Lessons from Hawaii
LESSON NUMBER 1:
FUCKIN MICRONESIANS!
that’s my seventh grade friend
cussin at the boys across the street
rockin swap meet blue t-shirt
baggy jeans
spittin a steady beetlenut stream
yea one of them’s related to me
You know, you’re actually
kinda smart
for a Micronesian
And that’s my classmate
who I tutor through the civil war
through the first immigrants
through history that always
seems to repeat itself
LESSON NUMBER 2:
Micronesian
MICRO(nesian)
as in small. tiny
crumbs of islands scattered
across the pacific ocean.
different countries/nations/cultures no one
has heard about / cares about too
small
to notice. small like how
i feel
when woman at the salon
delicately tracing white across my nail
stops and says
you know you don’t look
Micronesian.
You’re much prettier!
LESSON NUMBER 3:
Prettier
as in
not
ugly
like those
other
Micronesian girls
who are always walking by the street smiling
rows of gold teeth like they got
no shame with hair greased and braided cascading
down dirt roads of brown skin, down
shimmering dresses called guams and neon colored chuukese skirts
and i can hear
the disgust
in my cousin’s voice
Look at those girls! They wear their guams
to school and to the store like they’re
at home don’t they
know?
This isn’t their country this is America see that’s
why everyone here hates
us Micronesians
LESSON NUMBER 4:
I’ll tell you
why everyone here hates
Micronesians
It’s cuz we’re neon colored skirts screaming DIFFERENT!
Different like that ESL kid
whose name you can’t pronounce
whose accent you can’t miss
Different like walmart/7-eleven/mickey D’s parking lot kick its and fights
those long hours
those blue collar nights
Different like parties
with hundreds of swarming aunties, uncles, cousins
sticky breadfruit drenched in creamy coconut
coolers of our favorite fish
wheeled from the airport
barbequed on a spit
my uncle waving me over
Dede a itok! Kejro mona!
Dede come! Let’s eat!
LESSON NUMBER 5:
Headline:
NO ALOHA FOR MICRONESIANS IN HAWAII
Headline:
MICRONESIANS RUN UP HEFTY HEALTH CARE TAB
Headline:
MICRONESIANS FILL HOMELESS SHELTERS
Quote:
We shoulda jus nuked their islands when we had the chance!
Quote:
You know, they’re better off living homeless in Hawai’i
then they are living in their own islands
Joke:
Eh, eh – why did
the Micronesian man marry
a monkey?
Because all Micronesian women are monkeys!
What?
Can’t you take a joke?
LESSON NUMBER 6:
It’s actually
NOT Micronesian
It’s Marshallese/Chuukese/Yapese/Pohnpeian
Palauan/Kosraean/Chamorru/Nauruan/Kiribati/
but when Hawaii insists
on lumping us
all together
when they belittle us and tell us we’re small
when they tell us our people are small
when they give you a blank face
when they give you a closed door
when so many
in Hawaii
hate
Micronesians
when so many
hate
us
LESSON NUMBER 7:
That’s how I learned
That’s how I learned
That’s how I learned
to hate
me.
* for more information on racism against micronesians in hawaii check out this article:
http://www.civilbeat.com/articles/2011/06/20/11650-no-aloha-for-micronesians-in-hawaii/
Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner 