Vacation Reflection

So, I have been back from Hawaii for a couple days now.  I am missing the warm weather and relaxed feel of the island.  As I think back over my time in Hawaii I can't help but think of how my time at school is making me see things through a different lens.  As I drove through the streets of Maui I couldn't help but notice how many missions and churches there were.  It made me think of how the people of Hawaii have been colonized.  Hawaii didn't become a state until 1959.  The colonization process started long before then.  One night I went to a luau at one of the big fancy hotels hoping to expose my niece to the Hawaiian culture.  Whereas it was very entertaining, the luau was so far from being cultural, it made me sad.  I thought how exploited the culture had become just to make money off tourists.  One of the days we were there Maui was holding it's annual Whale festival.  We got there just in time for the parade to kick off the festival.  As I was watching the parade a group of kids from the public school came by waiving their flags and marching in the parade.  I noticed that all the kids were brown except for one little blonde kid.  Then a few minutes later the montessori school came by all riding in the bed of a truck and every one of the kids were white.  It made me sad to think that there was such classism and white privilege even is a paradise like Hawaii.