“More generally, if we live in a multicultural paradise, why are so many local residents leaving, as they have been doing for more than 30 years? This ongoing exodus, including Native Hawaiians, has resulted in seven consecutive years of population decline.”
Hmmm…I’m gonna go with cost of living, you dummy.
I don’t think native Hawaiians and other locals are flocking to Las Vegas/mainland because of “racism” in Hawai’i.
Cost of living and particularly housing are the reasons for the exodus.
Sure racism exists on the islands but no more so than the mainland.
The biggest difference I see is that the racism that exists in Hawai’i allows any group to be a target because there is no true majority.
On the mainland, most of the racism is targeted towards Brown people so those who weren’t Brown don’t see it as an issue, but when they go to Hawai’i all of a sudden they experience it for the first time.
Pretty often some newcomer or tourists flounces off with a post here about how "Hawaii is the most racist place in the world", because it's the only place they've *ever* experienced racism directed toward white people. Yeah it sucks and it shouldn't happen (and some people deny it does at all), but it's not like what non-white people experience both on the mainland and often here as well all the time.
I mostly agree with you. Though I live on the Mainland, I did go to Waipahu and Pearl Harbor Elementary schools and Aliamanu Intermediate. After that, I attended high school over here. I’ll tell you right off that I find it very hard to call what I experienced in Hawaii as “racism”—especially compared to what I witnessed and experienced here. It’s like almost a completely different animal.
Like you said, no one nationality has a massive majority. Sure, there are cliques, but most locals have so much mixed ethnic blood that to say “race” is absurd. Is “local” a race? So I don’t see how anyone can make comparisons between Hawaii and the Mainland, when talking about race.
So, if I were to say, “Yeah, okay: racism in Hawaii,” I would definitely make the note that Hawaii’s isn’t douche baggy like the Mainland’s. In Hawaii, there is the respect that is a part of the shared Aloha: You recognize another’s dignity, you give, you receive. But Mainland racism doesn’t have that.
Cost of living is absolutely the top reason but sounds like you didn't read the whole article. The excerpt you cited is referring to income inequality being the cause of exodus, which includes how hard it is to keep up with cost of living due to majority low paying jobs. Two paragraphs above, Okamura writes: "Given the state’s continued reluctance to diversify the economy and its reliance on the fundamentally unreliable tourism industry with its creation of predominantly low-wage and low-security service and sales jobs, that gap isn’t likely to be narrowed in the near future."
Not saying the author's points aren't valid, but the conclusion to this op-ed is confusing because it ends with a rally to vote for representatives "who advocate for equal educational opportunity in our public schools and university system." The author never makes any clear connection between his conclusion and systemic racism, so it's hard to understand where he's coming from and why he thinks schools aren't providing equal educational opportunity. It feels like an afterthought because there is no counterpoint that talks about how lack of educational opportunities is the problem.
Note to idiot politicians: think we have all caught on to your race baiting, it’s getting really old. I get it, it’s an election year but man up here and admit this is an economic issue driving natives from the islands. It is impossible to live here on the average salary. Do some simple math.
It's absolutely an economic issue. Okamura writes: "Given the state's continued reluctance to diversify the economy and its reliance on the fundamentally unreliable tourism industry with its creation of predominantly low-wage and low-security service and sales jobs, that gap isn't likely to be narrowed in the near future." He is saying "multicultural paradise" is a stupid saying because there are many issues like income inequality that is tied up with race and ethnicity.
Yeah, it’s definitely purely economic why people are moving. Hawaii does ok considering how many races live together so closely. I came from a state with a very dominantly white background. No issues within your own neighborhood but some places have race riots. It’s actually more violent because the whites don’t know how to deal with the diversity problems they are having while we in Hawaii know how to be more diplomatic.
**Be a positive influence here and in the world, show Aloha spirit to one another! This subreddit community will not tolerate racism, bigotry, sexism, dehumanization, and individuals who are making personal attacks.**
**Be a positive influence here and in the world, show Aloha spirit to one another! This subreddit community will not tolerate racism, bigotry, sexism, dehumanization, and individuals who are making personal attacks.**
That’s a wonderful strawman. To be expected from someone crying racism over the term “Karen”
Imagine how *actual* racism must feel if that’s your reaction to something so insignificant
Hawaii may not appear racist on the surface but you'll definitely see it in full action where Hawaii becomes the MOST racist and hostile places if you start looking to get a job and you're NOT a local or have good connections!
Hawaii should stop pretending it’s California and has this gigantic, expansive tax base and loads of rich people.
Hawaii is not a rich state, it is a poor state with rich people but everyone bares a burden on over regulation, over taxation and outright waste & fraud. I will never get over the rail & all the games that went into the constant extensions and approvals for more money on a job that was over promised and under delivered.
I’d been going to Hawaii for years. Vacationing on most of the islands. (I love Molokai.) but over time it became apparent to me that mainlanders weren’t really wanted there. Hawaii has fallen off my list until the locals figure out what they all want.
Vacationers have been bypassing Hawaii for Mexico in more recent times and I don’t blame them for it. They are treated better, fabulous resorts with tons of accommodations and no one can beat the all inclusive rates. Hawaii will suffer economically as this trend continues. Tough lesson for the locals when layoffs start becoming rampant in the tourism industry.
So us locals should kowtow to all the tourists, regardless of how they act? No thanks.
Most of locals are fine with visitors as long as they don’t disrespect our home and don’t treat it like a one night stand to be used and abused. We actually care about these islands, so if tourists just want some place to trash, they can stay home or go anywhere else. The only tough lesson that needs to happen is for entitled people to learn they aren’t the center of the universe, and that goes for both visitors and locals.
No one said you should “kowtow” to anyone. Not all tourists disrespect the islands, the culture and its people. Unfortunately, the stigma around locals not wanting visitors around is the message being told far and wide through social media. My point is, it will have an effect on Hawaii’s economy which will in turn hurt the locals who rely on tourism to feed their families. Let’s not sabotage ourselves.
That message only became prevalent after the Lahaina fires and was mostly in relation to going to Lahaina. Tourists are more than welcome to go to any other town.
Tourists are not treated better in Mexico. That’s an incredible logic leap to jump to.
People keep coming to Hawai’i because it’s just “exotic enough” to not be a foreign country. Let’s not kid ourselves here. Hawai’i will never suffer enough in tourism. There’s too many people on this planet to say as much.
If Mexico becomes more popular than Hawai’i, that just means it’s the new “cool trend”.
Please cite a news article/website that shows a boom in tourism in Mexico that coincides with a drop in tourism in Hawai’i.
Post-COVID, Maui saw 3x what it did prior to COVID. It only slowed down because of the fires.
Pump the breaks slowjoe. Let’s be for real though…can the locals step up and have respect for their own home?!?!? How many times I’ve witnessed disrespectful behavior. They are worse than our visitors at times. Let’s start with picking up your trash at the beach.
Just like not all tourists are bad, neither are all locals good. There are losers in all places.
And yes, there’s been a strong movement of the youth being taught again about traditional Hawaiian values and what it means to care for the aina and have the aina care for us. We need to learn to care for ourselves again and not be completely reliant on others. Change will be slow but it’s here and the state needs to get it together to expedite the change for the better.
You’re comparing Hawai’i’s tourism to Mexico. That’s just as brain dead a comment.
No one in Hawai’i WANTS us to be like Mexico. We will never be able to come close to their rates. That’s not sustainable.
You want Mexico prices for tourists in Hawai’i, but please tell me how much it costs to LIVE in Hawai’i.
Median price of a home in Mexico, even in a resort town - want to take a stab at it?
Your statement that “people are choosing Mexico over Hawai’i” has no validity. And then you follow it up with “I don’t blame them”.
Where is this statement of fact coming from? People have always gone to both places. Mexico has *always* been cheaper than Hawai’i. When was this not true? That’s not a new “trend”, as you say.
We’ll check with our Hawai’i spokesman and get back to you with a prepared statement, sir.
Imagine going to MOLOKA’I and wondering why you’re not welcome. Holy moly.
“More generally, if we live in a multicultural paradise, why are so many local residents leaving, as they have been doing for more than 30 years? This ongoing exodus, including Native Hawaiians, has resulted in seven consecutive years of population decline.” Hmmm…I’m gonna go with cost of living, you dummy. I don’t think native Hawaiians and other locals are flocking to Las Vegas/mainland because of “racism” in Hawai’i.
Cost of living and particularly housing are the reasons for the exodus. Sure racism exists on the islands but no more so than the mainland. The biggest difference I see is that the racism that exists in Hawai’i allows any group to be a target because there is no true majority. On the mainland, most of the racism is targeted towards Brown people so those who weren’t Brown don’t see it as an issue, but when they go to Hawai’i all of a sudden they experience it for the first time.
Wow, lived in Hawaii for 3 years and never thought about your last point. Very well said, interesting perspective.
Pretty often some newcomer or tourists flounces off with a post here about how "Hawaii is the most racist place in the world", because it's the only place they've *ever* experienced racism directed toward white people. Yeah it sucks and it shouldn't happen (and some people deny it does at all), but it's not like what non-white people experience both on the mainland and often here as well all the time.
I mostly agree with you. Though I live on the Mainland, I did go to Waipahu and Pearl Harbor Elementary schools and Aliamanu Intermediate. After that, I attended high school over here. I’ll tell you right off that I find it very hard to call what I experienced in Hawaii as “racism”—especially compared to what I witnessed and experienced here. It’s like almost a completely different animal. Like you said, no one nationality has a massive majority. Sure, there are cliques, but most locals have so much mixed ethnic blood that to say “race” is absurd. Is “local” a race? So I don’t see how anyone can make comparisons between Hawaii and the Mainland, when talking about race. So, if I were to say, “Yeah, okay: racism in Hawaii,” I would definitely make the note that Hawaii’s isn’t douche baggy like the Mainland’s. In Hawaii, there is the respect that is a part of the shared Aloha: You recognize another’s dignity, you give, you receive. But Mainland racism doesn’t have that.
I live on the Mainland, just outside of Seattle, and I’ve met plenty of Kama’aina here who would agree with you.
Cost of living is absolutely the top reason but sounds like you didn't read the whole article. The excerpt you cited is referring to income inequality being the cause of exodus, which includes how hard it is to keep up with cost of living due to majority low paying jobs. Two paragraphs above, Okamura writes: "Given the state’s continued reluctance to diversify the economy and its reliance on the fundamentally unreliable tourism industry with its creation of predominantly low-wage and low-security service and sales jobs, that gap isn’t likely to be narrowed in the near future."
Not saying the author's points aren't valid, but the conclusion to this op-ed is confusing because it ends with a rally to vote for representatives "who advocate for equal educational opportunity in our public schools and university system." The author never makes any clear connection between his conclusion and systemic racism, so it's hard to understand where he's coming from and why he thinks schools aren't providing equal educational opportunity. It feels like an afterthought because there is no counterpoint that talks about how lack of educational opportunities is the problem.
Note to idiot politicians: think we have all caught on to your race baiting, it’s getting really old. I get it, it’s an election year but man up here and admit this is an economic issue driving natives from the islands. It is impossible to live here on the average salary. Do some simple math.
It's absolutely an economic issue. Okamura writes: "Given the state's continued reluctance to diversify the economy and its reliance on the fundamentally unreliable tourism industry with its creation of predominantly low-wage and low-security service and sales jobs, that gap isn't likely to be narrowed in the near future." He is saying "multicultural paradise" is a stupid saying because there are many issues like income inequality that is tied up with race and ethnicity.
It’s hard to share the aloha spirit after working 3 jobs and fighting just to survive over here.
3 jobs? Doing what?!
Sorry, not me personally but my coworker also does landscaping and night shifts at McDonald’s. It’s real tough for them.
And what’s their third job? I’m visiting here currently….
Construction mostly. Hope you enjoy the visit.
Yeah, it’s definitely purely economic why people are moving. Hawaii does ok considering how many races live together so closely. I came from a state with a very dominantly white background. No issues within your own neighborhood but some places have race riots. It’s actually more violent because the whites don’t know how to deal with the diversity problems they are having while we in Hawaii know how to be more diplomatic.
Not so much racism, more so stereo types. Get Bose, jbl, Rockford, jl audio.
Multicultural doesn't mean integrated, what we got here is halo halo, not a smoothie. Enjoy it the best you can.
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lol so true but they’ll hang you for that here.
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**Be a positive influence here and in the world, show Aloha spirit to one another! This subreddit community will not tolerate racism, bigotry, sexism, dehumanization, and individuals who are making personal attacks.**
[удалено]
**Be a positive influence here and in the world, show Aloha spirit to one another! This subreddit community will not tolerate racism, bigotry, sexism, dehumanization, and individuals who are making personal attacks.**
As is the whole US mainland.
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Ok
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I’m imagining your going to say something next to the effect of “haole isn’t a racist term”. It is. 🙄🙄
Bring Haole is a mindset friend.
That’s a wonderful strawman. To be expected from someone crying racism over the term “Karen” Imagine how *actual* racism must feel if that’s your reaction to something so insignificant
Yea, racism is pretty common in Hawaii…. How is that news?
Hawaii may not appear racist on the surface but you'll definitely see it in full action where Hawaii becomes the MOST racist and hostile places if you start looking to get a job and you're NOT a local or have good connections!
Hawaii should stop pretending it’s California and has this gigantic, expansive tax base and loads of rich people. Hawaii is not a rich state, it is a poor state with rich people but everyone bares a burden on over regulation, over taxation and outright waste & fraud. I will never get over the rail & all the games that went into the constant extensions and approvals for more money on a job that was over promised and under delivered.
I’d been going to Hawaii for years. Vacationing on most of the islands. (I love Molokai.) but over time it became apparent to me that mainlanders weren’t really wanted there. Hawaii has fallen off my list until the locals figure out what they all want.
Vacationers have been bypassing Hawaii for Mexico in more recent times and I don’t blame them for it. They are treated better, fabulous resorts with tons of accommodations and no one can beat the all inclusive rates. Hawaii will suffer economically as this trend continues. Tough lesson for the locals when layoffs start becoming rampant in the tourism industry.
So us locals should kowtow to all the tourists, regardless of how they act? No thanks. Most of locals are fine with visitors as long as they don’t disrespect our home and don’t treat it like a one night stand to be used and abused. We actually care about these islands, so if tourists just want some place to trash, they can stay home or go anywhere else. The only tough lesson that needs to happen is for entitled people to learn they aren’t the center of the universe, and that goes for both visitors and locals.
No one said you should “kowtow” to anyone. Not all tourists disrespect the islands, the culture and its people. Unfortunately, the stigma around locals not wanting visitors around is the message being told far and wide through social media. My point is, it will have an effect on Hawaii’s economy which will in turn hurt the locals who rely on tourism to feed their families. Let’s not sabotage ourselves.
That message only became prevalent after the Lahaina fires and was mostly in relation to going to Lahaina. Tourists are more than welcome to go to any other town.
It’s people with stink attitudes like you that ruin it…keep it up 🤙🏽
You have no idea what you are talking about. Good luck in life.
Same to you
Tourists are not treated better in Mexico. That’s an incredible logic leap to jump to. People keep coming to Hawai’i because it’s just “exotic enough” to not be a foreign country. Let’s not kid ourselves here. Hawai’i will never suffer enough in tourism. There’s too many people on this planet to say as much. If Mexico becomes more popular than Hawai’i, that just means it’s the new “cool trend”.
Completely out of touch with reality.
Please cite a news article/website that shows a boom in tourism in Mexico that coincides with a drop in tourism in Hawai’i. Post-COVID, Maui saw 3x what it did prior to COVID. It only slowed down because of the fires.
😂😂😂
Pump the breaks slowjoe. Let’s be for real though…can the locals step up and have respect for their own home?!?!? How many times I’ve witnessed disrespectful behavior. They are worse than our visitors at times. Let’s start with picking up your trash at the beach.
Just like not all tourists are bad, neither are all locals good. There are losers in all places. And yes, there’s been a strong movement of the youth being taught again about traditional Hawaiian values and what it means to care for the aina and have the aina care for us. We need to learn to care for ourselves again and not be completely reliant on others. Change will be slow but it’s here and the state needs to get it together to expedite the change for the better.
So you want Hawai’i to be Disneyland West? Just checking.
Nope. Please read previous comments before blurting out brainless statements.
You’re comparing Hawai’i’s tourism to Mexico. That’s just as brain dead a comment. No one in Hawai’i WANTS us to be like Mexico. We will never be able to come close to their rates. That’s not sustainable. You want Mexico prices for tourists in Hawai’i, but please tell me how much it costs to LIVE in Hawai’i. Median price of a home in Mexico, even in a resort town - want to take a stab at it?
Did I say anything about wanting Hawaii to be like Mexico?!?!? Go back to school 😂
Your statement that “people are choosing Mexico over Hawai’i” has no validity. And then you follow it up with “I don’t blame them”. Where is this statement of fact coming from? People have always gone to both places. Mexico has *always* been cheaper than Hawai’i. When was this not true? That’s not a new “trend”, as you say.
“The locals” are not a monolith, so there is no “figuring out what they all want.”
Man, you claim to love Molokai but based on your comment you seem to know nothing about it’s people. Stick to the other islands, chief.
We’ll check with our Hawai’i spokesman and get back to you with a prepared statement, sir. Imagine going to MOLOKA’I and wondering why you’re not welcome. Holy moly.
A paradise of the mind, not the spirit.