 Hello, welcome to Cork Talk. I'm Crystal today on Tuesday morning. You know, the world is going crazy with so many discrimination and racial issues. Increasingly so, yes. So we're going to hone in on a little topic of that that's relevant to us here in Hawaii. Now, of course, minorities represent a majority in Hawaii, which is really interesting, I find. But honing into that minority within the Asian community, people of color, whatever that means, there are many, many more minorities within that group who are often overlooked and judged and just thrown into an invisible pile where their voice really doesn't mean much and there's a lot of issues in terms of lack of support, education and awareness, both ways that we don't talk about. So today we're going to talk about this and I'm delighted to invite my guests to open up our eyes and ears to this important issue of Micronesian women and their voices here in Hawaii. So at this time, let me introduce our wonderful guest, Josie Howard from We Are Oceana. Welcome, Josie. Thank you very much, Crystal, for inviting me to be on this show. Oh, pleasure. So please educate us. I mean, first of all, I claim ignorance to the Micronesian culture myself. So can you give us kind of a 101 on the history and why your culture has come to Hawaii and why you think there is that discrimination? Well, I think maybe, first of all, you started out with the note of, you know, talking to a woman, a Micronesian woman. And I think that's a great place for me to start this conversation because most of Micronesia is metrolineal. If you, you know, there's metrolineal, petrolineal, and that means that our society is trapped, it's through a woman lineage. So it's the women who hold the lineages to their families. We have clan systems. So I have a clan, right? And all my children belongs to my clan, not their father's clan, but my clan. And so the women is the one that reproduced the family and reproduced the lineage. So in terms of choices, big choices for the family, the woman gets to do that. Do you choose your partner for life or how does that work? Those are, that's a different story. I mean, a long time ago, there was this arrangement, you know, like marriage, kind of, you know, we come from small societies. So that was very common. But I think nowadays when people go off to school, like for me, I chose my own, you know, my soulmate or, you know, I met my soulmate. But anyways, so with what that means is with a woman being the family holder, she also gives the children their status in the society because our clans also hold social status. Like each clan is known or it's known for their responsibility. There's a chief clan. So only the chief clan can produce chiefs on those islands or leaders in that, you know, capacity. And then there are clans that are lined up to either be the guard for the chief or, you know, the food producers or the, you know, the working class or working clan and things like that. So all the clan leaders are female? Well, no. So that's another thing that it needs. It needs to be, yeah, it needs to be, you know, like explained and understood. And I mean, our time is very short. And this is a really huge topic. It could be misled if I don't completely explain it. But all I can say is that the male are our public figures. And the woman, the sister and the brother, that's the, I would say that's the core of that relationship. And there's that mutual respect. There's that respect that a woman must respect her brother. And her brother will be respected in the community. The brother respects the sister. She'll be respected in the community. And it's through that respect that kind of like build this whole system of respect. And yeah, and it's especially in the Jugi culture. So that's a specific clan or that's the area that you grew up in? Yeah. So I grew up, yeah. So like for any decision making, like major decision making, usually like my mother and her side of the family have that saying over me than my father's side, because they own me, because I belong to their clan. Right. So but the respect is a key word that rings very large in your... And holds everything together. So there's no like distinguishing in that way between the male and female power. It's a respect which brings everyone together. Because if you do your part, you do your roles as the sister, you are like you're the princess, you're the, you're the chi, and the brother will, will put you on a pedestal. Meaning, like, I mean, like sometimes people don't believe, but a sister can stop a fight. A sister can stop a war. Oh, I believe that. Sure. Okay. And like just her present is, is a, you know, if she's a respectful sister, you know, the brothers will, and they will, they cannot touch her husband because they respect her. So if there's such a close knit community within the Micronesian culture, how do you think that's affected when everyone seems to be migrating more to places like Hawaii? I think that's very much affected. Even before we migrated, I mean, people that came to study us and came to visit us, they right away make the conclusion that, oh, these women are oppressed. I mean, they cannot move around. Their brothers are ordering them, or, you know, the men do all the talking, and the women just sat there. And it's a totally misleading. Why do you think that came about? It's just, you know, people observing, and, you know, when you don't have the perspective. When they don't hear your real voice, right? When you don't know, when you come with your own perspective of a different culture, and you impose that on that culture you're watching, of course it's going to be biased to what you believe in, right? So the story you gather is according to your understanding, your interpretation. So people who don't understand the Micronesian culture, what are some myths or some misconceptions and generalizations, gross generalizations that are wrong that you would like to voice out now? Well, I think the notion that we all come here to just leave off, you know, like the welfare system. And, you know, we've come to like big advantage of the money in Hawaii. A lot of us are not eligible for a lot of the, you know, the benefits like foodstam and, you know, WIC and welfare and things like that because of our migrant or our status. So what is the status? Is that a very unique kind of situation? It is a very unique. I mean, the Comeback of Free Association is one of, I think, like very few in the world that is between the United States and the Federalist States of Micronesia. I mean, not only Federalist States of Micronesia, but Republic of the Marshall Islands and Republic of Palau. And it's a unique treaty that I think is not fully understood and people are still struggling to interpret the terms of this treaty. And I think most of the time that interpretation is also like, can be taken wrong and can be also, like, you know, so at one point when I first move out here to- How long ago was that when you moved here? That was in 1989. Okay. And I would travel every year here to get my work permit when under my status or citizenship, I should not, you know, need that because I'm a, you know, Kofa citizen. Right. But I had to come or else they would stop us from working. I went with, I mean, like weeks without working. And the only way I survived was I would work with some of our counselors do like, you know, yard work and they pay me $20. Yeah. Do you feel, I mean, let's talk a little bit about the discrimination that you felt personally and maybe your community feels here and why and how we can do something about that. I think there's a lot of factor and, you know, fact, contributing factor to it. But a lot of it is like, I think it's misunderstanding and misinterpretation of things. And also the fact that, you know, we as Micronesians have gone through traumatic change in just a short period of time. We also have gone through, you know, like different colonial powers that have reshaped and affected us. And then all of a sudden World War II happened and World War II finished. And it started the nuclear testing and all these things were just boom, boom, boom happening. And we did not have a chance to breathe and to take in this changes. And when you talk about cultural drama and when you talk about, you know, all these things that happened to a particular group of people were in it, in, how do you call, disrupt their whole life system. We're just beginning to kind of get a hold of ourselves. And then now, boom, we have to, you know, become a nation. And we have to, because this world is all becoming globalized. And in a way, it's like a big wave. And the wave is just rolling and whatever, wherever that wave is, it, you know, it, it brings in all this island. So no matter what we think, we're like isolated, we're out in the Pacific, but we are part of this world. Absolutely. And that's the sad thing is because sometimes your culture is so invisible on the world stage, they feel like you don't need a voice because it's not, doesn't exist. And my God, if we had only, I mean, I had no clue. When you say cultural drama, I think it's just such a loaded comment. I mean, to even have any concept of what you were just pushed out of your, your homeland, and then coming here to a place where there's such a desperate lack of support. And so you built this community here. What is the community like? What? Oh, I didn't build it. Well, you're part of it. I'm sure you're part of building it. Well, part of the reason why I am involved in this work is because of my own experience. When I came out, I didn't feel, I mean, I felt like I was just like, you know, right into this fresh water that I don't know. And I was a lot of things that I had to learn the hard way. Like what? For example, like I came with $200 and I thought that was enough money. And I mean, coming from a small island, we've off the land and no money. My parents didn't, you know, have any income. But I was helped by, you know, like family and our family is so important. And that's the, you know, that's our foundation of how we survive. But so I didn't see how money was important because everybody was taking care of me, paying for my tuition for high school. And you know, and so when I came and finally I was on my own and I was like, what the heck? I had to pay for, you know, like my food, my dorm, my, you know, my beddings and my clothes. And, and I, you know, I enrolled in, I joined the softball team and I couldn't have the right shoes because I didn't have the money to buy the shoes. And it was just like, it was really eye-opening for me. Real awakening in so many ways. And as a woman too. As a woman, like I'm supposed to be protected, right? By my brothers. And I'm like, now all of a sudden I'm out there on my own. And so I had to, one cultural shock that I remember was dealing with being by myself and having a room by myself because I'm so used to having my family around. And that was like shocking. I would, like I would get so homesick and I would run out of the room and just want to be with my friends. And yeah. And so from that, and we actually, in college, we created a group that we kind of found ourselves as a family. We call ourselves the back tribe. The back tribe. Back tribe. Pacific Island tribes. Yeah. And it was my classmates from all over the Pacific, like from Samua, Western Samua, from Tonga, from Kiribati, from Solomon Islands, from Cook Islands, you know, all over. And so we, we have this common thing which was our culture, the food. We like, we love to eat the same kind of food. We like to go fishing. And so we just found that, like, you know. And the displacement being here together is a huge thing. And then our Hawaiian friends were also there to, you know, kind of nurture us and help us. Right. Okay, we can go there. We can go there. And I think that that was the key for my success in college. Having these right people around me. And, and I was able to, I was able to go through all our, you know, like hurdle through all this. Sure. It makes you a stronger person. But I want to ask you what, how much you think the importance of education plays in who you are today and you having the gift of coming here, but having the brevity to, to face all these obstacles and come across and, and, and, you know, rise above all this. I don't know if, you know, any other Pacific Islanders will relate to me. But for me, I think it's very, very important. I would not realize my colonized mind if I was not being educated. Yes. I would not be able to decolonize, you know, how I think. And I used to think my culture was suck, you know, like I used to think, Oh my gosh, I need to move off this island. I need to stop wearing this lava lava. And, you know, I want to, I, I'm tired of cooking with this firewoods and, you know, all these things I want to go and just sit on that, you know, sofa, like in the TV. And, you know, when you start seeing all these things and, and when people come from abroad, you know, they look really cool and all that. So I thought that was the coolest thing. So you're distinguished and you actually appreciate your culture. So that importance of that detail of education just says everything. Exactly. We're going to take a quick break. When we come back, we're going to introduce this. We are Oceana and what it's all about and how we bring about the importance and the support for women like you. It's amazing. All right. Don't go away, please. Thank you. Aloha, Kako. I'm Marcia Joyner, inviting you to navigate the journey with us. We are here every Wednesday morning at 11 a.m. and we really want you to be with us where we look at the options and choices of end of life care. Aloha. Aloha. I am Reg Baker and I am the host of Business in Hawaii with Reg Baker. We broadcast live every Thursday from two to two thirty in the ThinkTech studios in downtown Alululu. We highlight successful stories about businesses and individuals and learn their secrets to success. I hope you can join us on our next show on Thursday at two o'clock. Until then, Aloha. Back here on Quok Talk, talking with Josie Howard about the fascinating culture of Micronesian people and their plight of coming here and trying to struggle with many, many issues. So, again, back to Josie. We've had a little glimpse of your life, your background, a little taste, but just not even close to understanding at all. But coming here and having these issues, let's talk a little bit about We Are Oceana, this organization and its effort to promote support for Micronesians. Yes. Well, since I graduated from college, I moved here. I got married and have my family. I noticed the increasing number of Micronesians coming to Hawaii. What are the numbers, actually? Right now. There's about 15,000 to 17,000. As opposed to when you first came, what was that? Oh, it was maybe not even in the hundred. Oh, wow. So, okay. Maybe I'm not aware of other people, but the community that I come from, Chuk, it was, I think there was like few families that were here. Okay. So, there's a very decent community here, right? Yeah. And it was hard to see each other and, you know, you could still get homesick. But when I saw that, I started to notice, I started to feel that, oh, you know, like looking into my own experience, I thought these people would be needing, you know, like help with acculturation, understanding the procedures here. Because I, I mean, it's very different. The system here is different. It's way advanced. There's social systems. There is, you know, DOH. There is DOE and all this. Back home, I was only aware of DOH. Which is what, for people who don't know what that is. That's Department of Health and Department of Education. And I think for social services, I don't remember any at that time, maybe for legal aid, you know, so what do you call it, legal aid society. And so there's no child work service and things like that. So that really brought me or, you know, to realize that we're going to need help. There was a call from the schools to help them understand the students. This was in 2001. When you say understand the students, you mean that the school, the teachers, the administration, they don't care to, they just don't have the knowledge to understand where they're coming from. Yes, totally. I mean, they were, like, they were just having so much hard time. They didn't understand why there's so much absences, you know, like tardiness and, you know, lack of participation with parents and things like that. Is the group mostly from a certain different area? Are they all over the place? These are all Pacific Island students. These are all, like, Micronesians. And there's someone in there. I think there's also Tongans. Right. But like you said, it's a similar issue. Yes. Yes. Yes. Okay. But yeah, so that's actually when I started to get involved. We started this group, a small group of us, we just found each other that we were, you know, we had the same common passion to help. And we used to go to the school and do a culturation for the teachers. And then we kind of grew and they asked us to do it statewide. And then we also form ourselves and call ourselves the MCAP Micronesian Cultural Awareness Program. That's great. And to bring that speaking of culture is, you know, like, like, even this photo with the... So this is an example of, you know, teaching the teachers how to weave the baskets so that they can use that to connect with the students in the classroom so that the students can be familiar with what they're, you know, and that's math, that's science, that's language, everything. That's wonderful. Yeah. So it brings them involved with the culture, not just hearing something. And I think going back to one of your aspects of when you first came here is you almost felt shameful of the culture and you all know that. But, you know, you embrace it and you're proud of your culture. It really brings in so much richness. Well, there were two things that brought me to that. One was my Hawaiian friend who taught me about her history, which really changed my, you know, my perspective. I was like, what, you have to learn your language again? What do you have to hide to dance your hula? And that like got me to realize, oh my gosh, this is what's happening to me, but in a different way, you know, not dramatically like how they overthrown the, you know, the Hawaiian kingdom. But for us, it's like slowly, you know, this whole education thing, you know, everything is in the Western perspective and not to say it's bad thing, but it's just changing people. And then the second thing was my anthropology course. So my family actually sent me off to become a doctor. After I took my anthropology course, I met my Hawaiian friends and I learned more about the Hawaiian history. I began to start shifting my thinking and thinking that a doctor is not what's really needed. Because I started to understand, I need technology to, you know, to do all this doctor work. The island does not even have electricity. Yeah, there's no electricity. There's no running water in all those things. So I started to realize, you know what, I cannot be a doctor back home, but maybe I can be a doctor in a different way. You're healing in a very organic way. Which was to kind of bring awareness to our own culture and empower in our own culture and value that that is our being. I can feel that something like that is a problem with many, many cultures, especially with the younger generation, because there's a part of them that want to break away because they don't want to be associated with all the bad reputation of anything that brings them down. So they go the other way and rebel, yes? And I think I went through that too. There was a time when I was ashamed of my people who acted, you know, but then now I have this remorse feeling. I feel bad because I feel like, because of, and it's on both sides. So like when you talk about discrimination, when people discriminate against us, I feel that it is because of lack of awareness, it's ignorance, you know, people are just not aware. We're so connected as human beings. And I mean, like even culture wise, there's so many, you know, connecting common things that we could have connected on. And it's so sad and ironic that in the United States we're so segregated. You know, it really drives me crazy because I was in Asia for so many years and I come back here and it's like, why is this an issue? And why is it increasing as an issue? So increasing awareness is what you keep saying. How do we do that here? I think, I mean, I don't know, but I like what I do so far, like what we do with where Oceania is just, you know, continue to advocate. And I continue to go out in the community. I agree to come to talk because I think getting this message out is important for, if I can at least touch one person today. Yeah. That's, I think, success. You're going to touch more than one person today. And speaking of which, you have an upcoming event from We Are Oceania. Let's hear about that. Okay. So we have an upcoming event. It's called the Youth Summit. Yes. So the theme of our event is navigating success. We have the word. This is the map of Micronesia. See, I don't even know they have these words. Yeah. So these are all the different languages in Micronesia. This is the language map of Micronesia. Wait, so wait, let's show that first. The information on the supplier. So it's this Saturday at the Ballroom UH Manoa Campus Center from 8 a.m. to 3 o'clock, actually. It's open to the public? It's by registration. So it's open to any Micronesian students or ESL students who are aged 6th grade to 12th grade. Okay. So you're focusing on youth. So we're just saying educating the younger generations. But they have to want to come, right? Oh my gosh, you won't believe. Really? We are so, like, I'm just excited from getting all this registration coming in. I've never, like, I told you that I work in the education system. I've never seen that kind of excitement. Even the schools are so supportive now. Like, we were struggling to come up with money to be able to pay for our buses. Well, now, I think three or four buses are being paid for by the school. So why not high school is providing their own bus? Waipahu High School, Waipahu Intermediate, Toll Middle School. You're focusing on schools that have a larger community of Micronesian students? No, we're inviting everyone. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So we're targeting all the high schools. Right. And again, it's navigating means, you know, you're searching for that connect. Can we just bring this up again? Because we had the flyer earlier. I'm really curious to know what all the different. Okay. So if we start from there, this is Palau. I don't know. We can zoom in on that. I don't, I cannot pronounce it. Oh, that's okay. I've been to Palau. I think. But no, I don't know. So that means navigating success. I'm from Chuk, so we say Palau. Palau is Chuk. Yeah. And the Lagoon, they say Peru. Yeah. I'm from Taudarale. So if you see the similarity, our language is more similar. Peru. And then as you move toward Pune Bay, you know, you, you'll see a little bit shift, but the word better is kind of, and then we come all the way to Nauru and Kiribati. So all these different islands. Oh, that's Marshall Islands. Yeah. Remeto. What is that? Remeto is, is navigating success. Oh, I see. It's the language of their, I see. Yes. So all the translation of this place here. That's wild that there's so many different languages and cultures that we have no clue about and, and to bring them all together. Yes. On behalf of We Are Oceana to do something for the youths to understand how you are all connected is, is really quite inspiring. What do you hope to achieve or what do you hope to see changed in the near future? Well, we hope that the direction of things will change for us, meaning that we will be able to, there will be less discrimination against us. You know, there will be, we'll have a voice in terms of, you know, when it comes to policy, right now we're struggling with health coverage. We're no longer eligible for med quests, except for our children, our kupunas, our, you know, the pregnant woman and the disabled. But we work and we pay tax. Right. And yet your citizenship is not a hundred percent. There's something very automated, right? Yes. So I think with more of our children, now we also, we're mobilizing our, our, our youths. Yes. To vote. This is our US citizen. A lot of them born and raised here. Right. So last, last election, we actually registered 95 of them to vote. Okay, good. Yeah. So we're, we're starting to vote. Yes. Yeah. So the younger generation will bring this, their, their knowledge in and their power of a voice to increase that, that influence onto not just Hawaii, but again. And yeah, I mean, whatever success we do here, it's going to impact back home. And so part of our goal is also to impact back home and to help like, you know, making the transition of migration better and, and more ready to go out to, you know, the Western world. I think we cannot get rid of migration with global warming, rising. I mean, it's, yeah, it's going to continue. And it's also the nature of human beings. Yeah. Everybody's a migrant. I mean, everybody migrated. That is the key to the issues today. Josie, I'm sorry we run out of time, but the fact that you said that everyone's a migrant just says it all. And, and how much incredibly ignorant we are about the cultures out there that we need to allow ourselves to bring in, to enrich and to develop that knowledge and so that we can have compassion and support for people, not just Micronesians, but many, many, many minority groups. So Josie, thank you so much for coming on. Good luck with your upcoming thing. It sounds great. Thank you. Good luck to all the youth out there supporting again, these, your group and your voice and really, really precious stuff. When next time, come on and just talk about your culture. Okay. Thank you. Bye.