Hawaii Topia

Several times I have been called Haole (pronounced how-lee) while living in Hawaii. Well, actually I was called f***ing Haole, but I will get to that later.

The term Haole has several meaning depending on who you ask. To most of the non-Asian tourists that visit the Islands of Hawaii it means foreigner or not a local. After you live on the islands for a while it typically becomes a racial, derogatory word for whites. Thus why I was called a “f***ing Haole” two times in my five plus years on Oahu. What evil action did I perform to draw the hatred of my fellow Oahu residents? Well, on one instance I was walking on a cross walk and apparently too slow. They honked the horn, yelled “f***ing Haole” and like men drove off as fast as they could. The second offense was me honking my horn at a local for cutting me off and almost driving off the road. Obviously I deserved it! But I digress…

If you do a little research you will hear several stories of the origins of the word Haole. Ask 10 locals and you will likely get 5-10 different answers. Here are a few of them:

“No breath” or “breathless” - apparently when the first white men arrived Hawaii they didn’t know how to perform a Hawaiian greeting of touching nose-to-nose and inhaling or essentially sharing each other’s breaths. So, they were called “hāʻole” or “breathless. Native Hawaiian Professor Fred Beckley said, “The white people came to be known as ha-ole (without breath) because after they said their prayers, they did not breathe three times as was customary in ancient Hawaii.”

“Foreign” or “Foreigner” - This is generally what most Hawaiians feel Haole means

“Evil White man” - Thanks to Captain Cook, the US military invading and occupying the islands and all the tourists some natives have become restless.

In some of the more racially charged places in Hawaii they even celebrate “Kill Haole Day.” This is no joke! From Wikipedia:

In 1999, its prevalence became an issue for hate crimes legislation, as there was concern that schools’ inability to stop the attacks and harassment would result in lawsuits under the proposed legislation. On November 15th, 2007, an attack took place in which 14 children participated in the beating of a 12 year old, who was taken to the hospital with a head wound requiring 10 stitches. The victim was given a one day suspension for calling one of her attackers a “slut” during the incident.

That’s it, punish the victim! That will teach her for being white!

When Waiakea Intermediate School student Evelyn Higgins had her head bashed against a wall by another girl two weeks ago, the incident followed a nasty exchange of words. The attacker called Evelyn a “f– haole.” Evelyn called the attacker a “slut.”

Evelyn, 12, had a gash in her head closed with 10 surgical staples.

Tomorrow, she’ll have to sit through a day of in-school suspension somewhere on the school grounds for using the word “slut.”

Just last year a stupid Haole had the balls to take some pictures on the beach in Waianae. One of the locals didn’t like that so he punched and killed the kid that was visiting Hawaii check out the universities on Oahu.

There you have a brief history and meaning of the word Haole. If you are a tourist paying $400 a night down in Waikiki, don’t take it too serious. They are just calling you a foreigner. If you are a white girl on your last day of the school year start running for your life!