The other day, when I was taking Isabelle to school, I asked her if they had any Chinese students. Where did that come from?? A couple of weeks ago we had talked about the Chinese Immersion program at her school. Naturally, that raises the question, "Are there any Chinese kids at your school?" Plus, I tend to ask completely off the wall the questions. Anyway, she said yes but she didn't know how many. I suggested she count them when she went to the cafeteria for lunch. She said she wasn't going to do that, so I looked it up. (By the way the answer is sixteen.)
When I learned the racial breakdown of her school, out of curiosity I looked at the other schools in Rock Hill my grandchildren attend. I thought, "This is interesting, let me see if I can find the racial breakdown of the schools I attended. I did! That's how I came to my title - Born white, raised a minority.
I was raised in Hawai'i. At least from 3rd grade through my junior year in high school. We moved to Hawai'i in either late 1963 or early 1964. When we first arrived we took a room at the Circle Hotel in Waikiki. Shaped like a Chinese lantern, the hotel was finished in 1963. It's still there.
Shortly after this we found a place to live, still in the Waikiki area, and I went to school. The first school I attended was Lili’uokalani Elementary School, named after the last monarch in Hawai'i, Queen Lydia Lili’uokalani.
A couple of things about the racial breakdowns I am about to present. First, Lili'uokalani school was closed in 2012. Second, all the data for Hawai'i schools is recent. I don't even know if they kept records back when I went to school; if they did I have no idea how to get it; and I don't imagine there has been that much of a change.
This the breakdown for Lili'uokalani Elementary. Spoiler alert - this will be the largest percentage of whites you will see.
After 3rd grade we moved to the Windward side of the island. Kahalu'u. This is what we would call the country. I remember that house, we lived on Kamehameha Highway, literally across the street from the beach. Not a nice beach, but the ocean. I attended 4th grade at Kahalu'u Elementary. 5.5% of the students are white. The only thing that has changed is the Latino population - there wasn't one back then.
After 4th grade we moved to Kaneohe. We lived here the rest of my stay in Hawai'i. I can still remember the house and the address. The house burned down several years ago. I went to Kapunahala Elementary for 5th and 6th grade. White people make up 3.47% of the school population.
7th and 8th grade I attended Samuel W. King Intermediate School. This says 9%. 60 of the 668 students. To be honest, I don't remember that many!
After 8th grade, my Dad wanted me to go to school in Kailua where there were more white people. I had become a "local boy". I remember complaining to my brother Sean, "There's so many haoles there!" He said, "Jeff, you are a haole." [haole is the Hawaiian word for white folks]. I attended 9th grade at an intermediate school in Kailua whose name I can't remember. Then 10th and 11th grades were spent at Kailua High School. There were indeed haoles everywhere! As I looked at attendance figures, the total number of students has declined a good bit, and so has the white population. There may have a been a larger percentage in my day, but still a minority.
Here is a photo of the 2008 class reunion of the 1973 graduating class. I graduated in 1973 (from a school on the mainland), but these are some of the people I went to school with. I'm sure there were plenty people who didn't go to the reunion. The diversity is amazing!
As I said at the beginning, I was born white but grew up as a minority. Not oppressed as other minorities in other areas, but minority nonetheless. It does give you a slightly different perspective on life and people when you've been among the few. At first, I took plenty lickin's for being a haole (translated: I caught a lot of grief), but eventually I became a local boy.
Let me close by putting everything in perspective : I was living in Hawai'i !!
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