Letters To The Editor
November 21, 2007 - MidWeek
| Share
Del.icio.usLifesaving story
On behalf of all of us at Queen’s, I’d like to thank MidWeek very much for a superbly written cover story on the Queen’s Cancer Center. The writer, Susan Sunderland, was able to very accurately and thoughtfully articulate the philosophy and purpose of our cancer program. This is clearly a program to serve the entire community - an ongoing endeavor to improve the delivery of health-care services to the people of Hawaii.
Cancer evokes great fear and emotion in the newly diagnosed, requiring a comprehensive response in both clinical and supportive care. But advancements continue and someday cures will be discovered. Ms. Sunderland’s story offers hope and support, and we very much appreciate the time she took to understand the nature of this disease.
Thank you very much for such a wonderful article and, we hope, lives will be saved as a result of your story.
Arthur A. Ushijima President, The Queen’s
Medical Center President & CEO, The Queen’s Health Systems
Question answered
In the Nov. 14 issue, the first two “letters” are connected. The first, by William Maoke, questions Larry Price’s apparent anti-haole attitudes. The second letter, about Hawaiian burials by Paul Tyksinski, kind of answers Mr. Moake’s question.
As a haole, it has always irritated me that so many haoles come here, who know nothing about Hawaiians and their culture, are so quick to criticize and ridicule them and their culture, and to tell Hawaiians what they should or should not be doing - in their own nation. They never let up. What’s up with them?
Bert West
Honolulu
Malihini arrogance
Who the hell is Paul Tyksinski and why does he think he’s smarter than native Hawaiians? Such arrogance from malihini would be shocking if it weren’t so common.
If Mr. Tyksinski were as smart as he seems to think he is, he’d do a little research into the way Hawaiians view iwi, bones. He might also be respectful. If he does-n’t like the way we do things, eh, go relocate, brah. Excuse me, but I’m tempted to call him boneheaded.
Malia K. Pacheco
Kaneohe
Native definition
Just to set the record straight, the “Native Hawaiian” definition was created by the U.S. Congress in the 1920s when that body passed the Hawaiian Homes Act, and not as a result of the 1976 Constitutional Convention as reported by Larry Price on Oct. 24. The Congress set a blood quantum of 50 percent or more Hawaiian blood to qualify for a Hawaiian homestead, thus separating them from other Hawaiians, those with less than 50 percent Hawaiian blood. The Congress labeled those who met that blood quantum “Native Hawaiians.”
Kama’aina is an old Hawaiian word that means “child of the land,” one who is born here, and it is not a word for a class of people who were not born here. You cannot become a kama’aina except by birth.
And I recall nearly 40 years ago when I was a police reporter for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, the cops used “local” to say that a suspect was not white or black. “Local” was used for many suspects who were (it was later learned) born in the Philippines, Japan, China, Korea, Puerto Rico, Samoa, etc. It meant “non-white” and it offended some Caucasians who were born here and who were very “local,” not haole (foreign-born) like me.
Keith Haugen
Honolulu
No more N-word
Kudos to Don Chapman for his comments on the N-word (and his cousin Dog the Bounty Hunter). MidWeek‘s editor obviously comes from the smart side of the Chapman ohana.
John Chapman Russell
Kihei
Halloween sin
I don’t know how Jade Moon was raised or what her religious faith is - Buddhist? - but if she had been raised Christian, she too would be appalled by the glorification of devils and other evil characters on Halloween. It is a pagan holiday.
Elizabeth Watanabe
Downtown
E-mail this story | Print this page | Comments (0) | Archive | RSS Comments (0) |
Most Recent Comment(s):
