Post #183166 by Thomas on Tue, Aug 30, 2005 6:55 PM

I am inclined to agree with Geeky Tiki. I think there's an unwritten notion afoot that "oppression" means "what white people do (and did) to nonwhite people." Besides being historically inaccurate, it can cause people (willingly or unwillingly) to not perceive oppression that doesn't fit that particular script. Idealizing precolonial pasts is one example of this.

I'm not trying to caricature anyone's views, and respect the passion for this topic exhibited by some, but for heaven's sake, those were extremely turbulent times, with colonial fever in high pitch, and fascistic, racial-supremicist ideologies taking hold in some major European and Asian countries, which also eyed Hawaii with great interest to put it mildly. Times were tough, if not cataclysmic, all over, and frankly I don't think that ending up part of a democratic, multicultural, largely federalistic republic with civil liberties and a free-market economy has been the worst of outcomes for Hawaii, given the easily imaginable alternatives. No, I'm not an expert, but common sense just kind of speaks to me here.