By Lee Cataluna
Advertiser Columnist

There are times when ethnic differences and cultural ties should be acknowledged, supported, even celebrated. There are times when they should be completely ignored. Political elections are one of those times.

Every election year, and, it seems, this year in particular, voters are being looked at by candidates, political parties and the media as lumped into groups segregated by race or ethnicity. It's as though the basic assumption is that all Filipinos think the same, all Native Hawaiians view things the same way, all Japanese Americans feel and act the same, all Caucasians act as a group, and so on.

The dangerous thing is how divisive this becomes when played out in our community. The perception festers into an "us" versus "them" mentality, a power struggle between different segments of a community that should instead be working toward banding together for a common good. It becomes the mindset of, "We gotta get Our Candidate in because if Their Candidate wins, all us guys going be out of luck, out in the cold, forgotten and mistreated."

The only political contest where race doesn't seem to be much of an issue this year is, ironically, for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. Two years ago non-Hawaiians for the first time could vote for OHA trustees, and for the first time non-Hawaiians ran to be OHA trustees. For the first time, a non-Hawaiian was elected as an OHA trustee. This year, all the candidates say they are part-Hawaiian, except for one, who says he isn't sure because his father was hanai.

The Office of Hawaiian Affairs is, by its very nature, where race and politics meet. But even at OHA, there has never been unanimous agreement. There are myriad opinions and viewpoints, different priorities and postures. Native Hawaiians don't all think the same way, and any assumption that they do is naive at best, bigoted at worst.

There were dueling press conferences recently; members of the local Filipino community said Lingle insulted them by offering expensive prizes at a Waipahu rally, including a trip to the Philippines. Then, different members of the local Filipino community held their own press conference saying, in essence, hey, we went and we weren't insulted.

Then there was Robert Klein, Clayton Hee and Bill Meheula holding a press conference to say Lingle won't be good for Hawaiians. That was followed by Native Hawaiian supporters of Lingle, including her running mate, "Duke" Aiona, who happens to be part-Hawaiian, saying, hey, those guys don't speak for us.

America is about respect for individualism. It is about the freedom to think for yourself, to act on your own behalf. It is the greatest gift this country gives its citizens and immigrants.

We should feel insulted by references to "Filipino voters" or "Hawaiian Republicans" or "local-Japanese Democrats" or any of the labels that try to make it seem as though belonging to a particular racial or ethnic group means you MUST think like everyone else in that group.

Guess what? Voters of Filipino ancestry are going to vote for Lingle. Voters of Filipino ancestry will vote for Hirono. Both candidates will get votes from Japanese Americans and Native Hawaiians and Caucasians and all the other census categories, because all humans have the ability to make up their own minds, and because in America, we have the right to act on our individual beliefs.

Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.