I grew up in the great state of Texas in the 70s and 80s as one of the only ethnic minorities in the neighborhood - could not have asked for a friendlier or more embracing environment. Texans have their own brand of "aloha" referred to as being "neighborly." Interestingly, it was not until I moved to Hawaii as an adult in 2008 that I experienced "racism" for the first time, even though I finally look like everyone else around me. I hear racial epithets on a daily basis here - most of it in "jest" perpetuating stereotypes of being chinese, korean, japanese, filipino, hapa, haole, etc. It took me a while when I first moved here to realize that Hawaiians are not the most racist people I've ever met - that people here are comfortable talking about race and culture, acknowledging stereotypes without taking personal offense to everything. With the power grab going on in Hawaii's legislature and the disaster our local government is, we have way bigger fish to fry!