Internalization...

as we approach Kamehameha Day on june 12th, a few surfing/bodyboarding related sites are harkening back to last year's swell that day that provided decent summer(!) action on O`ahu's North Shore. Sounds great, no? while I do enjoy reading session reports, despite the fact I haven't surfed in over two years, and especially if it concerns Hawai`i, instead of enjoying and remembering the hanabata days where i would cut school and surf some out of the way reef break on the west side, I was forced to call out an individual-- non-Hawaiian military resident -- on his continual abbreviation of "King Kam day." Bluntly, I asked him that he "could at the least respect enough to say Kamehameha." Simple enough and quite funny considering this was on a bodyboarding website, whose posts are all tinged with a calling for respect from standups etc. Anyways, though not many cared to respond to my jab, one person did with the hint that "even native Hawaiians call it Kam Hi-wy" and that i should just STFU. LOL! rather than buy into his racialized polarizing statement, i took a different route that made him truly stfu: "then they should start to think before they open their mouths!" My intentions is that I shouldn't have to remain quiet when common practice is insulting! Shortening Kamehameha is disrespectful and just because it is internalized in everyday lexicon doesn't make it acceptable!