Spectrum Hawaii; Statehood. Part 1 ; Statehood Part 2

[Voiceover] The following program is a production of KHET in Honolulu, Hawaii, public television. The following program was funded in part by the Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, Chevron USA in Hawaii, and the 1984 Hawaii Statehood Silver Jubilee Committee. [Kaleikini] This week and next, Spectrum celebrates the Silver Jubilee of statehood by taking a look at ethnic heritage. Aloha. [Hawaii language spoken] I'm Danny Kaleikini. You know, 50 years ago, people in Hawaii didn't take much pride in their background and heritage. But World War II and then statehood helped change that. Today, there's a great interest in retaining cultural tradition than ever before. But life in these islands is also changing,

and we cannot save everything we'd like to save. We're going to meet some people who are trying to preserve their ethnic heritage, and we'll listen as others recall their changing lives in Hawaii. Now, let's begin. [solo ukulele] [Enoka] Back in the old days, the fishermen all taught their children, you know, how to fish, how to squid, you know, because it was very important for their livelihood. That was the means to get food for the family. And as they grew older, they would have to support their family, and they were not taught, at a very early age, how to plan taro, how on pound poi, how to go to fish, how to look for squid. They just weren't able to care for their family. So the fisherman taught their children a lot of things about fishing. [Rubin] Over the period of time since statehood, Hawaiians have had good and bad things happen, I think, for them.

Where it relates to perpetuation of the culture, good things have happened more recently. At one point in time, I think things of culture and history were being be put aside and almost forgotten. And more recently, however, that has regenerated and reaffirmation has been taking place there. Where it comes to some of the problems related to the social development of Hawaiians, I think that some of the negative statistics still prevail and have magnified over a period of time, so that more attention needs to be addressed to these. [Hawaiian language spoken] [Kaleikini] This renewed interest in ethnic heritage has been called something of a renaissance. It's taken many different forms, including a revival of the oral tradition of ancient Hawaii. [Hawaiian language spoken] [Hawaiian language]

[Rubin] I grew up in a family that spoke the language and my parents took the time to provide us with the history, culture, the background, a good working knowledge of Hawaiians past as well as contemporary, and I think that we practiced the culture as we lived. And so I make application of that, beginning to now. [Kaleikini] The flower lei is one of the Hawaiians' important cultural traditions. One of the most treasured of these: the maile mokihana. [Pomroy] These two leis are made separately and then they are entwined together, and when you are through, you have one of the most beautiful and most ancient of all Hawaiian leis.

[Hawaiian music] [Kaleikini] Intermarriage is reducing the number of pure Hawaiians, who now make up less than one percent of the population. But this mixing with other ethnic groups is increasing the number of people with some Hawaiian blood, and among these people, the identification is strongly Hawaiian. [Rubin] I'm not only Hawaiian. I am a blend of a number of different races that are reflected here in the state. I think my cultural roots are strongly associated with the host culture, Hawaiian, and so I identify. And so do many other people in the state identify in that way. [Pounding] [Jensen] Well, I choose to work in wood only because it's a traditional medium that our ancestors

used in the past, and it is really a carry-over for today. I create most of my pieces through there because it's an easier medium for me to express myself. [Kaleikini] Another man also expresses himself with his hands, putting his own mark on one of his ancestors' most popular gifts to the world. [Aipa] A long time ago, when people was making surfboards, they had no fins. They were made of wood, and they were very heavy. And it was very difficult to shape, very difficult to ride. And now with the modern type of lightweight foam, it's a little more easier to shape and the boards are much lighter. [Kaleikini] Nowhere is the interest in heritage by young Hawaiians more evident than in dance. Yet, there's another side to the cultural renaissance. [Rubin] Hawaiians have been associated with music, dance: activities that are not associated with work. Again, the lazy Hawaiian, the Hawaiian

who loves his [inaudible] enjoyable types of activities, but not somebody who will be committed to hard work and the outcomes that are necessary for society's gain. So these stereotypes still exist, which influence younger people, too. They're unsuccessful in the educational system, and so therefore they can't find employment, so therefore they become the highest population in the prisons and on the social welfare rolls, and so on. That still is there. [Kaleikini] Hawaiians shared with the different people who came here, and they learned, too. From the New England missionaries, the Hawaiians learned quiltmaking, and then they created their own artform. But sometimes, they didn't want to let the world see what they had done. [Kakalia] The old Hawaiians do not like to show people what they know,

see. So I've known women that quilt for, oh, 45, 50 years, but have never shown their work out. They've hidden it, mmm-hmm. But I go out and I show what I know. Actually, it wasn't a dying art. It was a hidden art. [Rubin] Hawaii is better because of the Hawaiians, because as the host population, we set the tone for the arrival and blending of people, the welcoming of strangers with open arms. That base, I believe -- and people refer sometimes to that essence as being Aloha -- that base forms a very strong opportunity for all of the different minorities here to be able to have better opportunities for making things work.

[Kaleikini] The Hawaiians welcomed the first New England missionaries in the 1820s and these immigrants brought with them their own customs and traditions, many of which are still part of island life. More of these so-called haoles would follow. [Walker, Jr.] My own family left to Scotland in the 1840s because life is so difficult in Scotland. There was not enough to eat. The same was true, I think, of Japanese people who came to work in the sugar fields. It was a hard grinding life, but it was probably better than what they had at home. And the same is true of the Filipino people, who, in many cases, had to leave their families behind, and what they came to was very difficult. But it was probably better than what they had. So all of us came. All of us brought with us the desire to find a better life and a better world, and to the extent that that's what makes up the ethnic population of Hawaii, people

who came to try and achieve a better life, I think perhaps we've done that. [Kaleikini] The lives of early Caucasian immigrants revolved around the church, and to them a church meant a pipe organ. [Organ music] With pipe organs came another Western church tradition: stained glass, a European art form that is now flourishing in the islands. [Karowina] Oh, I use all kinds of glass. I like European glass. I love French antique, like this is French antique, and I like the English class, English antique, which is very difficult to get and very, very expensive. German antique, Belgian. Stained glass is so satisfying, the colors are satisfying, that even without any subject, just putting colors together is fun. It's exciting, you know. [Walker, Jr.] We had a small minority of Caucasians controlling the

economy of Hawaii. I don't think anybody really disputes that. And the curious thing is that, now that there are more Caucasians, their influence has diminished, which is good. We had a small group of very influential Caucasians. Now we have a very large group of less influential Caucasians. The bad is that in becoming that way, we have become a more homogeneous population. We're all more alike. We do the same things. We all watch TV. We go and watch the Islanders play baseball, but we have lost some of the cultural things that were good that we brought with us when we came. [Kaleikini] The Industrial Revolution in 19th-century Europe forced many craft workers to seek lives elsewhere. Some came here where the tradition of European cabinetmaking continues today. [Worldie] What I like to do is use the wood to its utmost advantage. And sculpt the wood, make it proportionate, make it look and feel good and something you live with. It's not something

that you're just going to toss out when you get tired of it. This can be done by machine, but as you'll see, I have to go along with what Kahlil Gibran says about work. Your work is your love made visible. Machines don't know that yet. [Walker, Jr.] I can remember my father coming home for lunch and saying he saw somebody on Fourth Street that he didn't know. That was unusual because it was such a small city. But I think that we were very friendly with each other. It was much less frantic. There were no aeroplanes that came and went. The big day was Boat Day, of course, and the pace of life was much slower. Our food variety was much larger and much more Hawaiian and Oriental in nature, and at our dinner table, we had some oriental foods at night and some Hawaiian foods and whatever was growing in the yard, and I think that was sort of nice. And now, where things are packaged and fresh frozen, maybe this is part of

our cultural loss. I think it is. [Kaleikini] Western jazz dance in some ways is a reflection of the pace and character of the modern world, and it's found a place among the other arts here in Hawaii as well. [Cassel] The main thing that I have achieved with the dancers in my company is planted a seed. You know, I wanted to start something so that they could feel that from this point onwards, they could go on, no matter whether I was there or not. [Michael Jackson's "Beat It" plays] [Walker, Jr.] In doing the American thing, you may lose some of the cultural advantages of what came with you. I used to play in this very yard, and I used to get out of school at 2:30. But my Oriental friends that I played touch football with or baseball didn't get out of school until 3:30 because they went to cultural school, Japanese school, Chinese school, which their parents required because they wanted them to keep some of the cultural heritage that they had brought

with them. [Morse] I like to think about the phrase in Hawaiian, Nana I Ke Kumu, which means look to the source. Now that has a number of meanings. Look to the wisdom of your antics, look to the creative spirit that made us. I think for me, in terms of my paper making, I interpret the phrase to mean, look first to the history and the tradition within which I am working and then also look to the natural world, the plant life, that gives me the fibers for my work. [Walker, Jr.] I knew as much, almost as many Hawaiian and Japanese words as I did English ones. My father, in turn, grew up speaking Hawaiian. He had nine brothers and sisters, of which he was the youngest, and the whole family spoke Hawaiian. I came along, and although I didn't speak Hawaiian, I knew all the Hawaiian songs of my era. Now my kids have grown up and they don't even know the Hawaiian songs. So at each step we've lost something. [Kaleikini] One ancient tradition called dressage was nearly lost. It was revived during the Renaissance in France and later was transplanted here.

[Tugman] And from the walk, bend him to the outside and pick up the counterlead. It appeals to people, I think, of all ages who are willing to have the self-discipline and spend the time required to work on the subtleties and the fineness of it. [Kaleikini] A ride on horseback in the plantation days of old Hawaii was a symbol of Caucasian influence, and though the influences change over time, a certain image may linger. [Walker, Jr.] The sugar plantations were managed by haoles who were certainly overbearing. I've witnessed many a scene which convinced me that they were overbearing and, in some cases, very unfairly so. But that's gone. I don't think that there's any feeling of superiority. We no longer have some of the racial barriers that we had before. I certainly don't feel better or worse than

anybody else does. I think that that part, the overbearing colonial type in a Panama hat and a white linen suit, which we used to see a lot of, that's gone. Now we're all dressed in polyester. [Tavares] I guess officially we are part of the Caucasian group. But I have a little story that I always use to illustrate a point when I say that it's good to be Portuguese in Hawaii because, when you're Portuguese in Hawaii, you can pass for an Anglo-Saxon if you want to. Most of us Portuguese don't want to. [Laughs] [Kaleikini] Holy Ghost Church was built on the slopes of Punchbowl Crater by Portuguese immigrant families. The old church is used only for special occasions now, but it's still a symbol of the longtime Portuguese community that surrounds it. [Portugeuse music] To this neighborhood, with street names from the Old World,

came an eight-year-old boy from Maui. He was the son of a Portuguese immigrant and a boy with an idea about where he was going. [Tavares] I wanted to learn to speak good English, and you have no idea how difficult this is. When you've been speaking pidgin English all your life, and all of the sudden, when I was about 10 or 12 years old, I decided that I wanted to learn how to speak good English because I wanted to be a lawyer and I wanted to be this and I wanted to be that. And I thought that, you know, in order to get there, I'm going to have to learn to speak good English. It was a difficult task and it took a lot of work on my part and a lot of dedicated teachers to get me out of the pidgin and the accent that I had and still have once in a while. [Kaleikini] The culture and traditions of old Portugal are kept alive by groups such as this one, descendents of Hawaii's early Portuguese immigrants. [Tavares] They came here primarily

as laborers and pretty soon found their niches in other areas in the community and worked their way up the ladder, if you will. And a key thing in all of this progress was education. The last quarter century, I find, with the Portuguese as well as with other groups, a lot of emphasis being placed on education. I know with my own parents, for example, my father and mother did not have hardly any formal schooling, I think. My father didn't go to school at all. My mother had gone as far as the fourth grade. But they learned to read on their own. They were good in arithmetic but they insisted that we go to school. [Kaleikini] The malassada, that delicious fried dough coated with sugar, is what many people think of when Portuguese are mentioned, that and bean soup. And the other delicacies that the Portuguese share with us. But mention Portuguese to some people and they think of a kind of ethnic humor

and that's not always funny. [Tavares] I can tell you any time I'd ever crack a Portuguese joke in the presence of my mother, I'd get scolded for it. Because you're putting down your people, don't you do that. So you got to be very careful about that. But I think every ethnic group that have gone through this, the Italians, the Jews, the Blacks, they all have gone through this. A lot of it is done in jest. Some of it a little mean, but I don't think there's any particular stereotype. I know one thing that annoys me and, I think, every Portuguese is to be called a Portagee. If you call me that, you're going to be corrected on the spot because I am Portuguese. I'm not a Portagee. [Portuguese music] [Kaleikini] Portuguese descendents try to preserve what they can from the past. To know where you're going, it helps to remember where you've been. The immigrant son from Maui remembers. [Tavares] I came from Makawao, and I came to the big city, and I was scared of all of the traffic over here. I didn't know what to do in this big place.

That's how I sounded. [Laughs] [Thom] Chinese calligraphy is a means of communication throughout the centuries. Although we have different dialects in different provinces, the characters means the same and is written the same way. [Sia] I was born and brought up in Peking, China, the first 12 years. When I arrived, here I was in short pants and tennis shoes from the banana boat. I think the impressions were, one, of initially being very much in the minority, being awkward, not fitting in wondering how you would adjust and how language and slangs would be picked up. It was a slow process.

There were many hurt nights and wonderings as to how you would really become an American [inaudible] [Chong] The family structure as it is today in Hawaii is really an offshoot of the ancient Chinese family structure, which clearly defines the role of each person's relation to their elders. Much of that was brought over and the teachings of the Chinese system of education, Confucian values. And throughout the different generations, Chinese have always regarded the family structure as the most important area in the social system. Festivals and the customs all tie back to the values of piety, love, and respect for one's elders and parents. [Kaleikini] That immigrant boy who arrived on the banana boat wasn't really the first of his family to come here. [Sia] It's interesting because my grandparents were the first Chinese couple

to arrive in Hawaii at the turn of the century as Western medical doctors. They were the first Chinese doctors to practice here in Hawaii and as such practice for 50 years. My grandmother, who was a itty, bitty woman, four-eleven, delivered over 6,000 babies. My grandfather was a general practitioner. Used to be in horse and buggy days, going over the pali, making house calls. He was quite the strong, dynamic doctor. [Ching] Well, I have flown a kite more than 60 years. Today I am 71, so you can see when I was 11, probably I was about nine when I started. But 11 years old, that's when my dad took me to China, and that is when the real challenge came in because, when I had seen the kite up in the air, it was [?hurtling?] in the wind, and I was so happy. I say, I got to make a kite something like that one. [Chang] There are

many festivals celebrated by the Chinese in Hawaii because it's a part of their heritage. It's a time for the families to get together. Chinese love to celebrate, Chinese love to get together. They love to eat good food and remember their ancestors and give thanks for the nice things that have happened during the year. [Sia] I think the basic traditions would be the closeness of the family and the emphasis on education, the importance of education towards your future. And the [inaudible] as far as the Chinese, the industry, the emphasis, was to do what you had to do to better yourself and from there to contribute to whatever you wanted to do. [Chang] Although the Chinese in Hawaii have assimilated Western ways, it is important for the young to appreciate Chinese traditions. A way to achieve this is to teach the younger generation to appreciate their cultural heritage. [Chinese music]

[Sia] As I assimilated in the American way, as I arrived in Hawaii, obviously we had our ham and eggs and we had our sandwiches. But we also traditionally would have our Chinese meal. It's of interest that my mother had a special interest in Chinese cooking. She volunteered at the YWCA and did a lot of Chinese cooking, wrote a Chinese cookbook, you know, Mary Sia's Chinese Cookbook. [Dang] I've always enjoyed things Chinese. As I grew older, I began to feel that dance was a part of my whole life and I couldn't let go of it, and it was like Chinese is a part of my life. And so I went back to school to learn more about my artform. I rediscovered different aspects of my Chinese heritage. So for my Masters of Fine Arts degree, I decided to do a

Chinese [inaudible], a blending of both cultures. [Kaleikini] The Chinese make up only five percent of Hawaii's population, mainly because of the high rate of intermarriage. Chinese people are also highly urbanized and the representation of business in the profession is much greater than the percentage in the total community. [Sia] I believe that many people stereotype the Chinese, especially in Hawaii, as the merchants, the concerns about making money and nothing else. This has a significant background. Traditionally, the Chinese are industrious, are, as I've stated, for education, for betterment. Here, as we see, many of the Chinese merchants have become successful businessmen, but also have been tempted to do much more in terms of support of the community. [Kow] The Chinese seal has been used primarily as an instrument of authentification of

documents. It continues to be used today in China, Japan, and Korea. In fact, you even need to cash a check. I think it's important for me to spread this art, to show people there is something bigger than just your ordinary daily life and can be found in ordinary things, in the stone. I think Chinese culture, for myself and for other people who study Chinese culture, it gives them an opportunity to be one with nature. To find art in ordinary things. And for this it offers much for the Western world. [Kaleikini] Our story is only half told. Other groups were to follow the Chinese, adding further to Hawaii's diversity of cultures. We'll take a look at them next time. This is going to all identically kitty for spectrum the whole of we all got over that almost. [Voiceover] Spectrum was funded in part by the 1984 Hawaii Statehood

Silver Jubilee Committee, Chevron USA in Hawaii, and the Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts. [pause, bars and tone] The following program is a production of Katie Chichi in Honolulu Hawaii

Public Television. The following program was funded in part by the Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, Chevron USA in Hawaii, and the 1984 Hawaii Statehood Silver Jubilee Committee. [music, waves crashing] This week, Spectrum celebrates the Silver jubilee of statehood with a second and concluding look at it take her to. [Kaleikini] Aloha, [speaking Hawaiian], I'm Kaniela Danny Kaleikini. You know, 50 years ago people in Hawaii didn't take much pride in their background and heritage. But World War 2 and then stay to help change that. Today there's a great interest in retaining culture

tradition than ever before. But life in those islands is also changing and we cannot save everything we'd like to share. We've already met some people trying to preserve the ethnic heritage. We listen to others we call the changing lives in Hawaii. Now let's meet a few more. [Marie Nakanishi Milks] When I look back and look at my own family and look at the Japanese as a group, I always harken back to the pineapple fields and the hard labor and the real, you know-- and going off to war when I think of World War Two and I think of the. People from Hawaii who went off to do battle and serve their country. I think of the Japanese. I. [Kaleikini] In ancient Japan, Zen Buddhism and the samurai code of Bushido shared a belief in discipline and in the soul

control of mind and body. In Hawaii. A Zen Priest continues this tradition as he turns to his throne garden. As the priest rakes his garden. He gathers strength from the storm by sharing its patience and endurance. Adhering to the ancient tradition is so important. [Milks] In terms of the Japanese retaining a lot of the culture, one of the most important things that I've been impressed with from the time I was an infant and even now with my own children, is the concept of shame. Or embarrassment, the hazukashii thing. And it's-- each one of the Japanese kind of assumes a responsibility to the entire race. And so it it's something that doesn't just bring shame upon you and your family but it's it's shameful that a Japanese person would behave this way. [Kaleikini] Another Japanese tradition is the obon festival memorial service held to honor the

spirits of departed relative. Influence of tradition has been one reason the Japanese in Hawaii have a rather low rate of intermarriage. In that regard, the daughter of immigrant fondly remembers her grandmother. [Milks] Her purchase was interesting because when I brought home to my grandmother's house a fellow who was half Japanese, you know, half haole, My grandmother didn't want me to go out with him because his last name was a holiday. I brought home another. Guy. He was Japanese Howie but he had a Japanese last name, my grandmother said "oh that's all right." You know, and I said "what difference does it make? They're they're both half and half." He says "Oh yeah but he has a Japanese name." [Kaleikini] The bon dance may be one Japanese tradition familiar to other ethnic groups. The event traces its origin to a 2,500 year old Buddhist legend. And that tradition is passed on from one generation to another. [Rev. Norito Nagao] You have it because of the age of these people. The first generation

people. There seems to be in less and less such performers as musicians. However there's also a trend right at this present time with a younger generation taking over, learning use of the different musical instruments. So I'm sure that such musicians will continue with the younger generation finishing the necessary music for the young dances. [Milks] I made a commitment to myself that when I was near 40 I'd start to get back into the real Japanese thing. So I I have my children taking Japanese. I've planned for them to go to Japan and. I've gotten to tea ceremony, I'm reading Japanese books. And feeling very comfortable with the thought. [Ellen Sayegusa] I've been teaching ikebana for the last 47 years. And I'm still learning.

These are my three main points. The Father Mother and child. Or you may call it heaven, man, and earth. [Milks] The hyphen Japanese-American was not to me a blending. I was not a Japanese American I was Japanese. And I was American. If you can appreciate that we are in the open. Amongst friends and in school I never thought that I was Japanese, it was just I was one of everyone else. But at home I felt like I belonged to a very Japanese family. I think now I'm trying to put those two parts together. [Sayegusa] Thank you for giving me this beautiful arrangement. [guitar music] [Ben Cayelano] Since statehood there's been a greater appreciation on the part of the local Filipinos

Of the Filipino culture. I think that prior to statehood. There was some resistance and maybe even some embarrassment about the culture because we didn't know much about it. Didn't know the history, didn't know the beauty of the culture. And I think Filipinos, in a lesser sense, a less intensive sense, are going for the same kind of renaissance in terms of culture of the Hawaiians are going through right now. [Faith Labez-Tapano] Pamana Is at a gallop word meaning legacy. And that is an appropriate name for the pamana dancers because our primary aim is to teach, retain, and spread Filipino culture through dance. [Cayelano] My household was one where my father, who was from the Philippines, did everything he possibly could to infuse himself with Americanism, you know. So he never spoke to us in the in the Filipino language and we never learned it. He always spoke to us in English. And he was very very oriented to learning things that were local, learning things

that were American so to speak. I never knew about. The Filipino culture in terms of dances of the musical. Or the history. Because my father wanted to learn the American culture. [Labez-Tapano] The Pamana dancers, in the true Bayanihan spirit, operates like one big family. Bayanihan means to be one, to be united, or to help each other. The dancers in the poem on a dance or. Cooking. Company. Have brought in their family members to help out in many ways and. I guess we are joined from on a dancer's because of this good fellowship that we have. [Cayelano] In the old days the Filipinos who were brought to a why. were those who were sought to work in the plantations were deliberately-- but the ones with the nice education were deliberately chosen because I think the

plantations learned from their experience with the Japanese and Chinese who, once they got here, tended to venture into business and all of that. They wanted people who would stay on their own on the plantations. So there was a concerted effort to get people who are not educated. If you're a teacher or you had that kind of background usually, you couldn't come. [Kaleikini] The Filipinos are still closely identified with the plantation where they make up the greater part of the workforce. But that may change, as it did for the Chinese and then for the Japanese. [Cayelano] Assimilation for Filipinos means working within the power structure. When they say it's in the economy or in politics you know. And if you want to one day be the vice president or president of a bank you've got to convince the stockholders who maybe are not Filipinos that you you know you have whatever it takes to do it. [Kaleikini] For some of today's young Filipinos, the road to success in America is in the ring. In the early 1960s one young Filipino lawyer to be told his

road was blocked by ethnic discrimination. [Cayelano] I picked my family up, moved to California. And I never come back actually. When I got to California. I went to school. And I live in California at the time though the civil rights movement. I went to the Watts riots and all of this and all the turmoil on the mainland. And then I came to the conclusion, gee Hawaii wasn't so bad after all. And then came back home so. That I think was that. Was an experience one experience that I think will get me up to the fact that. In the early '60s at least, Filipinos were in a minority group. We weren't accorded the kind of respect. And consideration that maybe we are today. [Kaleikini] Before the birth of Christ the shamans of Korea were blessing homes and healing the sick and praying for the living and the dead. The shamans are said to gain this

by entering the spirit world and assuming the souls of ancestors there. The ceremony Was one of the world's oldest religious experiences. But such as this one are not seen are often. [Peter Y.H. Moon] My Korean experiences as a child really stopped around the seventh or eighth grade because my grandmother, Halmeoni in Korean, forced us to go to church and I kind of ran away out of the seventh grade. But my Korean experiences-- my sister Laura and I spoke pretty fluently from grandmother. And of course we have to go to church until I was about 12 years old. And then. When you were put all at 12 years old surfing is more important and football and baseball and all that kind of stuff, right. So the daily experiences really stopped about that. [Kaleikini] Immigrant grandmother wore the hanbok, the national dress of Korea for centuries which was brought here by immigrant women.

[Moon] She came over and she supported her six kids by sewing for the military. OK? And she started the First Korean Methodist Church on Ke’eaumoku Street. She's a very devout Christian. Grandma just like I said before I have five before I put that Korean into us. You know, more so than dad, as far as the church with. [Kaleikini] Although Koreans make up less than 2 percent of Hawaii's population, they've been very successful. They are said to have the highest per capita level of education and income of any ethnic group. But the going wasn't always easy, even for the children of successful parents. [Moon] When mom enrolled me in Punahou in the second grade. This was 1952. And there were not that many. Hawaiians or Samoans or Orientals then like there are now. So I remember, I used to come home crying in the second grade because the Haole kids or whoever would call me "chink" and "slant

eyes" and stuff like that and I would come home and I would beg mom to take me out of Punahou and put me back in Manoa School in the valley. But she wouldn't. [Kaleikini] A Korean Study Center at the University's Manoa campus is a symbol of the migration to Hawaii by children from the mind of morning Kong. The success here was built by hard work. [Moon] I must attribute this to Punahou. Punahou is a very competitive school. OK. And it drums into you from the first day, you know, succeed, succeed. Go to college, go to college, and make something of yourself. And with grandmother there and mom there and dad there and we're all here. God, I had no choice did I? [laughs] You see? [singing in Samoan] [Clarence "Rags" Scanlan] One of the things that has changed as far as being in a state is that in 25 years there is an awful

lot more Samoans now than there were then. And when we were growing up you know we weren't identified as Samoans because there weren't that many Samoans around. After mid '50s when the migration of the-- when the Navy, the Department of Interior took over Samoa and the Navy moved out and a lot of the Navy families migrated to Hawaii and the West Coast, and that's when I think the identification of Samoans started is in the mid '50s. But prior to that, you know, we weren't really identified as a group. And. I think. [Kaleikini] The Samoans and other Pacific Islanders are still close enough to their arrival date here that their cultural roots are unbroken. [Scanlan] Almost everybody speaks the language at home and that's their primary language at home. And that's perpetuated in song and dance and day to day life, so the Samoans haven't lost their language and the

ties to the homeland is still very evident. People travel back and forth a lot, so the-- you really don't lose the language. That's one of the ways that the preservation of our culture is maintained as to all history and tradition only the older folks stay at home to take care of the children because the younger folks and the parents are out working. In Samoa, you know, it isn't as modern as Hawaii is, they have a lot of village work, you got to cultivate the land for food and fish so that the older folks are left to take care of the young children. And this is where the upbringing is, that's where your history and your culture is maintained. [Kaleikini] While language can be a cultural asset, it can also work against immigrants, especially children in school. [Scanlan] One of the things people don't understand is that the Samoans respect authority very much and when the child sits in a classroom because of the communications problem, the child will feel that he doesn't understand or is unable to

comprehend what the teacher is teaching and the child feels that he is insulting the teacher by saying that "I am unable to learn" which in essence means that you're unable to teach. And for me to tell you that you are unable to teach is not proper for me as a young student or young child. Therefore I keep quiet and, you know, you go on thinking that I'm retarded, or I don't communicate. So that is one example where the communications barrier oftentimes and the cultural, the customs of adhering to authority and respecting authority is misinterpreted and that's why we get a lot of the negative stereotype. Someone's have been identified as entertainers and great athletes. And that was a little. for what to expect. But I think we find now that we have recent law school graduates from University of Hawaii, we have practicing attorneys, we've got doctors, and these are young Samoans that are beginning to find and taking advantage of opportunities that other Samoans before them or still now don't have the opportunity to take advantage of these various programs. But given the opportunity of having an even keel and

competitive who they are oftentimes excel over other. [Kaleikini] If you look closely enough, you may see other racial and ethnic groups among us: Puerto Ricans and other Hispanics. American Indians, and more. Together they make up about 2 percent of our population. But visitors often comment on not seeing many Blacks in Hawaii. And the question is why haven't more Blacks come here? [John Penebacker] Oh I don't think that is something that's only particular blacks and whites, I think it is the lack of space on the islands itself, I think a lack of housing and the cost of housing is very prohibitive. So are there any racial groups coming to Hawaii. But as far as blacks against And I think the reputation that Hawaii has had in the past has been anti-back because of the military experiences, probably attributable to that way of thinking. [Kaleikini] The majority of Hawaii's blacks are connected with the

military, such as these gospel singers at Hickam Air Force Base. The military has given many mainland blacks a chance to live here. [Penebacker] I first came in the military in 1966 and there was some bad experiences on my part. There were times where I was looked at, frowned upon for going into certain restaurants or when you went to the beach, I mean I guess they didn't expect blacks to go to the beach I guess, that was sort of taboo. But over the years I think because of my experiences, University, we have because of basketball and our athletic experience we have changed the attitude towards blacks, we had the Fabulous Five situation men and blacks represent the state of Hawaii. Not only locally but nationally and that sort of broke the ice for other blacks who came after us, so I think that experience helped Blacks be perceiving a different light. [Kaleikini] Blacks do say they feel more accepted in Hawaii today than they did a few years ago.

And some have found a home. [Penebacker] When I met my wife who is Chinese, half Chinese and half white. And when I went to dinner at their house, I didn't feel uncomfortable at all. I felt very warm and they accept that. You know that they were there. We're thinking oh this is the place for me. [Kaleikini] This is also the place of this Vietnamese girl, one of Hawaii's newest arrivals from Southeast Asia. [girl singing in Vietnamese] She and some other refugees recently made an animated film as part of a high school project. The film is titled "The Boat People" and it documents the frightening experiences of refugees who are trying to get to a resettlement camp in Malaysia. All with the dream of coming to America. [Clip from movie] I felt that when I left my country, I say goodbye to you know all my friends and I. I wonder

if I would see my motherland, my friend, and relatives ever again. Hiding in East [unintellible] was a boat of Thai pirates. They boarded our boat and started to rob us. They took all our valuables. The entire trip from Vietnam to Malaysia took one week. In Malaysia We were on a beach. I have been in America for three years now, but I am still not used to this new environment. I know I have a lot of things to learn and a long way to go. [kids singing solfege] [Kaleikini] Look into the faces of young Hawaii and you see what Hawaii is becoming: a blending

of races. Today. People of mixed blood represent the largest single group in our population. Nearly 29 percent of the total. [Pierre Bowman] I grew up in Kailua and when I think about it, it was a tiny town and it was primarily a Haole town. And I didn't think about myself in ethnic terms at all. The whole Bowman of the family, the part-Hawaiian part, is very much a bag of Oreos. They were raised like haoles by their father and they lived like holidays and there was not a lot of Hawaiian roots that were visible. [Kaleikini] The blending is not all blood alone, but of culture as well. Young people from various ethnic backgrounds study a tradition that's uniquely Japanese: kabuki. [Kabuki students] My dear teacher. That is right. I am your teacher and you are my pupil. Soon you will be initiated in becoming a disciple of Buddha. You must keep your mind pure.

Oh I am going to raise the rates. Are you going to. Shave my. Head. It's a discipline. I think. It would benefit the Western active amongst. I think it's that. Forcing yourself to do movements in a particular way. We don't get quite that same training in western. theatre. [Bowman] I remember very distinctly the first time I felt like. There was something different about me ethnically happened in Fargo, North Dakota. I was probably five years old, my mother was from Fargo and she did. Take trips back so we saw the Swedish side of the family and the kid next door who was a freckle-faced Irish kid, Sullivan, asked me why I never washed my dirty face and. It was the first time it occurred to me that there was any kind of difference at all.

[Kaleikini] The sharing of traditions in the islands takes different forms. For example and interest in Hawaii's architectural heritage. [Phyllis Fox] Historic Preservation has real value to everyone living in our state today and to our visitors to. Our World. Whole history was made up of different periods of time. Our whole culture is made up by many many different people. And the buildings in our community reflect that change and those differences so that they really visually represent the history and heritage of our state. To walk down a street in Old Town Honolulu. And know that other people have walked that street, have seen the same buildings, makes it possible to deal with present day problems a little better. Other people have survived and we're going to survive too. [Bowman] I find Now. That people have stereotypes and are surprised when they meet me. I have a nice Howley name a nice Howley job. I will

show up at a press conference, for instance. This is a true incident. I showed up and they said, "where are the sandwiches?" And I said "huh?" And they said "aren't you the boy from the caterers?" And I said "no, I'm the boy from the newspaper" and. I find it amusing most of the time. [James Bartels] All buildings like Iolani Palace are part of the cultural heritage of our community. They belong to all of us. They are inheritances from our past from the past he was. People have lived and died, from a past whose great events have occurred and lead to other events going right up to the present. [Bowman] In terms of the span since statehood, I think there's been a great change. Part of it is a change in fashion. In the last 10 years it's become fashionable to be part of Wyatt. I know it wasn't fashionable at the beginning of statehood. There was a the establishment. In business in government.

It's changed. And. There's been a national change in ethnicity and I think it's reflected in Hawaii, where the differences among people are more celebrated today used to be. [Lynn Martin] There's a tendency in the United States and in most of the Western world today to lump all human beings together and give us a Social Security number and make us part of a homogeneous situation. As we become more of the same, we lose our sense of specialness. And I believe there is something-- there is a psychic need within people to feel unique and identify with their own group. And to share that identity with other people. [Children's choir singing in Latin] [Kaleikini] It's the blending and the diversity of Hawaii's people and cultures that have made these

islands show you he can be on the rest of the world. We call it will be just as you're going up a quarter century from now when we celebrate the golden anniversary of space. We can hope that it will. I'm Kaniela Danny Kaleikini for Spectrum, saying Mahalo and [speaking Hawaiian] and aloha. [outro music] Spectrum was funded in part by the 1984 Hawaii Statehood

Silver Jubilee Committee, Chevron USA in Hawaii, and the Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts.