What exactly is…Hawaiian?
I received an email from the WSL’s PR wing this morning, or late last night, that began,
“Three-time world surfing champion and Honolulu native Carissa Moore was honored at Ala Moana Beach Park today by Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell, who officially proclaimed January 4 as Carissa Moore Day in Hawaii.”
Absolutely lovely. Carissa Moore’s just great, amazing surfer, future legend. Good for her.
Of course, it’s not exactly true. Caldwell’s not the king of Hawaii, just Mayor of Honolulu County. The state of Hawaii is comprised of four (technically five) counties. Honolulu (duh), Kauai (which includes the island of Ni’ihau), Maui (which includes most of Molokai, Lanai, and Kaho’olawe), and Hawaii (Big Island). The technical fifth is Kalawao County, which consists of a small portion of the Molokai coast, the reasons for which are kind of interesting, but totally inconsequential in the context of governance.
So January 4th is only Carissa Moore Day on Oahu, at least until one or more mayors from other islands jump on the bandwagon. Which isn’t very likely.
It’s a simple mistake on the WSL’s part, people forget that there’s a lot more to the Hawaiian Islands than Oahu. Which suits most of us just fine.
And, anyway, it’s just simpler to call Honolulu “Hawaii.”
Does it bother a few touchy souls on other islands? A bit. People from Kauai certainly care about the fact that it was never conquered by the Kamehameha dynasty, even though it kind of was.
Anyway, these minor distinctions don’t mean shit outside our borders, and I really don’t expect the majority of the world to care. But it does give me an excellent opportunity to segue into another kind of important if you live here, but confusing to visitors, topic.
Hawaiian means you’ve got Hawaiian blood. The amount doesn’t really matter, unless you’re fighting over potential federal dollars. We’ve got “toenail” Hawaiians, with blonde hair and blue eyes, a few pure-blooded Hawaiians, people who discovered their ancestry moved out in their late twenties and affected an accent. But the term pertains to bloodlines, not residence.
Which is racial identity in Hawaii.
You hear it all the time during the WSL webcasts, even from Ross Williams, who certainly knows better. “Hawaiian” surfer John John Florence, “Hawaiian” surfer Sebastian Zietz. And, yeah, they grew here, didn’t flew here, but Hawaiian they are not.
Hawaiian means you’ve got Hawaiian blood. The amount doesn’t really matter, unless you’re fighting over potential federal dollars. We’ve got “toenail” Hawaiians, with blonde hair and blue eyes, a few pure-blooded Hawaiians, people who discovered their ancestry moved out in their late twenties and affected an accent. But the term pertains to bloodlines, not residence.
Born and raised in Hawaii, but spring from different stock? No worries, you’re local. Not to be confused with how the word is used in surfing.
White guy who moved out with your girlfriend at 28 and decided to stay? That’s me, that’s haole, and that’s fine. Sure, plenty of assholes bitch and moan about the term, compare it to nigger, get all up in arms.
But it’s just a word, and, like all words, the meaning heavily depends on context.
“The nice haole couple who live next door,” isn’t the same as “that fucking haole who cut me off on Nimitz this morning.”
In any case, it’s kinder than kotonk, an onomatopoeia that refers to Japanese born on the mainland and is derived from the sound of an empty coconut hitting the ground.
Interesting writing. You should censor the n word in this article.
Suggesting that a professional sports organization defines a surfers place of origin by their perceived race, is inherently racist (especially as a haole). Should the WSL call Wiggolly an “African” surfer, in your opinion? At the end of the day it only matters what “country” the surfers themselves want to represent. The ASP let Glen Hall be “Irish” for god sake.
Duke Kahanamoku competed and medaled in three Olympic Games (’12, ’20 & ’24) as a representative of the United States. I think he was Hawaiian, no?
In regards to SURFING, where Hawaii is considered a Nation (ASP and ISA, even NSSA recognize it as so. Same as Tahiti – you’re not up in arms they’re calling Bourez “Tahitian” and not French or French-Tahitian right?!) “Hawaiian” can be used to describe an ethnicity, nationality and general description of where one is from. It’d be easier (more pc) for mainstream media and institutions to implement dual meaning and recognize/refer to non-blooded people of Hawaii as “Hawaiians” if Hawaii was recognized as a nation (it maybe again one day), but currently it’s not. In regards to surfing – Hawaii is a nation, so it should be ok. Sure Ross Willams can be more PC in his commentating and say “HAWAII surfer John John Florence”, but he’s not wrong. The terms simply indicate where they’re from and not necessarily their ethnicities. You also can’t be telling other people to call only Indigenous “Native” Hawaiians, “Hawaiians” when they didn’t even call themselves “Hawaiians”. It’s a foreign word to them. They refer to themselves as Kanaka Maoli. Get it straight you fucking haole.
You forgot to mention one of the literal definitions of haole: a person without a soul.
Haole translates to not sharing breath (ha is breath, a’ole is no or none). A common greeting among Hawaiians was a forehead touch and an inhale of air together, to share breath. This was between both sexes and all ages. When Missionaries came to Hawaii they didn’t do this and discouraged Hawaiians from doing it, as it looked like a kiss.
If you travel 1000s miles solely to take people’s homes & subsistence farm lands for the purpose of economic profit then being called a “person without a soul” it is a fitting description.
Discussion of who is a Hawaiian here: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3…
We don’t say ‘Floridian’ Kelly Slater when in the context of the person’s home when we are discussing professional surfing. He is simply American. We can thank Rabbit for adding Hawaiian as some kind of made up nationality. Parko, Mick, et al, aren’t Queenslanders, they are Australian.
Hawaiians surfing on the WSL should be rightly labeled as Americans.
What if they don’t want to be labeled as American? It shows how forward thinking the WSL is on indigenous rights, in reference to non-indigenous individuals.
Cap, I think we are talking about two different things. Me, the racially charged and often inaccurate
nationalistic back and forth about which country produces the best surfers. You, it would seem, a much deeper issue.
They don’t like to be labeled as American but they do love the american passport and not having VISA to go to many countries. They also love the progress and the dollars I guess. But ok they don’t like to be called american. (even if they don’t have hawaiian blood and your last name is purely american like Irons, Power, Sullivan, Ziets, etc)
Indigenous versus non-indigenous is the key issue. Generally, indigenous peoples lost many things & have extending much grace in terms of forgiveness. Indigenous is a racial, filial & cultural identity were as non-indigenous is a political identity. Since Hawaii is the birthplace of surfing, if the indigenous surfers wish to be called ‘Hawaiians’ then so be it, imo.
I don’t really want to be labeled as “American” either. Born and raised in the People’s Republik of California, thank you very much.
more details dog. dont just brush over the subject, dig deeper.
Using the term “haole” is a litmus test. If you react negatively, the user will continue using it, if you’re apathetic about it, the user will like you.
Thank you RORY for sharing (albeit very briefly) that Kaua’i was indeed conquered by King Kamehameha (via treaty).
Soy un residente de Hawaii
to be ‘hawaiian’ means you can’t read or write, you’re an ignorant racist and contribute zero to society.
I like to be perverse so please take this with a spoon of semen: it’s pretty much a sure thing the ancestors of the Hawaiian’s who actually give a fuck about this came from Africa or the Middle East anyway. Where do we draw the line? Basically no one is full blood anything. I feel sorry for the little John John’s of the world with no ancestral identity to hark back to. They feel no sense of belonging where they live or where their ancestors came from.