When people view concepts with such opposing foundational beliefs, it is hard not to wonder why and how such a thing came to be. So, when Moises Velasquez-Manoff discovered that attitudes and beliefs regarding race were so different in Hawaii, he decided to find out for himself what was going on.
This decision was inspired partly by how Velasquez-Manoff comes from a mixed Jewish-Puerto Rican background himself and was only enhanced upon meeting with Dr. Kristin Pauker, a psychology professor and native Hawaiian. According to Dr. Pauker, young upper-middle-class children between 4 and 11 years old in the Boston area “increasingly viewed race as a permanent condition,” where Hawaiian children “did not attribute race the inherent qualities… that their mainland brethren did. ‘They didn’t believe that race was biological’,” (4). Such a divide in thinking, that race is fixed versus race being fluid, inspired Vasquez-Manoff to fly to Hawaii and conduct some of his own experiments. He quickly discovered that his own thinking of race would prove troublesome as “Here [he] was trying to discern ancestry, but how was [he] to know anyone’s background by just looking, particularly in a place where people were so mixed?” (10).
When Velasquez-Manoff came into contact with Dr. Marilynn Brewer, a social psychologist, he learned more about the history of racism. Racist ideology is a social construct, not human nature, and first started showing up in the 14th century when European Jews were blamed for a plague in 1348. Before then, even societies that possessed slaves such as the Romans and Greeks thought that even though “they divided the world into… civilized, and barbarian… being barbarian wasn’t an inescapable condition,” (16). Racist ideas “served a clear purpose: to buttress an economic system,” (19). So, how did Hawaii seemingly escape these ingrained beliefs about race?
When native Hawaiians were originally overthrown and white plantation owners took over Hawaii, they brought workers from all over the world in the hopes that their differences would keep them apart. And it worked, for a time. After World War II, the San Francisco-based International Longshore and Warehouse Union began organizing better conditions for workers in Hawaii and in order “To build a union everyone would buy into, all ethnic groups had to be equally represented. And so, union leadership positions were deliberately parceled out among ethnic groups,” (37). Since then, Hawaii has become overwhelmingly progressive and has learned to put aside preconceived notions of race.
Vasquez-Manoff wasn’t satisfied there though, surely just the formation of unions wouldn’t be enough to create such a lifestyle. And as such, he started looking into Hawaiian culture.
Hawaii itself is a small island chain, contributing to much of its customs. When you are stuck together when others, you must learn to get along and share what you have in order to survive. Plus, the fact that the people from all over the world who were originally brought in as workers were stuck within a set of bounds lead to a population that is majorly mixed. This unique and intricate genealogy has lead to Hawaiian children “From an early age, [seeing] race as something complex and full of nuance, not something simple or black and white,” (45).
Furthermore, Hawaiians are constantly joking about racial stereotypes. While this lack of racial politeness could be seen as harmful, Dr. Pauker believes that it “keeps conversations about race in Hawaii on the surface, rather than pushing them underground,” (45). Also, it is better for children to learn of race and stereotypes in a lighthearted manner than to absorb negative and damaging ideas from broader society.
By the time Velasquez-Manoff finished his research into the different perceptions of race by Hawaiian people, he had found that the “aloha spirit” had links to geography, imperialism, and more. Just like race itself, it was the result of intricate and complex societal norms and history.
