “Discussion #1: Race in America.” Laulima Discussion, University of Hawai’i, 22 Sept. 2023. Web. 5 Oct. 2023.

Fawcett, Denby. “What It Means to Be a ‘Local Haole’ in Hawaii,” Huffington Post, 7 Oct. 2015. Web. 5 Oct. 2023.

Rackliffe, Breanna. “Discussion #2: Race in America.” Laulima Discussion, University of Hawai’i, 26 Sept. 2023. Web. 5 Oct. 2023.

“Video for Paper 2 Alternate Topic – Trask.” YouTube, 5 June 2018. Web. 5 Oct. 2023.

Filed under: Uncategorized |

«

One Response

  1. HarryKeller, on November 15, 2023 at 10:18 am said:

    I have always thought of Hawai’i as being very racially diverse. You have introduced me to another problem with respect to race. Thank you. Education is not just grammar and numbers. Your contact, Chad, must have never watched any of the television shows based in Hawai’i. As far as I know, no one in the world uses coconut shells as bras. The concept is ludicrous.

    The white hoards always invaded wherever they could. My great-great-great grandfather immigrated to Pennsylvania Dutch country. Another invader. Of course, he probably did not view his immigration that way. He was likely seeking new opportunities in a community being built by those like him. Years later, my great-grandfather fought in the Civil War, was wounded twice and captured. By then, most of the natives had been exterminated by disease and genocide.

    I don’t know enough about Hawai’i before the invasion to comment further about that island state.

    I had an uncle who lived among the Navaho people but separately.

    I met the first black man I ever knew while in graduate school in NYC. Stanley was a wonderful person and a friend. I also met the first Jews I knew were Jewish. I had an uncle who was a Jew who passed for a Gentile, but I only found out after he died. He served in the Pacific during WW II.

    We all are born with an aversion to things that are “different.” We seek sameness. It takes an effort to overcome this rather conservative (small c) life view. It’s worth making the effort. It’s a wonderful world out there.

    I wish you great success in life.

    Reply

Leave a comment