It’s interesting, all that’s happening all across America has caused me to think back on growing up in Hawaii where pretty much everyone was a minority. I feel so fortunate to have grown in a place with such diversity and acceptance.
In such a small place, we were all thrown in together: Caucasian, Hawaiian, Japanese, Chinese, Samoan, Fijian, African American, Hispanic, Filipino, etc, etc. We played on the same sports teams and sat side by side in class, went to each-other birthday parties and weddings. Our children all played on the same playgrounds.
We all grew up with each-others customs. We all knew about Filipino and Chinese weddings and funerals. We all ate each-others ethnic foods and shopped in ethnic shops. We knew to stay away from a Samoan who had a few beers, but Japanese got friendlier when they had few cocktails.
We typically handled differences with humor. We always said, if we don’t pick on you, it’s because we don’t like you, so if we do pick on you, it’s all OK. Gave us all a thick skin too.
It’s a little different now, Especially on O`ahu where the population has shifted decidedly more caucasian. It’s still pretty diverse on the neighbor islands. The past few years, I managed large teams at resort hotels. My teams consisted of the typical Hawaii blend of ethnicities, with the addition of newer arrival; Micronesians. When my team-members had disagreements, it was never about race, never.
Growing up in Hawaii has equipped me to manage this mix of races. I have seen the difficulty managers that move here from from elsewhere have that make me appreciate the gift of growing up part of Hawaii’s Ethnic Tapestry.
Racism is real and it sucks. There are good and bad people of every ethnicity, but too many people don’t see it that way.
Maybe we just need to burn down the entire house and start over.