2 months ago, I mentioned there wasn't enough coverage in the local media on ethnic conflicts many immigrants face in Hawaii.
Here's an article on Filipino immigrants in Hawaii.
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2005/Mar/21/ln/ln09p.html
Elena Lactaoen Lao, who was born in Hawai'i but spent most of her formative years north of Manila, Philippines, moved back to the Islands and found herself a foreigner in her birthplace.
In high school the girls I hung out with were more local than Filipino, and the freshman year, I was teased a lot. I had an accent, even how I dressed. Academically I felt I had to prove myself, I had to excel," said Lao, 30, who attended Waipahu High School. "It wasn't until my early 20s that I began to think I am part of this culture."
Isle singer Marlene Baldueza said she felt a clearer cultural identity, owing to her parents' involvement with Filipino associations. However, when she visited the large Filipino community in San Francisco, she admired the more overt "Asian pride" the teens there expressed.
State Rep. Michael Magoay, elected by the North Shore community where he was born, remembered the tension between the colorful Filipino demeanor and laid-back local culture.
"Once you go visit the Philippines, you see the culture is very rich," Magoay said. "Locals are more reserved; they say, 'Eh, no make 'A.' But once you go out of your element and find out where they're coming from, you understand why you're a Filipino."
Magoay said some immigrant students he meets on school visits abandon their language a year after their arrival in the rush to fit in.
"They tell me they're 'shame,' and I say, 'Why are you shame?' " he said. "Those barriers are just within your mind."
