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I am white and was born in Hawaii. I've never had a big problem. Furthermore, native Hawaiians constitute a very small percentage of the population. The percentage of native Hawaiians who are racist in the mainland sense of the word are even smaller. They are just more noticable because they are generally unemployed and hang out at the beach all day.

People in Hawaii are very free with racial slurs and stereotypes. They do not have the same taboo about them as they do on the mainland and they do not have the same inent behind them. If you listen to Hawaiian comdey you will begin to understand this. I think alot of the problems arrise over people coming from the mainland and not realizing that Hawaii is VERY different culturally from the rest of the US. They just assume that its just like anyother state. Conversely, of course, a healthy percentage of people in Hawaii don't realize that our brand of racial humor and racial interaction might be offensive to mainlanders. This is especially true if your dad was stationed there in the 70's. The guy who called your Dad a haole was most likely busting his chops. Hawaii's history is very divergent from the rest of the US. Hawaii was its own nation for 100 years before becoming a territory. We are the only state that has an actual Royal Palace. Hawaii is the only state where white people are not the ethnic majority. Make no mistake, we are very much Americans, it is just that this fact leads some to forget that we are a very unique state.

In the last 30 years more and more Hawaii residents have gone to the mainland for college and have begun to understand the difference. I know I personally had to learn this lesson the hard way. I found myself saying things every now and then that would produce shocked faces on my friends that wouldn't even cause one to blink in Hawaii.