Hawaii. And you probably never will because tourism is everything. And we must not taint the image.
There was an incident that happened last week that really got me angry (and I don't get so angry so easily), but I'm calmed down now and Gary threw away the paper, so I really can't accurately report on it. But this is what I remember. There is a shopping outlet here called Waikele. It's really nice, and always crowded, and pretty safe. So there was a little fender bender. The car that got bumped was owned by a teen and the car was bumped by a white guy who is a soldier. The teen was exceedingly angry and words flew. Racial epiteths from the teen. The wife of the soldier got out of the car and tried to push the teen off her husband, intervene. The FATHER of the teen then slams the WOMAN to the ground where she lay in a lifeless heap. The teen then punches the soldier in the throat which knocked him out onto the concrete where he lay in a lifeless heap. Then the teen (and maybe father, I can't remember) began kicking the soldier. Remember, this is a crowded place and no one does a thing. I'm sure they are scared to death. Meanwhile, the couple's three year old child is in the car witnessing this whole thing!!!! That really makes me angry and sad. The parents are in intensive care, both with concussions. THe soldier also has broken ribs, broken eye sockets and I can't remember what else. ALL FOR A STUPID CAR!! A LITTLE BUMP. And don't even go to "well the father was just being a papa bear and trying to protect his baby bear" BULL! Obviously he was big enough and strong enough to lay out a 2 time Iraqi war vet with one punch. Plus, dear old papa had been jailed for beating on said son when he was 11. EUREKA! That's where the unreasonable, uncontrollable temper comes from.
Okay, so that's nothing you can't hear about anywhere. But this is what you won't hear. The racism. Yes, in "The Gathering Place". The incident happened on a MOnday and wasn't in the paper until a Thursday, and I didn't even see it until it was in the Saturday paper. I read the paper every day. There was a quote in the article that I read that was either by the defense lawyer or some professor of racial studies (or some such title) in which the person said that on the mainland, this would be classified a race hate crime, but not here in Hawaii. I guess because Hawaii is ABOVE that. Love, peace and racial harmony. Oh, the teen was a native Hawaiian. Native Hawaiians are very angry and resentful of haole's. White folk. More specifically, they are resentful of losing their monarchy and how the US took Hawaii into statehood. Whether rightly so or not is beside the particular point. You cannot deny the race card because that's what escalated it in the first place. That and the fact that he learned violence at the hands of dear old dad.
Here in Kailua, it's a much calmer place to live. I'd forgotten about the tensions. And that's because it's more "small town" and very hippy and sometimes chic. Kailua is a very small town, geographically speaking - but large on population. Gary and I had a guessing game and he guessed 10,000 people. Wrong. 38,000! There are about 8-900,000 people on this little island alone. So tensions are going to run high regardless.
Anway, you won't hear about the racial tensions here. And while it *is* a very diverse population, it's diverse in a particular way. Diverse with pacific islanders and various asian nationalities and a mixture of these. There is a single digit percentage of black folks and even less hispanic. (Barak Obama went to high school here and had no role models - they did a whole article in the paper on his time here) Yes, whites are in minority, but hovering around 38%ish (IIRC). When you are from the south, it's very evident that the only black folks here are military. You miss them!! Don't laugh at me. You miss what is familiar. But anyway, all of that was more obvious to me on our first tour here. Not so much this tour. I think it's because I stay home so much and I know what's what. And it's not PC to notice race. :-)
You will also never hear that the temperature rises above 82 degrees, which it indeedy-do does, and you won't see pictures of the average Joe's home. I keep threatening to take pictures of the ugliness that is here. Just because it is so contrasting to the natural beauty. But I still need to buy a camera.
Please don't think that this is a horrible place to live! It's not. As long as there is sin in this world, there will be ugliness. And don't think I hate the people or am afraid. I don't and I'm not. Generally, everyone is very nice and friendly. But just don't romanticize it. As Dr. Phil would say, "let's get real".
Oh, and I have to add, Gary would probably not approve this message - he's not involved at all. This is not a reflection on him. Have to add this disclaimer. DH is a much nicer person than me. I don't think he even knows I have a journal. LOL!
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