Hi Dobie!Luther's nephew Dobie wrote: Hi Rembrandt's Girl,
Thanks for sharing these articles. I wonder if anyone might explain Roger Mosley's remark that "there's nothing here for me as a black person".
Is it because there is racism directed at mainlanders of any background by native Hawaiians?
If Hawaiian tourists visited my state they wouldn't be greeted with disdain and rudeness merely because they were islanders.
More than a few times when I have speculated about visiting the islands people have urged me not to and related to me ugly stories of racist behavior directed at them.
Nor does the term "Haole" when hurled at a innocent tourist sound at all friendly to me.
I would never use such a demeaning term about my fellow Americans just because they happen to hail from the other 49 states. Sounds cowardly to boot to me, if you mean to insult a man do it plainly and not hide behind the local argot.
It doesn't make sense to me for a economy based so much on tourism to insult the punters providing one with a living.
However I have never been to the islands and would appreciate being clued in as to what the situation is. Perhaps Mosley is one of those people who feel ill at ease in different cultures(I on the other hand embrace them) and the fault lies in himself, not with the Hawaiians, thus he would have cheated himself of a worthwhile experience.
I didn't get the feeling that Roger was referring to his treatment in Hawaii by locals. I don't know for sure of course, but my interpretation is that he was referring more to him being black in the tv/film industry. It also sounds like he was untrusting of why people were being kind to him...that they just wanted something from him. He also preferred to be at home with his family than in Hawaii. That's my take.
To answer your question about Hawaii and racism (I'm a haole), my experience has been 99.9% positive as a visitor to the islands of Oahu, Maui and Lanai. Most of the time as tourists we had interactions with people in the service industry and you're right...tourism is by far their number one economy, and they bend over backwards for the tourist. Nothing but fantastic treatment...over and above.
But on occasion we've had interactions with actual locals and again, very positive, friendly, and kind. They call it the "Aloha Spirit" there. You may've heard that no one honks their car horn in Hawaii...it's considered rude and just not done. When renting a house on one visit to the north shore of Oahu (which is pretty rural) the neighbors brought us mangoes off their tree and we had a nice long talk about how they bought their land and built their home there. One day we were driving by Pahonu so I made a brief visit to the tidal pool...you can't just drive by and not stop! Well, the tide was almost in so I dashed down for a quick fix, and a local (he looked a lot like Charlie from "The Curse of the King Kamehameha Club"
) was sitting near the parking lot and he saw me wade down there, and when I returned he smiled a huge grin at me and said, "Did you get your picture?" 
We sometimes strike up conversations with locals to learn more about life there and they're always so happy to talk to us, they're kind when we've had to ask directions, they're nice in line at the grocery store, etc. etc.Have I ever felt unwelcome? We got stink-eye only twice in many visits to the Islands...both times when we were off the beaten path in very rural Maui. So it can happen. Some native Hawaiians don't like what has happened to Hawaii. They are unhappy that the white man took their land from them, and/or they don't like how tourism has changed Hawaii of yesteryear. For more background visit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawaiian_ ... y_movement. If you lived there this movement will be in the news on occasion etc., but as a visitor you won't experience any evidence that it even exists.
I don't know what happened with your friends but from my experience, I would strongly encourage you to go and please don't let this concern dissuade you from visiting Hawaii.
He's always loved how calm and serene the islands are, and thankfully has never been the "Ugly American" tourist the natives understandably hate. 
Wonder why it never came to fruition, I assume the former show was cancelled?
