How Hawaii Changed America

by Tom Coffman

How Hawaii Changed AmericaThe story begins in Honolulu in late 1939 inside the meetings of a self-styled Council for Interracial Unity. The primary figures are Charles Hemenway, "father" of the University of Hawaii, and his prize adherents from the interwar period, YMCA youth worker Hung Wai Ching and a brilliant young teacher, Shigeo Yoshida. Together they are the heart of a group who believe that war will come soon, and that people in Hawaii can organize to guide the community through it. Their goals are to prevent a mass incarceration of the Japanese community and, in its stead, mobilize participation in the American war effort. Their work unfolds in a labyrinth of relationships that stretch through the public school system, the university, the YMCA and the U.S. Army. They reach urgently across ethnic lines to form relationships that will be tested to the limit in war. As the story develops, the conflict with Washington D.C.—including President Roosevelt—over issues of race and national origin become a chasm. From this Yoshida derives the group's prophetic mantra, "How we get along during the war will determine how we get along when the war is over."How Hawaii contrasts to the West Coast's forced evacuation and incarceration of 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry, most of them American citizens, is at the heart of "How Hawaii Changed America."

324 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2014

About the author

Tom Coffman is an independent researcher, writer, and producer. He graduated from the William Allen White School, Kansas University, with a Bachelor in Journalism, and became a reporter for United Press International in New Mexico in 1965. Within a year, the managing editor of the Honolulu Advertiser loaned Coffman plane fare to come to Hawaii, where he became state government reporter for the Advertiser. He moved to the Honolulu Star-Bulletin two years later and became political reporter and bureau chief. In 1972, he wrote Catch a Wave, a widely read chronicle of the 1970 gubernatorial campaign and the social and political turmoil of that period. A year later, he left newspaper reporting to work as an independent writer and media producer.

Expanding on research for Catch a Wave, his productions increasingly incorporated historic themes. Under the guidance of the legendary Hawaiian writer John Dominis Holt, he began to integrate a chronology of the development of Hawaii, which led to the television documentaries O Hawaii: From Settlement to Kingdom and Nation Within.

Tom Coffmans work has won national awards for production of video, film, interactive media, and multi-image. Ganbare, about the early wartime experiences of Japanese Americans, was selected Best Film by a Hawaii Filmmaker at the 1995 Hawaii International Film Festival. Two of his booksthe first edition of Nation Within and The Island Edge of America: A Political History of Americareceived Ka Palapala Pookela Awards for Excellence in Nonfiction from the Hawaii Book Publishers Association. After publication of Nation Within, Coffman also received the Hawaii Award for Literature, the highest recognition given by the state of Hawaii for outstanding literary achievement. He is currently working on a film about the assassination of Benigno Aquino, Jr., in the Philippines."

Reviews

[Donald McPhail · Rating 5 out of 5]

The arbitrary and cruel incarceration of over 150,000 Japanese-Americans during WWII was one of America's darkest moments. Yet in Hawaii, a place where nearly 70% of its citizens had Japanese heritage, fewer than 1,500 were imprisoned following the devastating Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor. How was the blind backlash from American politicians prevented in Hawaii?

Tom Coffman, a skilled journalist in the islands, has written an informed and important book, describing how different Hawaii is from the rest of the country. He chronicles how a small, dedicated, enlightened and pragmatic group of local residents -- Chinese, Japanese, haole, Hawaiian and other heritage -- carried out a humane and fundamental strategy in the years and months leading up to Japan's inevitable attack. They knowingly practiced the act of getting to know each other. These individuals of different races and economic levels went to school together. They competed and were teammates in sports and debates, in schools, churches, YMCA groups, business and politics. They acted like neighbors and friends. They got to know each other.

Hawaii was and is a different kind of place. Its roots in kindness and humanity extend back to its earliest leaders, who were also capable of swift and brutal retribution for broken laws. It is also a place that encourages and practices the revolutionary art of friendships.

A wonderful book.
Donald McPhail, Author of "The Guest From Johannesburg"