Obama Not "Hawaiian"

Have been spending a lot of time correcting usage of the word "Hawaiian." First it was an article on Salon.com ("Barack Obama's epic win" by Walter Shapiro) which referred to Obama as "Hawaiian-born" and then Stephen Colbert, in his hilarious skit about how we have reached a great milestone in American history by electing our first president from Hawaii, calls Obama "Hawaiian". Argh! I can't take it anymore. 

Sadly, the dictionary definition of "Hawaiian" does not coincide with local usage of the term. Dictionary.com's entry says it is 1. anything "of or pertaining to Hawaii or the Hawaiian Islands" or 2. "a native or inhabitant of Hawaii or the Hawaiian Islands".  My old World Book copyright 1981 gets even more imprecise calling it, "a person born or living in Hawaii." Here's a version of the letters sent to both Colbert and Salon.com. Short of writing the Chicago Manual of Style, I'm not sure how to get the word out on a larger scale.

Okay, now that Obama has won the White House and we can safely expect to see his name and background given in print for some time to come, let's get a few things straight:

 

First off, people from Hawaii are NOT "Hawaiians". The term "Hawaiian" refers to people of native-Hawaiian descent. As a result of the diseases spread post European contact, individuals with Hawaiian blood (that is, native Hawaiian blood) are pretty rare and those few who are able to claim Hawaiian-descent have certain rights legally. Only Hawaiians are eligible for entry to Kamehameha Schools, which I understand is the most well-endowed school in the nation; only Hawaiians are eligible for certain housing; "Hawaiian pride" (not a legal term) refers to pride in being Hawaiian (in blood); only Hawaiians can trace their ancestry in Hawaii back to pre-European contact.

 

With that, it's incorrect to say that Obama is "Hawaiian" or "Hawaiian-born". He is "Hawaii-born" and this is the proud descriptor that has been given in local Hawaii news coverage of him over the past 18+ months.

 

How then do we refer people from Hawaii? Well, an individual currently residing in Hawaii could be called a resident, the same as in any other state, I suppose.  But Hawaii has a pretty sizeable population that is transient, so "resident of Hawaii" would not necessarily refer to those individuals who have very long-standing ties to the islands. For individuals born and raised in Hawaii, the term is "local". For example, you would say, "Locals in Hawaii enjoy spam." (Oh, yes!) Caucasians who have been in Hawaii for most of their lives are often referred to as "local haoles". There are full scholarly studies on this term "local" (as it is used in Hawaii). It's a loaded term that suggests authenticity and a genuine tie to the islands. It's also a term used on the evening news to describe criminals of some nebulous race (ie "police are on the look-out for a local male 5'10"…"). We'll save the topic of racism against Hawaiians for another missive. In any case, Obama is not Hawaiian.