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MA: So I'm curious about when you went back to school in Hilo, and how that was for you. You mentioned before that it was almost like going back to a foreign country or something.

JH: Uh-huh. The reason for that is I was "haolified." I spoke good English, my cousins made fun of me. They would call me upstairs to their living quarters and say, "Ay, go say something. Go say something." So I would say, "What do you want me to say?" and then they would start laughing, you see. And my sister thinks that they were amused just because I spoke like a kotonk, but they weren't making fun of me. I figured they were making fun of me, because I'm nine years old, I know. So when I went back to school, they put me in... they had A, B, C classes. A is where all the smart ones are, B is average, C is, you know, those that have some problems learning. Well, I went into the B because my parents couldn't produce the report cards. They were very accepting, very nice to me. I really enjoyed being in that class, my teacher was Mrs. Chalmers, she was a tall blond woman. And then the principal decides one day, after looking at the grades that I'd made there, apparently, to put me in A class. So she came one day, took me to that A class, left me outside and says, "You go in that room." So I waited for her to leave and I went back to Mrs. Chalmers. The next day, the same thing happened. She leaves me outside, I wait... the third day, she took me in there. I couldn't escape. [Laughs] But you see, when you have people who are very smart who are up in the social echelon, they're snobbish. So when I went in there, I didn't feel like I fit, because they were in their own little cliques. So I had a really difficult time psychologically. My self-esteem was low, I was always the low one on the totem pole. Didn't help that Mrs. Kealoha said she knew me when I was small -- that's my teacher -- when I was a baby, she knew my family. And her husband was Chairman of Hilo, which is like a mayor. She goes and she tells the class, "Oh, June was such a cute little baby. I've known her for a long time. She had the most cutest pug nose you ever saw." Where does that get you? So I really had a hard time fitting in. Even though I spoke pidgin, I was never totally accepted by a clique, you know.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.