Working at this Hawaiian plantation is dreadful and overly exhausting. I feel like quitting every single day, but I have to make money to come home to Japan. I would do absolutely anything to see all of you again, I’m working as hard as I can to come home to you Okaasan (Mother) and Otousan (Father). Okaasan please take care of Otousan and the whole family. I had to leave because my fiance in Hawaii saved enough money for me to travel 4,801 miles from Japan to Hawaii to be with him and share a life with him. I also agreed to work on the plantation he did. Another reason why I left was because we kept fighting at home and I couldn’t take it anymore, that was my worst mistake I ever made.
Before I made the worst and most terrible mistake of
my life, I thought coming to Hawaii would be about paradise and feeling the cool air blowing on my pale face. I pictured beautiful waterfalls and rainbows everyday. I also expected my husband to be older and less loving since he spent many years on this plantation. He was actually a year older than me because he was born into the plantations and he was very loving and charming. We live on the plantation together with more people. Our house is non-spacious and our bathroom is outside. Also, traveling to Hawaii and working on the plantation was nothing I expected. The weather was very muggy and humid everyday on the plantation. Every morning and night, sunrise to sunset was the exact same. I would wake up, go to the plantation and work for 10 hours and go to sleep. This was the most awful and mortifying time of my life. My relationships with Filipinos, Portuguese, and Chinese started off in a wonderful way. We were all friends and one community until they noticed we got paid more and they were enraged. When they were still my friends and nice to me, I taught them how to make our famous kinako mochi. They also taught me how to make some of their items from their culture. The Filipinos taught me how to make lumpias which are filled with either meat, veggies, or fruit and they’re wrapped in a thin rice paper and then they’re deep fried. A couple of Portuguese taught me how to make a ukulele. A ukulele is an instrument that looks like a guitar, but smaller and with four strings. Then, the Chinese taught me how to make dumplings. They are filled with meat and secured with rice noodles. The food looked mouthwatering and tasted even better. The ukulele was difficult to play, but once you practice it’s easy. I am hanging on to hope and I’m trying to save enough money to come home to all of you. You’re all I can think of and all that’s motivating me to keep working and living. I’ll see you soon, I love you all so much and I’ll try to write to you soon. Love, Hinata
Soon after Papa’s arrest, Mama relocated the family to the Japanese immigrant ghetto on Terminal Island. For Mama this was a comfort in the company of other Japanese but for Jeanne it was a frightening experience. It was the first time she had lived around other people of Japanese heritage and this fear was also reinforced by the threat that her father would sell her to the “Chinaman” if she behaved badly. In this ghetto Jeanne and he ten year old brother were teased and harassed by the other children in their classes because they could not speak Japanese and were already in the second grade. Jeanne and Kiyo had to avoid the other children’s jeers. After living there for two mo...
Hawaii’s political economy went through some major changes. The development of plantations and tourism paved the path for how Hawaii’s economy is today. I will discuss how tourism, ethnicity, gender and education both constrain and enable opportunities in contemporary Hawaii.
In 1995, Disney released their 33rd animated feature, Pocahontas, another film that featured Native Americans, but this time being the main focus. While generally receiving mixed to positive reviews and being a box office success, the film was harshly criticized for its historical inaccuracies and deemed offensive for seeming to have a bigger focus on the negative treatment of Pocahontas and her tribe by the Englishmen. Many critics argued that the film presents damaging stereotypes of American Indians. One of the native critics, Chief Roy Crazy Horse, claimed that Disney refused his tribe's offers to help create not only a more historically accurate, but also a more cultural film adaptation of the story. The lyrics of the
Hawaii- for many, what comes to mind is a beautiful, tropical paradise of golden-sanded beaches, crystal-clear waters, and softly swaying palm trees moving melodically under a magnificent setting sun. However, behind the notion of Hawaii being the epithet of a tourist-attracting tropical utopia, there is something what people quite often oversee-- its substandard, failing public education system. When it was first established, Hawaii’s public education system was somewhat of prestige. However, due to a numerous amount of broad factors such as issues within Hawaii’s government, economy, and culture, Hawaii’s education system has suffered major drawbacks in its public education system. This contributes to a reverse consequence, as a poor education system can lead to
1.) How did the arrival of American missionaries in Hawaii affect the lives of Native Hawaiians?
While walking down the beach, the white, warm sand mushes between your toes. The sun’s radiant rays beam off your glowing skin. The sound of waves crashing blocks out the external world. There is no other place like the gorgeous tropical islands of Hawaii. The wide range of flowers, cuisine, and wildlife makes it one of the most picturesque places on Earth. It also leads the United States with the highest racial minority rate making it the most diverse state. However, there are numerous hidden dangers of Hawaii, and not all ethnic groups get along causing sharp tensions across the island.
Since 1840 the Hawaiian Islands have been an escape to a tropical paradise for millions of tourists. People all over the world encounter alluring, romanticized pictures of Hawai'i's lush, tropical vegetation, exotic animals, beautiful beaches, crystal clear water, and fantastical women. This is the Hawai'i tourists know. This is the Hawai’i they visit. However, this Hawai'i is a state of mind, a corporate-produced image existing on the surface. More precisely, it is an aftermath of relentless colonization of the islands' native inhabitants by the United States. These native Hawaiians experience a completely different Hawai'i from the paradise tourists enjoy. No one makes this as clear as Haunani-Kay Trask, a native Hawaiian author. In her book, From a Native Daughter: Colonialism and Sovereignty in Hawai'i and through her poetry in Light in the Crevice Never Seen, Trask provides an intimate account of the tourist industry's impact on native Hawaiian culture. She presents a negative perspective of the violence, pollution, commercial development, and cultural exploitation produced by the tourist industry. Trask unveils the cruel reality of suffering and struggling through a native Hawaiian discourse. Most of the world is unaware of this.
This is Won-a-pa-lei, or Karana. As you may know I was left stranded on an island with my late brother Ramo, or Chief Tanyositlopai, while my sister Ulape and the rest of our tribe left to unknown land. I wish to not point fingers, but Ramo was at fault for their departure without us. He was a stubborn child who went to collect his spear quickly before they could have left. I had to go after him because what’s an older sister to do? With my parent’s death and Ulape’s obsessive crush with Nanko, she sure was not going after him. I am glad I went after him. If I wouldn’t have gone after him I would’ve never met Rontu or Won-a-nee and her children. I also would’ve never met Tutok, who gifted me beautiful beads which I cherish deeply and became my dear friend even though she was part of my sworn enemies group, the Aleuts. I honestly wish that I had not gone on the boat with the strangers. They took me to an unknown place and informed me that everybody on the previous ship had passed away. It was a horrible truth that I certainly did not need to know. They also made me remove my beautiful skirt so that I could wear one of their hideous and scratchy dresses. I endured many hardships while living unaccompanied in the island. I had to construct various forms of weapons to protect and defend myself against the wild dogs living on the island with me.
One form of punishment, a master would use often would be to threaten to sale a slave to get them submissive. When he could not break them or to make an example for the other slaves, he would sale them. Enslaved people knew if the master died as well as if the master was under financial stress, they could be sold. Profit was another reason slaves were auctioned. $1000 to $2000 could be attained for a health male slave before the start of the Civil War. Female slaves that were health usually went for a couple hundred dollars less than the male slaves did.
Plantation life in Virginia required a large family and slaves for agriculture labour. As most of the settlers coming to Chesapeake colonies caught diseases and died. Also, between 1619 and 1622, 3570 people arrived in Jamestown but only one-third of them were alive. This was caused by Powhatan warriors who attacked and killed 347 of the settlers. By 1622, after the population had almost been wiped out in 1622, they imported women to Virginia to get married to the settlers, which did not bring any sign of growth in population by nature increase. So when the settlers had family, usually women were supporting their families by cooking, gardening, childcare, and laundries. Also, men took in part of helping their wives with the laundry, drying,
And why it wasn’t the other way around, us living in Morocco? It isn’t a choice that your mother and I had to make, it’s the current economic situation in Morocco that made it really hard for us to live there. When you were first born, we stayed about a year in Morocco and from then on we knew it would be very hard for us to live a decent life in their economy. I couldn’t find a job with my degree because there are no petrochemical companies in Morocco, and the job your mother could get would not have been enough on its own. Now we live happily in Saudi Arabia, even though your mother misses her country and family every day, she knows that her sacrifice would mean that her children would live a decent life.
Hawai'i is a land full of diverse people and ideas, starting from the Polynesians who decided to cross the ocean to settle and form the traditions practiced today by the Hawaiians. Unlike many other states, the beliefs of Hawai'i have managed to stay alive. Its unique culture is what attracts tourists most. Many people see it as a vacation spot, full of fun attractions and say, “When I go to Hawai'i I'm going to get some Hawaiian tattoos, they look so cool!” or “I'm going to buy a hula skirt, they're really pretty!” But all those hula dances and tattoos are not just for show. People do not know that there is more to it than ink or hip swaying; behind every hula skirt and every tattoo there is a story. Hawai’i’s culture consists of the significance of its dances, tattoos, and traditions that give Hawaiians their unique lifestyle.
I guess today is another thrilling day, and this morning I wake up at 4 o’clock in the morning to get ready to work by 5 am. My brother Thorn and I walked there and we were a bit late today. And I didn’t even have any breakfast. Once we got there, we started to work immediately. Then someone stared at me. It was the man in the uniform. He yelled at me just because I whispered to the other person sitting next to me then I saw some kids playing in the street and I felt very disappointed and jealous. Why I can’t go out side and play in the street like these kids but I guess that’s part of life. We usually get two breaks during the day, Lunch and dinner. But today I didn’t get any break. And I have to work straight though it. I’m starving and my hands are very sore. I usually have to work 14 hours a day but since Thomas Edison invented the light bulb I only have to work for 10 hours. And finally my work is done and it’s 5pm. My wage is 20 cents a day but most of the boys who are younger than me get 25cent per day or even 30cents per day. I don’t know why but my parents say that I have to work or we have to live on the streets
Every night, as I sat on the table with my younger brothers assisting them with their homework, I hear a familiar sound at the door. As she walks her heels click, and I can hear her searching her bag for her keys, the next thing I know the keys are in the lock and as it turns me and my younger brothers’ jump. We run to the door and indeed we scream in unison “Mommy’s home”, one by one she gives us a hug and a kiss. My mother asks us how our day was, and if we finished our homework, she then looks to me and said “did you cook and assist your younger ones with their homework”; I replied “yes mom”. As I warm the food, I take my mother’s purse, jacket, and shoes put them away and prepare the table for her to eat dinner. As I glance at the clock, with bright red lights glaring at me I notice the time, it is 7:30 p.m. As a young child I never questioned my mom, about her daily program but it was understood to me that my mother worked very hard to raise three children on her own. My mother migrated from Nigeria at the age of 18, with a scholarship to study at the New York City College of Technology; she received her Bachelor’s of Science Degree. She created a path way of success for her younger siblings; the first to go to college, the first to come to America with a scholarship offer. My mother works at the Nigerian Embassy, she also has a certificate in Cisco Systems, she has her license in nursing and is a licensed realtor, there were no bearings on where my mother education stopped, soon after her siblings from Nigeria followed in pursuit of furthering their education and continuing the path of success. Her dedication and pride enlightened me throughout high school. Every morning, I woke up at 5am, I then woke my younger brothe...
Discussed and found in this paper, you will find, how I have appreciated you from the time I started staying with you. I have come to an understanding of you, Hawaii. I understand your self pride, physical traits, culture, and history. These keep my memories alive, that have brought back to life what it felt like to experience your underlying qualities first hand. You mysteriously carry messages and feelings around that make you stand out from everywhere else. “Oh Hawaii, how grateful I am to you”.