Columnist tapped well of anger

By Jerry Burris
Advertiser Editorial Editor

In the emotion-wracked aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, one of the oddest moments locally centered on a casual newspaper column published in the Tri-City Herald in Washington state.

Columnist Karen Zacharias, stranded here after all flights were canceled, wrote an unfortunate and somewhat condescending column about the apparent lack of patriotism in Waikiki. The column contained typical cliches about "fat men strumming ukuleles" and suggested that isolated, tropical Hawai'i just didn't get what had happened to our nation.

She was inundated with angry e-mails and letters from Islanders and others, and has since apologized. No apology was needed, actually, because she is entitled to her opinion and was simply reporting on what she saw.

What's interesting here is the depth of anger in many of the responses Zacharias received. Somehow, Zacharias hit a far deeper nerve than she might have imagined.

There is no doubt that Hawai'i felt the wounds of the Sept. 11 attack as painfully as anyone. Simply because the sun was shining and the waves continued to roll in doesn't mean we didn't feel fully a part of the national crisis.

So maybe there is something here beyond one columnist simply failing to see the whole picture. What Zacharias may have experienced was the exasperation of a people who are tired of not being taken seriously.

Hawai'i has long suffered a subtle spirit of inferiority. When experts are needed, they have to be "Mainland" experts. Our ethic of tolerance and respect is sometimes taken as well-deserved humility. Part of this goes back, perhaps, to plantation days when the remnants of a colonial tradition tended to trivialize immigrant and Hawaiian culture.

Some of the hurt stems from World War II, when Japanese Americans had to withstand ferocious assaults on their loyalty and patriotism.

So Hawai'i and many of its people have had a long history of not being taken seriously. It could be that in this moment of real national trauma, Zacharias tapped into this hurt in ways she didn't understand.

Part of the problem, of course, is of our own making. As much as we wish to be taken as a full-fledged member of the American family, we continue to promote ourselves as being different.

Our image remains one of sunshine, smiles, laughter, blue skies and blue water. Those images jar at a moment of dark national tragedy. Still, that's who we are. And in the days to come, we will come to re-appreciate what we are and what we mean to so much of the rest of the world.

Gov. Ben Cayetano has received a flood of heartening, encouraging messages from the Mainland and elsewhere in the days since Sept. 11. Writers say they are aware of the economic slap Hawai'i has experienced as flights are canceled and tourism wilts away. The letters are filled with promises to return to the Islands, to support our economy and share in our aloha.

The letters are filled with love of the Islands and for our people. That's a form of loyalty that no amount of flag-waving can express.

Jerry Burris can be reached at letters@honoluluadvertiser.com.