'STINK MOUTH' IS NOT THE WAY FOR THE OHA CHAIR TO WIN RE-ELECTION -- The Catbird's Forum

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Date Posted: 23:09:22 10/22/08 Wed
Author: Bob O. Link
Subject:

'STINK MOUTH' IS NOT THE WAY FOR THE OHA CHAIR TO WIN RE-ELECTION

Hawaii Reporter
Freedom to Report Real News

http://www.hawaiireporter.com/story.aspx?cf2ec1f5-bf9a-4c5d-83e2-5a0b7a690382

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'Stink Mouth' is Not the Way for the OHA Chair to Win Re-election

An Open Letter to Hawaii Reporter Readers

By J. Arthur Rath, 10/22/2008 9:40:45 AM

I apologize for the unprovoked attack on the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii and its new president Jamie Story by the Chairperson of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Haunani Apoliona, which appears in this week�s Honolulu Weekly.

Although I am not part of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, I participate in their programs, and I know enough not to swallow bias. As E.E. Cummings writes in his poem �I Sing of Olaf�:

�There is some shit I will not eat.�

There are rights and there are rites, Lady Apoliona mixed them up with her attack on Ms. Story.

Racism is an issue hanging over our islands like a dark, brooding cloud: An ominous cancer in our midst.

It is the greatest single threat to the future of Hawaii. It theatens to tear apart the very fabric of our society. Her letter reads that way.

Pure and part-Hawaiians are adrift in the ocean of non-Hawaiians, but all of the basic solid colors in humanity, as in the rainbow, are beautiful.

Work and a sense of values are the answers to success�we were indoctrinated with that in the old days at Kamehameha School for Boys � my colleagues proved it to be true. I write about them and it.

I write about all shades of the rainbow.

For instance, most of Japanese-Americans who attained prominence in various professional fields are not by any sense the products of the privileged class, but are the offspring of poor immigrants who toiled in sugar-cane and pineapple fields under untold hardship.

These parents toiled and lived with just one hope: to raise their children to become useful American citizens.

The following words from a letter to The Honolulu Advertiser were published over 30 years ago. Although referring to Japanese immigrants, they underscore the point to Jamie Story�s article about upward mobility among part-Hawaiians which provoked Haunani Apoliona�s wrath:

�The parents gave up the little pleasures they had to give to their children the best education they could provide. The children studied hard and worked diligently in their respective professions. Their prominence today is a hard-earned reward that should be commended and respected.

�Such opportunity for achievements is far more widely open than ever before to all, regardless of their national backgrounds."

Racial strife is often triggered, intensified, and spread and exploited by sinister politicians to further their own ambitions.

Ms. Apoliona is seeking re-election to OHA�s board. I surmise her letter of harm is political ritual directed at Ms. Story is an attempt to show she can breathe bad breath at an imaginary dragon. I don't think "stink mouth" is a way to win votes.

J. Arthur Rath is a Hawaiian author living in Aiea, Hawaii who can be reached at mailto:imua@spamarrest.com

Additional References:

http://www.kycbs.net/Bishop.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/Lost-Generations.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/OHA.htm

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