Meda got as far as Denver before United announced a mechanical problem on her connecting flight to D.C. Now it isn’t clear when she’ll manage to get to Washington, but it will almost certainly be considerably later than scheduled. It’s a lot of travel for a 1-day meeting, but such are the ways of federal projects. Meanwhile, I’m at home getting rousted early by the restless cats.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks violent right-wing groups, reports that “Hawaii has a racism problem“, citing examples of violence and threats against haole visitors and residents. The long report appears in the group’s latest “Intelligence Report” along with a feature article on the resurgence of the “Patriot” movement. This is not good company to keep.
The group accuses the state government of minimizing the problem by essentially ignoring hate crimes.
Hawaii has collected hate crimes data since 2002 (most states began doing so a decade earlier). In the first six years, the state reported only 12 hate crimes, and half of those were in 2006. (All other things being equal, the state would be expected to have more than 800 such crimes annually, given the size of its population, according to a federal government study of hate crimes.) There was anti-white bias in eight of those incidents. But that doesn’t begin to reflect the extent of racial rancor directed at non-Native Hawaiians in the Aloha State, especially in schools.
The report of Hawaii racism is already being noticed by blogs like Instapundit.com.
A coalition of unions representing employees of the University of California system are sponsoring a statewide “no confidence” vote in UC President Mark Yudof.
resident Yudof created the plan that will require most employees to take 4 to 10% cuts in pay in the form of work furloughs, amounting to $184 million in cost savings. At the same time, President Yudof and the regents quietly approved dozens of executive raises and created several new, highly paid positions. In addition, UC agreed to lend the state nearly $200 million so the state could give it back to UC for construction projects at eight of ten campuses. There is something terribly wrong when new buildings and executive salaries are a higher priority than education and research.
Would I be surprised to see a faculty move to censure the leadership of UH Manoa for failing to vigorously defend the university against the huge budget cuts being imposed by Gov. Lingle? Short answer: Not at all.
And my old friend Chuck Smith (“old” referring to the friendship, not his age) looks at the election in Japan and asks, “Could a viable third-party emerge in the U.S.?” He answers in the affirmative. Check it out.
Mahalo for the mention, Ian. I know it is hard to for many progressives to swallow, but the Democratic Party is now as hopelessly out of touch with reality as the Republicans. Both parties march in lockstep, supporting Elites, Empire and ever larger debt as the “engine of growth”. Meanwhile the “Empire” is imploding.
“Hawaii accused of tolerating racism” Hawai’i is a wholly different country. Locals/kama’aina to a large degree are tired of their culture being destroyed, their land being taken away from them by the influx of foreigners… And by being ruled and judged by mainland standards. I won’t say violence against haole is the answer of course, but one cannot expect an absence of backlash when a country is taken away from a native group. I am English, Irish, Scottish, Welch and Cherokee, but my upbringing here and having been raised by two successive Hawaiian stepfathers taught me alot. I may be caucasian but I’m sure not haole. “The group accuses the state government of gnoring hate crimes.” OK: Try ask kama’aina if that is tops on the list to have government act on!
OK, Ian, I think you really dropped the ball on this “racism” story. Sure, there’s racism in Hawaii, just like in any other state. But, I would argue, there’s a lot less of it here. You should, for starters, note that this report was written by somebody associated with Ken Conklin, the right-winger who has apparently made it his life’s work to oppose the Akaka Bill and Kamehameha Schools’ admissions policies (as if whites — o, yeah, by the way, I’m haole — are deprived of educational opportunities). There are so many things wrong with that report — undisclosed bias, anecdotes vs. statistics, sweeping generalizations — I don’t know where to begin. And that guy saying Hawaii’s the most racist place he’s ever been in? Damn, that makes me mad. I ‘ve heard people say that before, usually after they’ ve been snubbed in a checkout line or something. Of course they never noticed a problem with racism back home, where blacks used to be (and, often, still are) excluded from jobs and schools and are disproportionately targeted by police.
Shame on all of them. And shame on you, Ian.
Shame on me for…what? For noting this story? For thinking that this it is a problem for us? I understand that you disagree with the premise of the story. Understandable. Should I have ignored it? I don’t think that helps. We need to look at how others see us, fairly or unfairly. At least I think we do. And I don’t know whether the author is “associated” with Conklin or not. He appears to be a staff writer for the SPLC. If there’s a direct connection, it’s not obvious.
Shame on you for not picking apart the report’s unfounded assumptions. You’re a reporter — a good one. Do you believe, as this report implies, for example, that the Hawaii judiciary condones and encourages racism? The “problem” for us, for the residents of Hawaii, is how this report will be taken as a factual account of race relations. It is not.
Actually, it’s not the Judiciary that fails to count hate crimes.
It’s the police.
The issue has come up before with anti-gay violence.
And, yes, I do agree that these incidents are undercounted here. I was surprised by the comparison figure cited in the SPLC piece, which seems high, but the issue of responding (or not) to hate crimes has come up before in other contexts.
Racism is endemic to humankind to one degree or another, esp. those who lack confidence in themselves and are especially prone to either personal or group xenophobia.
Is racism in Hawaii kneejerk in character? twentytwosense’s post would suggest yes, at times anyhow.
Is racism a problem in Hawaii? If a visitor comes to Hawaii in the afternoon and gets killed observing a sunset on the Waianae coast of Oahu because he’s white, is that racism? Well… yes.
Is racism widespread in Hawaii? Well, hard to answer, probably yes but see next question.
Is racism in Hawaii universally intense or aggressive? Also hard to answer, but I suspect it’s more situational than permeating. (As a good friend in Maryland (he’s black) tells me: I don’t really care what people think; I care what they do or don’t do.)
Is racism in Hawaii a bad thing? Yes, although some may say no, probably because some see psychic or monetary advantages to xenophobia — cynically encouraged and funded by government. Does the continued hype about the Akaka Bill, native “sovereignty” and all the rest encourage racism and pander to those it purports to help? This answer comes easily: YES.
Does racism need to stop? I’d say yes… but it’s been cynically misused for many years by those who have sought and obtained advantage by it… indeed it has its own tax-funded infrastructure here in Hawaii.
What would be the effect of the Akaka Bill? It will make things worse… worse for almost everyone, esp. those whom it purports to assist.
What will happen if a passed Akaka Bill is subsequently overturned by the Supreme Court (as is predicted widely)?
Bad things — all should be laid at the doorsteps of those who’ve cynically encouraged or otherwise abetted racism in our state.
BTW, Ian, I like your blog… and cat people too!
“We need to look at how others see us,” warped. unjustly. through a jaundiced eye. For example; The article alludes to “beat a haole day” No such thing.
It was “kill haole day” when I was in school. Hyperbole, of course. But it created an expectation. And although we didn’t partake, it was something we all heard about.
Yes. It was kill haole day. while I was in central intermediate. And somewhat at McKinley HS. but it was much more bark than bite. if you were assimilated, a’ole pilikia. You new to da islands, anodda story.
“racism”… some say is a mainland haole concept… think about it. Objectively….
“twentytwosense; Shame on you for not picking apart the report’s ….” This is Ian’s bog. No shame on his hard work at bringing to our attention vital subject hitherto unknown to many of us. Shame on YOU, “22cents”, for not creating yer own blog, and enacting what you command others to do. (ya cheapskate)
I meant blog of course. Time fo’ hiamoe.
Ian, your blog is one of my regular visits because I find it informative and interesting. From time to time, I would prefer that you cover a story in more detail (or, with respect to felines, in less detail), but how you deal with (or choose not to deal with) a story is your choice–as it should be–and I don’t feel that you “OWE” me or your other readers an analysis of every potentially controversial story that you cover.
Carry on the good work!
Satto
While I am interested in the discussion on racism, I wanted to respond to Chuck Smith’s reflections on the prospects for a third party, as well as his comment here.
Despite me involvement with the Democratic Party, I will be frank. I agree the national leadership of both parties have an unquestioning commitment to imperialism, depending perhaps, on what we mean by “imperialism.” I also agree both parties are committed to the continued domination of the American economy, and social/political policy, by large corporations.
AS I have said elsewhere, we have replaced Caligula with Marcus Aurelius, but we still have an emperor and Rome is still an empire.
Is the difference between the Democrats and the GOP significant enough to make a difference in the lives of “Americans” and the people of the world? I think it may, and most likely will. Much a lot depends upon the demands the American people, and the people of the world, make upon the US government. And upon finding effective strategies for articulating, and mobilizing for, those demands.
It is stupid to have illusions about the limitations of working through the Democratic Party. But it is also stupid to have illusions about the effectiveness of third party efforts as well. The complicity of Democrats at the top is not, in and of itself, evidence of the effectiveness of a third party strategy.
Since Chuck specifically mentioned “progressive Democrats,” I would urge folks to go to the website of the Progressive Democrats of America, the group most clearly pursuing a conscious strategy of organizing “progressives” within the Democratic Party. (In some ways, it fills a void left by the implosion of the Rainbow Coalition on the one hand, and the Democratic Socialists of America after Mike Harrington died). Here’s a link: http://www.pdamerica.org
Locally, we have a Progressive Democrats of Hawaii, which has spent several years building a network within the local Democratic Party. Our blog is the best spot for learning about our activities: http://pd-hawaii.com/blog
I don’t see the outlines of a viable third party effort coming out of the current movements against either imperialism or corporate domination of US society. I see the basis for “grouplets” but not a mass party. YMMV.
Regardless of what “party-oriented” strategy one adopts, the most important, and frustrating work, is building a “people’s movement” for progressive change. That is the challenge facing all of us.
Conklin’s analysis of the SPLC article includes pdf files of the findings and consent decree forced on the Hawaii DOE by the USDOE Office of Civil Rights regarding the racial hate crime against Tina Mohr’s daughter.
http://tinyurl.com/kkpf74
[Extended excerpts from the analysis portion of Conklin's webpage were edited from this comment.]
Conklin’s analysis of anything Hawai’i is mainland haole racism.
been doing alot of browsing on the subject of racism in Hawaii lately. noticed a very high percentage of “locals” defending and justifying what has amounted to a decades long history of bias, racial slurs, and race based physical assaults targeting Caucasians. i have felt this situation has been slowly improving over time and i have been rather proud of our racial diversity here, but the kinds of arguments i have seen on blogs like this is discouraging and tends to make me reconsider. to be blunt, it gives a pretty stupid impression.
I’ve experienced racism in the South for being non-white and racism in Maui for being white. (I’m hapa.) Hawaii is one of the few places a white person can probably experience racism in America. Is there racism in Hawaii? Yes, but a lot less than most places.