| America accomplished an amazing feat with our 2008 | | | | towards equalization has been a mixing of the races, |
| presidential election, the result of 232 years of racial | | | | not just black and white but of world-wide cultures |
| turmoil for our country. President Barack Obama was | | | | and all the shades of humanity they represent. |
| elected as the first president who was not full | | | | I lived in Hawaii in 1958-9 and was in Honolulu when |
| Caucasian. President Obama is heralded as the first | | | | Alaska was voted in as a state. Hawaii knew that if |
| black president, which was a political triumph in its | | | | Alaska made statehood, Hawaii was next. The 49th |
| own right. However his election was even more | | | | State Fair banners for that year were crossed out |
| astounding than the simple black and white issue. To | | | | and changed from the 49th State to the 50th State |
| me the universe gave us a gift, a bridge between | | | | Fair. Celebration was in the air. Hawaii was moving |
| the races. President Obama is a mixed race child, half | | | | from the shock of the December 7, 1941 Japanese |
| black and half white. He is the product of a marriage | | | | bombing of Pearl Harbor to inclusion as the 50th U.S. |
| between an Indonesian father and a Caucasian | | | | state in 1959 only 18 years later. History was racing. |
| mother. For some odd reason, we celebrate his | | | | Immigration The U.S. is a nation of immigrants. If you |
| blackness and ignore his whiteness and lose the | | | | count the American Indians as the original citizens of |
| concept of the universal gift to bridge our | | | | this country (and I do), everyone else was an |
| differences. | | | | immigrant. The colonists had no concept of the |
| The Founding Fathers of America were farmers, | | | | eventual enormous size of this country. People |
| merchants, tradesmen, investors, and ordinary | | | | started coming first as a trickle, then as a flood. The |
| citizens. Many of them either had slaves for home | | | | people of that immigration flood is what settled and |
| and business or were investors in businesses that | | | | shaped this country. However, there were controls |
| incorporated some part of the slave trade industry. | | | | on that flow and those who came to our shores |
| Many of the men who founded our country were | | | | both found a home and contributed to our country. |
| students and philosophers who had studied the | | | | Both the immigrants and the nation benefited from |
| course of human freedom through the ages. The | | | | that legal immigration. All four of my grandparents |
| concept of individual liberty and self-rule ran strong in | | | | immigrated around the turn of the 20th century and |
| these men. These wise and brave men were torn | | | | made a new life here. I am a second-generation |
| between the common cultural practices of that day | | | | product of immigration and I am a very proud |
| and the obvious hypocrisy of their own slave holdings | | | | American. That immigration was worldwide in scope: |
| as they attempted to found a new country based | | | | countries, cultures, religions, societies, you name it, |
| on individual freedoms. | | | | everyone was welcomed, within reason and within |
| America emerged from the negotiations as a new | | | | the existing framework. None of this was easy but it |
| nation that preserved the colonies' slave-holding | | | | did happen. Currently our immigration issues are quite |
| status even though many of our Founding Fathers | | | | different and to me they are out of control. What |
| had attempted to bring an end to slavery as it was | | | | was meant to be an orderly assimilation into our |
| known in those times. Slavery was a political football | | | | society looks more like chaos. Yet, America is a |
| but was common practice in the colonies. Slavery | | | | melting pot society. |
| provided the workforce for southern plantations and | | | | In Hawaii, that melting pot is even more common. I |
| slave trade and breeding was an accepted business | | | | lived there in 1958-9 and the mixing between races |
| practice. Slave trade shipping and commerce was a | | | | was common even then, particularly between |
| common practice of the northern colonies. Slaves | | | | American servicemen and the general Hawaiian |
| who attended the home and family were widespread | | | | population. Most of my personal friends were far |
| throughout the colonies. | | | | eastern or Polynesian in origin. All my husband's |
| The issue of slavery was a vote-barrier for the | | | | friends were U.S. service men. Their children were |
| agreement that resulted in the Declaration of | | | | thoroughly racially mixed. When President Obama was |
| Independence. It had elongated the discussion and | | | | elected, I had the good fortune to have a friend |
| complicated any agreement between the colonies. In | | | | living in Hawaii who I could question about the |
| order to pass the Declaration of Independence, the | | | | president. I asked for her thoughts. She told me that |
| issue of slavery had to be tabled and the problems | | | | Hawaii doesn't see the color of a person's skin. |
| and apparent hypocrisy passed to succeeding | | | | Hawaiians believe that everyone is cream-colored, |
| generations to solve. It became a work in process. | | | | regardless of their heritage or skin color. I thought |
| The slavery issue remained unresolved like a | | | | that was about as non-judgmental as a society could |
| festering wound in our society until the inevitable | | | | get! |
| collision course between the factions ignited in the | | | | As an interesting sideline, my friend also told me that |
| American Civil War of 1861-5. The man who wanted | | | | a "don't sweat it" attitude prevails. If the issue is not |
| most to broker an agreement between the factions | | | | truly important, Hawaiians just don't worry about it... |
| became our war president. Uppermost in his mind | | | | sort of a "don't worry, be happy" attitude. They do |
| was preservation of the Union but the slavery | | | | not view comments or experience in a politically |
| question drove the war itself. With the assassination | | | | correct framework because everything is pretty |
| of President Abraham Lincoln just after the Civil War | | | | much politically correct according to their generally |
| ended, the succeeding president, Andrew Johnson | | | | more relaxed attitude. My 50-year old memory |
| was unable to broker a peaceful post-war transition | | | | supports the seeds of that current attitude. So we |
| between the north and south. The resulting | | | | have a president who was raised in a society where |
| conditions following that terrible war were appalling | | | | cream-colored and "don't sweat it" was the norm. He |
| and incredibly long lasting. Prejudice along those lines | | | | must have received a rude awakening when he got |
| still exists now. While the Emancipation Proclamation | | | | to Washington. |
| professed to free the slaves, freedom and equality | | | | We should celebrate the election of a mixed race |
| were far more difficult. It took a very long time to | | | | president, a black man (correct that, half black-half |
| produce even the beginnings of such freedom and | | | | white man), a product of the melting pot that is |
| equality. Again, this was a work in process. | | | | Hawaii, the United States and the world. The universe |
| Around 100 years later, along came the ferment of | | | | gave us a gift, a man with his foot in both worlds, |
| the Civil Rights Movement. After many years and | | | | representing the mix that our world culture is |
| many terrible situations, we slowly made progress in | | | | becoming. Freedom and evolution do not come easily, |
| individual freedoms for all people of all color and that | | | | but given time and effort, they can happen in our |
| even aided individual rights for women. Slowly but | | | | society. It would seem to me it would be wise to |
| surely colored people of all persuasions have been | | | | listen to the universe when it is giving us a gift or a |
| climbing the social, economic, educational and business | | | | hint at our own evolution. Or do we need the |
| ladders towards equality. Along with the prolific | | | | universe to get louder or more aggressive to get our |
| immigration numbers, the by-product of that climb | | | | attention? |