Racism in Hawaii
Two weeks ago there was a glaring example of racial violence a couple blocks from where I live here in Waikele:
Racial tensions are simmering in Hawaii’s melting pot - USATODAY
I could go into a couple other examples of racial violence in Hawaii that I have heard about, but there is no need because this one hits it home. However, I don’t want to talk about the problem—everyone else is doing that. I want to talk about the solution. My first book Culture Shock! Hawaii touches on the solution and I elaborate further in my my latest book Where in the World Do I Belong??
Yes, part of the problem is a lack of education in Hawaii. Just like the problem with the Islamic extremists is a lack of education. Whether Hawaii or Afghanistan, this lack of education leaves a void for bias and racism to fill. Aloha is a wonderful thing but it isn’t the solution to racism that many in Hawaii seem to think it is. This is along the lines of ‘All we need is love’, and regrettably, that really isn’t enough. Multi-ethnic Canada is an example that education about discrimination and respecting differences is the best possible solution. However, lack of education is also just a symptom of the bigger problem.
The root of the real problem lies in people not being given a chance to use their unique gifts and not being rewarded equally for those gifts. And as a result, not having a home to call their own, and not having a sense of security. So there are two parts to the solution, one lies in understanding and the other in a social change.
The first part of the solution is to give people a chance to use their god given gifts (through education and job opportunities that fit them), and rewarding everyone equally (no persons gifts is worth more than another). In my book, Where in the World Do I Belong??, I explain that we must understand other types so that we can reward them in a manner fitting their culture type and their personality type. Personality type does not explain a persons whole personality - however, it is a tool for deeper understanding of a person. Type and culture is a new paradigm in understanding people of different ethnicities and unique cultures. This is important because different personality types are rewarded in different cultures. We must develop opportunities and rewards in a manner fitting both culture type and individual personality type.
The second part of the solution is social change. We must give all people a home to call their own (no one should own the land you live on but you) and a sense of security (things like healthcare for all and a government for the people not the powerful). Obviously, a capitalist system does not provide this. As members of society we should all benefit from the contributions made by all, but no one should take profit from the gifts of another.
200 years ago many countries and cultures (including the Hawaiians) were forced to play the game of Monopoly with the capitalists and as a result lost their land and power. Many of these same countries also lost their sense of identity when their culture was ripped from them and polluted by the missionaries. That is history. The capitalist and missionaries of that day were Caucasian but today’s capitalists and missionaries are every race, just look at the rise of Asian capitalists and the explosion of Korean missionaries. The solution does not lie in looking to the past or pointing fingers at one race but instead looking at the social system that makes this exploitation possible—namely capitalism. The military has been used to maintain the power structure of capitalism both in the past and present day under the veil of democracy. Capitalism is the dark rider on the white horse of democracy that steals from people at home and abroad.
Some people tell me I’m a socialist/communist or a utopian. That’s okay I’ve heard that a million times and I will repeat back to you a million times that capitalism is the real underlying problem and we won’t progress until we throw it out the window like we did with other outdated ideas like segregation.
My book, Where in the World Do I Belong?? is an attempt to articulate this solution through understanding other countries’ cultures using the personality type tools of Myers-Briggs and Jung.
Visit www.TypeandCulture.com.
