I Not Haole...I Portuguese!

[Kaonohi]

Re: I Not Haole...I Portuguese!

Everywhere people are different, and everywhere we are the same.

The term 'race' is an artificial construction; its only purpose is to 'elevate' some and 'repress' others. Our cultures (how we think about the world, how we treat other people, what we do, why we do it) are the important distinctions.

There is no such thing as race. We humans are all one species with regional differences based on divergent evolution and cultural adaptation. We learned how to live (as a culture) by what we had available to use, and what we brought with us.

When people move to an unfamiliar culture, they have to adapt. The mode of adaptation depends on 2 things:
1. What they have to work with, and
2. What they have to deal with.

So, yes, people of different ethnicities will be different in different cultural environments.

Although we are 'born into' a culture, and 'brought up' in a culture, anyone with an IQ over 50 can examine how they act, and change what doesn't work. Unfortunately, most people think: "What I was taught was 'right,' and everything else is 'wrong.'" Makes for a lot of conflicts.

Acceptance is a blessing we can bestow on others.

[sinjin]

Re: I Not Haole...I Portuguese!

It doesn't matter what they call you just as long as they call you.

IMO if you are referred to as "X'" on sight, it's not just a "cultural thing". Now is that necessarily derogatory? Not in my experience.

My humble mzungu opinion.

[Barry]

Re: I Not Haole...I Portuguese!

I am White English and during my times in Hawaii, I was referred to as Haole many, many times. I was not offended by this in any way and just took it to mean a White Person.

Yup ! I agree with the above posts about race. Just wish I could get back there in December when President Obama comes 'home.'

[Paul Valenti]

Re: I Not Haole...I Portuguese!

Like the man said - "There's a difference between the local Portuguese ("Portagee" or "Pokiki") and haoles" - I am an old hapa Portagee-Italian who grew up in Kaimuki - when we were small time kids everyone knew that the Portagee were local - not haole. My grandparents came from the Azores. And, the man is right - without the Portagee we would never have had Leonard's or the Kamaka Ukelele or Frank DeLima or the other stuff. On the mainland, where I live now, Portuguese ARE haole (and act like ti) but in Hawaii - local Portagee have always been non-haole locals.

Paul Valenti

[Lei K]

Re: I Not Haole...I Portuguese!

Something interesting is that since moving up to California I have yet to meet a Portuguese person who looks anything like my father's side of the family. They all look very haole, my father and his family, not so much so. My father is as brown as a kanaka, with a very thick build and does not match the Portuguese community up here. Now *back home* he fits in but a lot of Portuguese there are hapa small kine and big kine. I used to think he looked very Portuguese until we moved up here. Let me admit that we do have some who look typical Portuguese (in the "mainland" sense of the word, from what I've seen) in our fam-bam, but there's not too many of them.

I will also admit there was "fence hopping" on his side (not gonna say who out of respect) but otherwise he's only Azorean and Madieran Portuguese (and some Spanish). You'd figure he'd look like all the other Portagees up here and fit right in since they share (supposedly) similar ancestral roots. I think he looks Arab with a Polynesian build (he's a big braddah) and skin tone, how did that happen? If I showed you pics of some of my Aunties you'd really begin to wonder, I know I do.

But anyway, back home they not haole, they Portagee!

[Paul Valenti]

Re: I Not Haole...I Portuguese!

Hey Lei -

You got that one right - it is really hard to tell - especially over here on the mainland. I work with older folks looking for work and one of the women I have gotten to know is mostly Portuguese - her family is from the Canary Islands - and, although she is mostly Portuguese - she looks Black. I tell her, no matter, my other side came from Sicily where all the Italians have Arab and North African blood - if they are haole, I am the king of Siam. Like my Sicilian Grandfather used to say, "There are no Italians north of Rome." The answer the Northern (haole) Italians have is, "Africa starts just south of Rome." What is great about home (Hawaii) is that it is all chop suey now - and what is great about Obama - and I always tell my Black friends this, Obama is half haole-half Black - he is Hapa like most everyone from Hawaii.

Paul Valenti

[Leo Lakio]

Re: I Not Haole...I Portuguese!

I work with older folks looking for work

Off topic...are you the P.V. who works/worked in the Seattle Mayor's Office on Senior Citizen concerns?

[matapule]

Re: I Not Haole...I Portuguese!

Haole is not pronounced HOW-LEE, it's closer to HOW-LEH.

Glen, you are 100% correctomundo. It is "HOW-leh"

The correct Hawaiian term for European Americans, by the way, is haole 'ili kea (HOW-LEE, EEE-LEE, KAY-AH).

The correct pronunciation is HOW-leh EEE-lee KEHYAH.

The pronunciation, HOW-LEE, EEE-LEE, KAY-AH, would be spelled: Haoli 'ili kei'a.

We simplify the whole thing in Tonga by saying: palangi for everyone non-native.

[matapule]

Re: I Not Haole...I Portuguese!

like that of matapule

*hides around the corner*

Auntie give him WHACK WHACKS !

[Lei K]

Re: I Not Haole...I Portuguese!

I work with older folks looking for work and one of the women I have gotten to know is mostly Portuguese - her family is from the Canary Islands - and, although she is mostly Portuguese - she looks Black. I tell her, no matter, my other side came from Sicily where all the Italians have Arab and North African blood - if they are haole, I am the king of Siam. Like my Sicilian Grandfather used to say, "There are no Italians north of Rome." The answer the Northern (haole) Italians have is, "Africa starts just south of Rome."

I suspect I have a lot in common with the people of Morocco through my Portuguese side. I actually have a friend from Marrakech and her family and my family are strikingly similar! The main difference is my father's family are much taller and bigger built than the typical North African/Arab. My father is actually quite curious about this as people often think he's Turkish, Egyptian, Iranian, Southern Italian, and so on.

Soooo I'm betting my family on Dad's side, most likely, has a nice amount of Arab and North African ancestry. I think this not because Madeira is off the coast of Africa (right above the Canaries, off the coast of Morocco) but because previous to going to Madeira and Sao Miguel (in the 14/1500's) the Pocho fam came from the Algarve region of Portugal. Algarve is on the south tip of the country, an area across the water from Morocco. I'm sure you already know where both Madeira and Algarve is though. Maybe because of historical things that went on down there my family has North African roots we don't totally know about?

I always did love belly dancing. Or maybe I'm just completely off and we have Gypsy ancestry, hahaha, who knows?! I wonder because the movement and history of people fascinates me. Culture and tradition fascinate me. The history of the world fascinates me. Irish men fascinate me, but that's a whole different topic! *ahem*

These days I keep it simple and say I'm Hawaiian (and I am, through my mom's side and who knows about my dad's) and/or hapa/poi dog. I figure my features are a mix of all that I am but I was born on the land of my kanaka ancestors, it ties me to my Hawaiian heritage/culture.

Can tell I'm Portagee though, look at the length of that post! Yeah LikaNui?

I think people get traits from everything they are, the environment they live in, and the cultures they live around, even if they don't realize it. I have to agree with you Paul, the Portagee here and the Portagee back home are almost completely different. It really does amaze me.

[Paul Valenti]

Re: I Not Haole...I Portuguese!

Lei –

I try not to let my Portagee get away from me these days (also, I type all day at work, so I get tired of “talking” when I am on my home computer) but, I am widely, if not affectionately known for talking with my hands – I have even been known to unintentionally fling full wine glasses across the room when making a point, a trait that has not endeared me to everyone. I too have had a long interest in history – maybe that’s why I wound up studying the development of languages and teaching history for a while at the University of Washington. One of my closest friends – Kevin Kawamoto from Kaneohe – was in graduate school with me and he teaches at the UH now and we have spent many hours discussing these sorts of evolutionary movements of people and the development of racial identities. Indeed, a former student and current roommate is an Ethiopian guy who has worked closely on the Obama campaign and who is just now working on an article about the differences between race and ethnicity – lots of fun. Over here, on the mainland, every time I tell someone I am from Hawaii they ask me if I am Hawaiian – which seems kind of stupid to me, but then, whenever I see Asian’s that look like they could have come from Hawaii (and that includes a great many of them) I ask if they come from Hawaii – strong desire to connect with ex-pat Hawaii people, I guess. My own family in Honolulu is more Hapa-Asian than it is Portagee or Haole – one brother married a Japanese woman and another married a Chinese woman. I married a Native American woman and I have one brother who went with a haole girl – so, we got all the bases covered. The best thing about coming from Hawaii though is that we all pay so much attention to race or ethnicity or whatever because it doesn’t really matter – whereas over here, it does.

Paul Valenti

[Lei K]

Re: I Not Haole...I Portuguese!

I agree that we grew up comfortable and at ease with everybody's traits and differences and even could poke fun at them, and laugh! It took a bit of effort for me to get used to the people up here and their sensitivity on the subject. I'm thankful that my husband loves and embraces being my tutu's "haole boy". He says he doesn't care if anyone calls him a haole, cause he is a haole! Just don't call him a f*cking haole and he's okay! He finds great difference in being a haole (race) and acting haole. He has been known to tell his mother, "Ooooooh you so haole!"

I love your hot blooded Mediterranean temperament! Something I love about Portuguese people and culture is the passion! I do have a love of Portugal, Spain and Italy for those reasons. I talk with my hands often as well but I find that I just don't have that hot blooded thing. My thing is I'm a very emotional thinker and have trouble keeping my money to myself as I buy things for people in my family who need it.

Temper wise, I seem to have traits from my mother who definitely has an Asian temperament which my husband actually loves. He tells me he loves that I had a respectful Asian upbringing but I digress. I soaked up much of my tutu's kindness, love and gentle spirit as well. I just chose to not soak up my father's hot blooded temper. I tell you as a child, an emotional child, I had issues with his throwing stuff and loud voice but now I just love his passion.

My sisters both married Native American/European men, one of Lakota Sioux heritage and the other of Cherokee heritage. My sister's oldest son (Cherokee) even finished his high school years on a rez. I married a complete mutt of all that's in Northern Europe. My husband is, *takes deep breath* Irish, Scottish, Welsh, Swedish, Swedish Sami (a new discovery), Dutch, French, German and Jewish (from Germany/Luxembourg). *exhales* Now if my kids marry someone of African, Arctic Siberian, or Native American heritage my grandchildren will surely be of the whole world!

I can't say too much about there being a lot of Asians in my family as I have that ancestry as well so it's to be expected. I will say this, my Hawaiian family that stayed where the family land is (La'ie, Kahuku, that general area) stayed more Hawaiian/Polynesian than anything else. They ended up married into more Hawaiian, Samoan or Maori. My Hawaiian family who moved elsewhere married into Portuguese, Japanese, Haole, and Chinese. I find that interesting.

My family is like a rainbow and I love being from Hawai'i nei.

Okay, my Portagee post of the day is pau.

[Lei K]

Re: I Not Haole...I Portuguese!

I forgot to post about this and I don't want to edit and add to my mile long post. This has to do with the expats up here seeking other expats out.

About 4 years ago, when walking along in a mall here in So Cali, I hear a voice yell out, across a great distance, "ARE YOU PORTAGEE?" I look around everywhere and see a little Japanese woman at a kiosk who was staring at me intent for an answer. So I begin to walk towards her. With her eyes studying me she yells, "ARE YOU PAKE TOO?" At this point I start laughing and say, "Yeah, you from Hawai'i?" She yells, "MAUI!" So I went up to her and talked story for a while and was amazed when she picked out that I was also Hawaiian without me saying a thing! That is rare. We did the usual local talk, "Eh you know Aunty so and so or Uncle so and so" even though I'm a total O'ahu girl. She get 'ohana on O'ahu and me on Maui.

My husband was in awe at how a little old woman from Maui picked me out of a crowd like that. I think we locals have some super duper da kine-dar, like radar, for each other. I don't really have a Hawaiian community where I live but the Samoans pick me out as well! Which never fails to surprise me! Those times always start out with a huge hug and end with a even bigger hug.

I do appreciate it, except that I get questions on why I don't attend the local Mormon church. Then I get told I need show up Sunday and sit next to them.

[matapule]

Re: I Not Haole...I Portuguese!

I had a Portagee buddy, Mel Souza, in our Street Rod Car Club in California. He drove a pickup with a custom license plate that read, PORTGEE. His home phone was xxx-beer. He drove fuel dragsters as a pastime! He was proud of his heritage.

My sister married a Portagee with the last name of Bettencourt. His family was from Kauai but he was born and reared in Yokohama. He is fluent in Japanese but not Portagee. When his grandfather died a few years ago, he left all of the grandchildren part of the Bettencourt agricultural homestead on Kauai. So my sister and her husband own a couple of lots on Kauai and plan to develop them someday.

It's all good - malihe (mah LEE heh)