Birds at the DNC

It's been a long time coming. I watched the DNC nominate Hillary Clinton for president from my mother's house in Hawaii. For probably the first time ever, I watched the roll call of states so I could see the actual moment -- the moment when a woman was nominated for president. Like many ex-pats of Hawaii, I still watch for my home state's delegation like they're my own. I wish I could say that I saw the moment that this post is all about as it was actually happening. I didn't. The channel we were watching went to commercial and the Hawaii delegation was in a tiny picture in picture. But here it is in case you didn't see it either.

There was a woman from the Hawaii delegation who flipped off the convention when giving their vote at roll call. She's a white woman. She is a Bernie Sanders supporter. She stood directly behind former Governor John Waihe'e and Senator Maisie Hirono. When Senator Brian Schatz announced, "And fifteen votes for the next president of the United States, Secretary Hillary Clinton," with absolute glee, while watching herself on the ultimate selfie camera jumbotron screen, she flipped the bird.

Glee.

Here is what glee looks like. 

Need another look at that? Here is her face seconds later.

I'm shocked at this woman's privilege but not surprised by it. I find myself seconding the cries of "effing haole," as news stories of this woman's protest and refusal to apologize surfaced. She was stripped of her credentials and barred from attending the last day of the convention. She was decried as not being from Hawaii but Texas.


I know that being a diversity manager, I see the world through the lenses of social justice, of racial and ethnic clashes. I'm keenly aware of culture and privilege and how it changes our interactions in this world. I know it is because I have this racism hammer so everything looks like a racist nail. So maybe I'm biased. But here is what I know, if I had embarrassed my delegation, sure as shit I'd be apologizing.

So why? Because I'm a local? Because I'm a woman? Because I'm Asian? Because I'm compliant? (note: I've never been described as compliant in my life.) Because when I don't follow proscribed rules as a person of color I'm more likely to reap severe punishment than my white counterparts?

A white woman would be unaccustomed to have the constant lessons I had growing up of representing my family, my race, my hometown, my ancestry. Chelsea Kent has never had to be the representative of her race or her ethnicity -- that is the mark of her privilege. She is white. People won't make sweeping generalizations about how all white girls are this way or that. She gets to represent only herself, Chelsea Kent.

Privilege -- it's a tricky term because people think of caviar and champagne, but that's not what it means. It is recognizing that because you are a member of whatever group -- gender, religion, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, and more -- you may have been blind to other people's struggles. Better writers than I have talked about how Bernie Sanders supporters who are comfortable abstaining from voting this coming fall to avoid voting for Hillary Clinton are showing their privilege. Maybe for them, it isn't their family members who will be deported. Maybe for them, it isn't they who will lose affordable health care. Maybe for them, it isn't they who will be prevented from traveling into the country because of their religious beliefs. Maybe for them, it isn't they who will be endangered or marginalized for wanting to use the toilet.

Chelsea Kent was chosen to be the representative of our state at this event. She crowdfunded her trip to the convention. The trust given her to represent us makes me angry. How many people was she representing and she didn't have the decency to hold them and their wishes with respect?

You might make the argument that dissent is patriotism. That it is important to be able to protest when you feel a system is unjust. I agree with you; I think dissent is good. But could her dissent have been accomplished in the loud boos every time Hillary Clinton's name was spoken, starting at the convocation prayer the first day? Could it have been achieved by the signs held around the Hawaii speakers -- #stillsanders, or "Democratic ? National Convention" the question mark written in by hand, or even the Bernie campaign sign held right behind the head of the former governor?

Here is what is lost.

Every time a kid from Hawaii succeeds -- Barack Obama, Bruno Mars, Marcus Mariota -- we say, "local boy (or girl) does good." The word local is what's important here. Hawaii is a place where so many different cultures came together and while we still maintain our own racial and ethnic identities in many ways, there is a prevailing local culture. I'm reminded of Marcus Mariota's acceptance speech for the Heisman trophy. He broke it down eloquently for us in his gratitude to his o-line, his linemen, his d-line, his team, his coaches, his university, his teachers, the city it is in, the fans of the football program, his high school, his friends, his hometown, his state, his race, his ethnicity, and his family. For that shining moment, he was Hawaii's son -- because he belonged to all of us.

Every local kid carries that with him or her -- that you will represent Hawaii. You have an identity beyond your own person. You respect other peoples culture and tradition and do no harm. You remember that you represent all locals -- all us.

So Chelsea Kent didn't realize that her actions could be generalized to our entire state. She was and is an outsider. Her privilege was showing.

Auwe.