Finding the good in anger
By Lee Cataluna
Advertiser Columnist
There's a phrase that has popped up more and more often in the last several years. It's been used to describe Haunani Kay Trask, Pi'ilani Smith, a number of teachers on the picket line and some candidates for political office.
"Angry local woman."
And it's meant as an insult.
Something about the combination of those three words is powerful and loaded.
Ku'ualoha Ho'omanawanui, an editor with 'oiwi, a Native Hawaiian journal, puts it this way:
"The problem, of course, with anger + local + woman is that it plays to a stereotype of what "society" wants/expects from local women: beautiful, passive, erotic, exotic, languid, good mothers, good spouses, good cooks and good lovers. Does anger fit anywhere in there? Nowhere are local women expected to be angry, because they aren't expected to be the movers and shakers of our society — after all, it is the 'old boys' network, not the 'old girls.' "
It's the image of Sweet Leilani that gets in our way. Sweet Leilani, flower behind her ear, standing on a moonlit beach, beckoning, welcoming. Sweet Leilani, making party favors for her cousin's wedding, planning her dream life in a community of just-alike houses.
Leilani is still sweet, but she's sick and tired of having to work three jobs to keep her kids fed and her house intact; she's mad that she's doing her best and not getting ahead; and she's downright furious that sometimes it feels like nobody is listening.
It's interesting that sometimes, the people disapprovingly saying "angry local woman" are women and/or local.
"Anger is a difficult issue, not only because it can be destructive, but because it defies the local value of going along, whether we call it 'aloha', 'hanging loose', 'cruising' or whatever," Ho'omanawanui wrote.
Lynette Cruz, one of the most active activists around (name a community group — chances are, she's on it) has heard "angry" used as an insult enough times.
"They don't really care about us being angry, as long as it's not in public," she says.
I'm not talking about anger expressed as leaning on the horn in Pearl City traffic or temper tantrums at the Hawaiian Airlines counter. I'm talking about anger that can lead to positive change.
Cruz says that kind of emotion is not incongruous with "aloha".
"We can show aloha by standing up and speaking truth, by being proactive, by speaking from the guts...," she says. "There is something tremendously empowering for women, native women, native people who can be authentic in a public way, whether angry or kind or loving."
Angry when it serves us, outspoken when it's needed, and always authentic. Now that's sweet.
Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-8172.
