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I am a "Mainland Hawaiian," born and raised in Southern California. I am not the typical Hawaiian Auntie. I do not wear mu'u mu'us on a daily or even weekly basis, and I am not the stereotypical woman of large girth who people see as a grunting, constantly eating, having ten babies (though there is nothing wrong with having ten babies), talks-in-broken-English and who is married to a toothless guy who can fix anything with a screwdriver and some WD40. Quite the contrary. I am your typical Mainland Auntie, the kind that local Hawaiians in the islands love to hate. Though I love my 'aina brethren, I have a problem with the way that they treat people who are not born and raised there. Hey, I couldn't choose where I was born, and when I grew up there was no grander place to live than right here in the land of the street race and the boob job. I am a California girl, no doubt about it.

I also am a very proud Hawaiian, which is the reason that I am telling people about the real plight of many of the Hawaiian people who live in Hawaii. There are going to be people who read this who feel that what is going on over there is fine, because Hawaii is the fiftieth state, and because of this, anyone with the money and a reason to be there has the absolute right to be there. Those who feel that way are not wrong for feeling that way. Even as I know that those who were born and raised in Hawaii do not feel the same way that I do about a lot of things, I love them. They are as much a part of me as I am part of them. They are me. I am them. I am a Mainland Hawaiian, but I understand their anger, their frustration and their pain. I do not agree with some of the things happening there in the islands at this time. Hawaii is fast becoming akin to a third world nation. No one seems to care except for those who, like me, have an ancestral stake in those islands. Many people go there and buy the land up and think nothing of it. What people do not understand is that we Hawaiians think everything of it. Believing that Hawaii is nothing more than ocean front property is wrong. When you think of Hawaii as home, you begin to see why it is that you were treated how you were treated when you were last there. I know why it is that I was treated like I did not belong there. Though I did not like it, I understand it, because their pain is also mine.

This is written on behalf of all of those who have no voice that is heard, not because they are not screaming and yelling, but because they are being

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