Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 23, Number 8, 1 August 2006 — Pale-skinned Kānaka [ARTICLE]

Pale-skinned Kānaka

For the past several months, I have dreamed of the day when I ean sit down with a copy of Ka Wai Ola and not read a letter from some light-skinned Hawaiian complaining about how people think they are haole. Being a bit on the pale side myself, I know exactly how all of you feel. People have called me almost everything under the sun: Cuban, Puerto Rican, Mexican, Aleut, Lakota, Iranian, Russian, Italian, Spanish or just plain old, generic white. You can't let it bother you. All that matters is that you and your loved ones know you are Kanaka Maoli. One of the most important things I have learned in every science class I have taken as a pre-medical student is that genetics is one big twist of fate: you never know how you're going to end up looking. To my fellow melaninchallenged Hawaiians, invest in some sunscreen stock and let everything else roll off of you. In closing, here is a little pearl of wisdom for everyone else that I learned from my beautiful, dark-skinned mother: don't harass people because you think they're haole, they might not be. Besides, it just isn't very niee. Kau'i Baumhofer 'Aiea, O'ahu

KA LEO KAIĀULU • LETTERS T0 THE EDIT0R —