This is in response to David Shapiro's Sept. 13 column, "Racial slur in high school yearbook." Immigrants weathered
hardships in silenceShapiro obviously did not have the privilege of having relatives who were immigrant sugar workers. Yes, the sugar workers and their descendants were very proud of overcoming oppressive working conditions and indignities, and rightly so. To say that their situation was not as cruel as slavery, though, tells me that he is not well-read about the hardships. The immigrants were a proud people and were brought up to hold their heads high regardless of the situation.
Like their proud ancestors, today's Japanese have continued to hold up their heads to rise to success, without a chip on their shoulders and without having to whine about racial slurs and hate crimes. Yes, we are a class above all!
Gail M. Tajima
I think someone is pulling the leg of my favorite columnist, Dave Shapiro (Volcanic Ash, Sept. 13). Who told him chitlings, hog jowls (not hog "mollz" ) and collard greens were slave foods? Columnist is obviously
unfamiliar with SouthDave is a Hilo boy, so he probably wouldn't know.
I was born and raised in the segregated South of the '40s and '50s, and that sounds like good old ethnic Southern food to me. Restaurants in the South make a ton of money selling that so-called slave food.
I ate it at my uncle's house in Atlanta and he was vice president of a large corporation. Nobody was a slave there, except maybe my auntie, who spent the whole day cooking.
Hog jowls and black-eyed peas were the traditional New Year's Day meal for black and white. Perhaps slaves ate that kind of food, but so did everybody else.
This lawsuit would be laughed out of court in the South, by black judges and juries as well as white ones.
Anyone can sue for anything nowadays, I guess, but let's not pretend this particular lawsuit is advancing the cause against unfair discrimination.
By the way, the yearbook kids forgot to mention sweet potato pie. Mmmmmm!
Paul Pollitt
Kaneohe
How does one explain such outpouring of emotions for Princess Diana's death? Prominent columnists have denounced it as sheer fakery or mass hysteria. But perhaps a better explanation can be found in Mother Teresa's remarkable saying that many people are more hungry for human affection than for food, and more in need of personal dignity than of clothing. Princess Di gave people
the affection they cravedYes, Diana has touched directly only some people, but indirectly many millions, with her expressions of affection.
Can we blame people for responding in kind? Don't these good people deserve some personal dignity?
Joe Lee
Every year, educators are asked to do more with less, to be creative in problem-solving and to work with our school communities toward school improvement. Principals defend right
to carry over fundsAct 364 gave schools the flexibility to carry over funds, allowing us to save money from one year to cover substantial purchases of technology, equipment and direct services to students the next year.
Entrepreneurs and savvy business people know that one must conserve resources to take advantage of opportunities and to cover unforeseen occurrences.
We do not rush to spend for spending's sake, but work prudently with our school community to maximize our efforts despite criticism and second-guessing by others who think they know better than us on how to use our allocated funds.
We thank those decision-makers who see the bigger picture and understand our need for fiscal responsibility to our students and the communities we serve.
It is a practice that must be supported without penalty if taxpayers want us to use the allocated funds to best advantage.
Barbara Teruya
Castle High School prinicipal
Editor's note: This letter also was signed
by principals Cynthia Chun, King Intermediate; Mitchell Otani,
Kaneohe Elementary; Jean Davidson, Ben Parker Elementary;
Linda Kamiyama, Kapunahala Elementary; Anne Marie Duca,
Ahuimanu Elementary; Jean Tsuda, Kahaluu Elementary;
Susan Young, Heeia Elementary; Gordon Tokushige Puuhale
Elementary and Linda Kishimoto, Waiahole Elementary.
GOLDEN LETTER WINNERS
Nancy Jeffs is passionate in her many letters to the editor, especially when it comes to Hawaii's tourism industry and crimes against vacationers. Crime is tourism’s
greatest enemyIn January, she wrote about the trial of thugs who beat a vacationing Chicago police officer at a bus stop ("Good grief -- they did this horrendous crime. The punishment does not fit.").
In February, she explained why Japanese tourists aren't flocking to Hawaii anymore ("When I read the words of responsible people telling us the drop in the yen and the rise in the dollar may have a great impact on our tourism industry, I want to scream...The sleaze we are offering tourists is the deciding factor.").
But it was her May commentary that won a Star-Bulletin Golden Letter Award. The topic: Why should more money be given to the Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau to promote a place that is unsafe for tourists?
"Isn't the message loud and clear? Crime appears to be tolerated when it comes to the savage beatings of our visitors," wrote the 66-year-old East Oahu resident.
Jeffs cited the vicious assaults of James Boreczky, the Chicago officer, and Jay Waller, a 24-year-old Californian. She also noted the attack on a young German couple enjoying Rainbow Falls in Hilo. "Although they were able to defend themselves successfully, don't you think their experience will be expressed on their return to Germany?" she wrote.
Jeffs said, in Hawaii, the powers that be just don't get it. Instead of putting time and money into promoting paradise, they should be making our streets safer for the law-abiding public. "This is beyond the wake-up call," she wrote. "Word-of-mouth is the most effective way to influence others, and would-be visitors are hearing the message we are sending: Hawaii is not a safe place to visit."
Three members of the Jeffs' clan are avid writers of letters to the editor. Besides Nancy, they are her 67-year-old husband, Ray, and her 37-year-old son, Doug, who lives in Kahaluu.
John I. Elliott has never had much patience with career politicians because they tend to "lose touch with their constituencies." So on picking up his June 3 Star-Bulletin, and reading the article, "Fernandes Salling gets booted from Senate post," his brow furrowed again. Legislators in lock-step
are not desired goalThe story -- on Senate reaction to the dumping of Lehua Fernandes Salling as co-chairwoman of the Ways and Means Committee -- quoted Matt Matsunaga as discounting objections by a dissident faction of senators. "You can't have people running in different directions on such an important subject as economic development," rationalized Matsunaga. "If they don't want to be collaborative partners, then it's: 'Sorry, but we've got to leave you guys behind.'"
Elliott, 48, of Hawaii Kai, was incensed by the closed-mindedness and arrogance of the statement. He flicked on his personal computer and tapped out his very first letter to the editor, which won him June's Golden Letter award.
"Obviously, Senate President Norman Mizuguchi and others in the Democratic leadership want everyone to toe the party line and not think, much less voice, any independent thought," observed Elliott. "If I recall, the purpose of electing all of those folks to the Senate was to have a diverse group of people...getting together to intelligently discuss and debate the issues facing all of us. That means all members' ideas and opinions should be welcomed because they, by extension, are the ideas and opinions of the electorate who put them there."
Elliott reasoned that if all senators and representatives are supposed to obediently follow the mandates of the Senate president and the House speaker, "we only need two people in the Legislature!"
This is the second Golden Letter Award for the Elliott family. John's 46-year-old wife, Claire, won one eight years ago, also on her first attempt at writing for a newspaper's commentary page. The Elliotts work together at American Safety, which sells and services specialty vehicles for emergency and law-enforcement use.
1996 Golden Letters
Same-sex archive
Want to write a letter to the editor? Let all Star-Bulletin readers know what you think. Please keep your letter to about 200 words. You can send it by e-mail to letters@starbulletin.com or you can fill in the online form for a faster response. Or print it and mail it to: Letters to the Editor, P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu, Hawaii 96802. Or fax it to: 523-8509. Always be sure to include your daytime phone number.
