Racial Slur Shocks Latinos in Hawaii

Marie Villa, editor of the Hawaii Hispanic News, was at first dumbfounded and then offended by the use of the word. Ms. Villa had thought that her island home was above this type of public racism. According to Villa, Hawaii is home to about 100,000 Hispanics from Puerto Rican to Mexican, and an island that is truly multi-racial. In a phone interview Villa stated, Hispanics and Hawaiians look so much alike it is hard to tell the difference. Hawaii is not a melting pot but more like a toss salad. We have truly assimilated into the culture.

Protesters gathered in front of Honolulu Hale to demand the removal of Rod Tam as chairman of the City Council Zoning Committee.

Villa stated that it was a shock to her and the Hispanic community when Chinese-American Rod Tam in discussing the use of undocumented workers by developers on public projects, at first paused, thought about his next words and said uh, we dont want any wetbacks basically and developers, contractors, have been getting wetbacks from New Mexico, uh Mexico, sorry.

Villa, who is also the President of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce stated she has been getting letters, phone calls, e-mails, and has been approached in person by Hawaiian, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Filipino, African-American, Caucasian, and other friends, who have expressed support and outrage at Tams comments. So this is not just a Hispanic thing. Its a people thing she stated.

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