John Book
Pasco, WA
In my experience as someone who is part-Hawaiian, I’ve found that the stereotypes of what I am and where I’m from were very misinformed, yet seemed endless at the time. Sadly, those who were in error often did not want to know anymore than the stereotype they presented to me. It came off like the special Hawai’i episode of any sitcom, where people cared for two episodes and lived with their lives. I lived amongst a fairly multi-ethnic community, so I learned tolerance at an early age, along with a need to know more about the people around me, be it at school, in my neighborhood, or down the street. I moved to the mainland, and it seemed as if there was an “ever man for himself” attitude. It was a rude awakening, and I had found it hard to adjust because of someones unease of me.
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