No, there aren't many Afican-Americans here at all. Those that are here are usually military, so there only here as long as they're stationed here.
The racial climate here is a little strange. Hawaii is predominantly Asians (Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Philipino) and Pacific-Islanders (Samoan, Tongan, Tahitian, Hawaiian), but there are no clear lines drawn. Hawaii is often refered to as the "Melting Pot of the Pacific" for good reason. Nearly all of the people here are mixed in some way, possibly many ways. I knew a girl in my graduating class who had eight different nationalities in her backround. White people tend to fall into one of two categories, military personel and filthy rich (but never both
), and there aren't very many of either. There are very few native Hawaiians left, although there are quite a few people with varying degrees of Hawaiian blood in them. The (mostly) pure natives live on their own island, Ni'ihau. This island is privatly owned and reserved exclusively for native Hawaiians, no one else is allowed to live or even visit there. Ironically, the Robinson family that owns the island is a white family.
This "melting pot" thing leads many people from outside of the state to believe that there is no racism or prejudice here, but nothing could be farther from the truth. It just looks a little different. It's not as much a racial thing as it is a cultural thing. Anyone who was born and raised here is considered to belong. If not, then they are and will always be an outsider. This is determined mostly by a "walk like us, talk like us" standard. For example, since the culture is blended with influences from many different places, there is a local dialect that reflects this. It uses words from many different languages (including English)with a very odd sentence structure. Even after all the years I've lived here I still can't speak it, although I can understand it almost perfectly. Being bi-racial myself, I look as if I belong here, but as soon as I open my mouth they know better. I find it quite amusing, actually, that when I tell someone what high school I graduated form, no one believes me until I show them my class ring!
To be honest, I never really liked it here. This always sounds strange to people because they tend to think of Hawaii as paradise, but I never saw it that way. The many years I spent on the mainland were much more fulfilling, largely because of regular contact with African-Americans. Now my goal is to finish college as quick as possible so I can get the hell of this rock! I'd much rather deal with racism and prejudice in an environment where I have some sort of an advantage.
excellent!
Hey BV, out of curiosity, is there much of an African American population there? What is the whole racial climate there - between the indigenous folks, the Asians, whites, etc.?
... can you do something about the weather pls BV?
