I used to have a white Hawai’ian roommate back in the early 90’s when I was living in Los Angeles. His brother was a professional surfer. Somehow this fact has never before come up on this blog. In any case, pretty much everything I know about Hawai’ian culture that doesn’t come from Hollywood, comes from talking to this roommate of mine. As an illustration, one memorable story was about a time when his brother made the mistake of stealing a wave from an ethnic Hawai’ian gentlemen who didn’t take too kindly to it. He literally knocked my roommate’s brother unconscious and left him to drown in the ocean. According to the story, this never would have happened between two ethnic Hawaiians. Yes, they were both natives of Hawai’i, but white people did not steal real Hawai’ian’s waves. In other words, even though Hawai’i is a chill place with many ethnicities that seem to get along very, very well, that doesn’t mean that there is no racial or ethnic tension.
So, that’s the first context. The second context is that racial tensions emerge most openly and most profoundly within the Democratic Party in areas where the party is totally dominant. When John Street was mayor of Philadelphia, white neighborhoods had their snowed plowed last, and when Frank Rizzo was mayor of Philadelphia, black folks had their neighborhoods plowed last. You will see tensions between black and Latino candidates in New York City or Asian and Latino candidates in California.
So, it’s significant that Hawaiian Governor Neil Abercrombie, who is white, chose to ignore Sen. Daniel Inouye’s dying wish that he be replaced by Rep. Colleen Hanabusa and chose his Lieutenant Governor Brian Schatz, instead. Brian Schatz is Jewish, and about as white as that implies. Hanabusa, like Daniel Inouye, is a Hawai’ian of Japanese descent. Hawai’i’s other senator, Mazie Hirono, was actually born in Japan. So, that’s a whole other element to this. There are Japanese-Hawaiians, Hawaiian-Hawaiians, white Hawaiians, and even Kenyan-Kansan-Hawaiians.
Rep. Colleen Hanabusa is going to run for Daniel Inouye’s seat against the incumbent, Brian Schantz. I have no idea who will win, but I suspect that it will create some tensions on the islands.
From a progressive point of view, I don’t see much to pick between them, and that also might make it less of an ideological battle than an ethnic one. There are a couple of somewhat sketchy things in Hanabusa’s past, but nothing that looks too major.
As of now, I have no dog in this fight. We are going to have a lot of turnover in the Senate soon, and next year is going to be very interesting. Most eyes will not be on this primary, but it could matter quite a bit. Sen. Inouye served in the Senate for 49 years. Sen. Daniel Akaka served in Congress for 36 years.
So, keep your eyes open.
From what incidental stuff I’ve read, it seems like Schatz is the more progressive of the two. He’s also more than 20 years younger than Hanabusa, which is meaningful for the non-continental U.S. states where gaining seniority means you can basically survive all sorts of sketchy things going down (just see how Don Young and Ted Stevens in Alaska).
Granted, I think it was a dick move by Abercrombie to ignore Inouye’s last wish, but at the same time, it was Abercrombie’s call to make – Inouye was not entitled to the Senate seat for life, nor to designate his successor. The whole thing reeks of state political maneuvering more than anything else. I don’t think it’s ethnic-based politics (although the optics certainly make it look that way).
If I were the DSCC, I would stay out of it and let them duke it out. The Republicans don’t really have anyone meaningful who can win the seat – Linda Lingle was obliterated by Hirono last year; and she had beaten her 10 years ago when running for governor. Charles Djou lost to Hanabusa in 2 general elections in a row, but the fact that she managed to win by subpar margins for Hawaii suggests that she’s not a terribly strong candidate and ended up winning mainly because of the Democratic lean. But given a statewide race, I doubt the GOP can make it a real race.
It’s Schatz, not Schantz.
I was 5 grades ahead of him at the same high school (and 6 behind the President!), so I only know of him from a younger sibling of mine. He gives off the schmoozy politician vibe, but he should be more progressive than Sen. Inouye. No idea how progressive Rep. Hanabusa would be.
I don’t know but either should be a lot more progressive than Steve Case’s(yes, that one) brother, who has run for Represenative and lost before.
“and even Kenyan-Kansan-Hawai’ians.”
Heh… I see what you did there.
If there’s truly no policy daylight between Hanabusa and Schatz then I would still prefer Hababusa, if only because she is a woman of color and good Christ do we need more of them in the Senate. In fact, I don’t think there are any WOC there other than Hirono. And then only Carol Moseley Braun before her.
As I’ve long held Inouye in high regard, I took the time to look at Hanabusa and Schatz before Abercombie made his decision. Lots of daylight between the two and IMHO Abercombie made a more objective decision than Inouye did.
Hanabusa has just voted for the new CSIPA act. Obviously never heard of or doesn’t care about Aaron Swartz.
Also she hasn’t decided whether she is going to primary an elcted D Governor ( Go Neil) or an appointed Senator.
She comes off as if she is just trolling for a bigger office.
“Brian Schatz is Jewish, and about as white as that implies.”
Just how white does that imply? Far as I can recollect, Jews have been white only about 45 years now. Before that they were Asians.
They still vote kind of like Asians.
Asian vote: 76% Obama
Jewish vote: 69% Obama
White vote: 39% Obama
I dunno. As white as Billy Crystal and Jerry Seinfeld?
Aaron Freeman and
Black Jews: A Minority Within a Minority
http://www.jewishfederations.org/black-jews.aspx
Only 50 years or so separates us from a time when Jews were not allowed in the better country clubs, where quotas kept them from their full potential in the better schools, and when they were not allowed to live in the better neighborhoods. In my area we have one community (Rancho Santa Fe) that was founded, in part, because the Jews were starting to get a toehold in La Jolla.
So no, not WASP white. Maybe off-white? Ivory, perhaps?
… and the word jew itself is, in some parts of the country, still used as a perjorative verb
In other words, as white as John Travolta and Joe Piscopo.
The last (and only) time Hawai’i elected a non-Asian senator was in 1959, just after becoming a state. It makes you think Hanabusa has to have the edge here.
From what I remember when the appointment came, there actually is a lot of daylight between the two, with Hanabusa being the worse choice.
Nonetheless, Hanabusa COULD be like Gillibrand, who was a sub-par Congresswoman representing a more conservative district who eventually became one of the most liberal leaning in the entire Senate when she represented the state of NY.
I think we should watch Tammy Baldwin’s Senate career to see if this scenario unfolds in reverse. When she represented just Madison, her voting record reflected her very liberal district. Now that she has to face voters statewide, I suspect she will disappoint a lot of us.
I had a college buddy that I hadn’t kept track of in the decades afterward. But later I was reminded of him by a prominent politician with some roots in Hawai’i. My friend was used to the harmonic manners the people of Hawai’i grow up with. His most frequent tag line when he encountered contention or heated argument was, “Don’t be bitter”.
Don’t know about this race, but I will tell you that I don’t trust that Tulsey Gabbard. She was a right-wing Republican and her Daddy funded the torpedoing of same sex marriage in Hawaii. I don’t trust turncoats…she seems like an opportunist, and I think we can do a lot better in Hawaii – in terms of getting a real progressive.
Here’s a demographic breakdown from the census.
I lived in Hawaii for two years helping on the reconstruction after Iniki slammed the islands. Being a mainlander I was struck by a lifestyle where being ‘white’ didn’t grant you anything close to a majority member. There have been waves of immigration to the islands, the Portugese come to mind, and each has a historical nuanced status in the various communities.
Boo…
I aplaud your correct use of the okina “`” in the word Hawai`i.
It is however dropped from the word when referring to Hawaiians.
Source Pukui/Elbert Hawaiian Dictionary.
Just FYI
Thanks for letting me know.
Embarrassed to say that I missed the Obama vs. Clinton angle of this primary.