CHAPTER THREE: HAPA

Hapa, (half and half) a Hawaiian word for people of multicultural ancestry regardless of their specific blend.

Image credit: Jennifer Qian for NPR

Kip Fulbeck interview (below). 

Hapa.me, the book by Kip Fulbeck (right).

Of all the hapas I know...

Hapa #1 John Trosper is the first to come to mind. I met John when I was 10 years old. He would become the first hapa in my life. We were in the 5th grade together and not yet worldly enough to know what hapa meant. It would take another 10 years to hear the term 'hapa' for the first time. But later, in junior high school I began to sometimes feel like I was different from the kids I knew. John must have felt the same but we never talked about it though we were friends for 8 years through high school.  

As a kid, John Trosper was at the top of my list when it came to honesty and integrity We met at Monte Vista Street School in Highland Park, California.  I mentioned John when my Catechism teacher, a young priest, told us one Saturday that everyone that was not Catholic was going to hell.  He was a wonderful teacher. I found his classes always interesting especially since last Sunday when I was in the vestibule of Saint Ignatius Church where I found a list of books banned by the Catholic Church. On it was Letters From the Earth by Mark Twain.  I couldn’t believe Mark Twain was banned!  I had to know why. That was Sunday. On Monday I went to the nearby Arroyo Seco Regional Branch Library after school and checked out this banned book. I couldn’t read it fast enough!  Twain’s witty, funny and bold, I thought. But why ban his book? So I read on. By Saturday questions were spilling out of my head.  My cup runneth over, so to speak. As usual my catechism teacher (wish I could remember his name) was very mindful about answering all of my questions. There were many. Too many some might say. But he was earnest and consistent in backing Catholic dogma, and kind all along the way. So when he repeated John was going to hell, I had to stand up for John.

I said: “John is half Chinese and probably comes from a family of Buddhists. He is also the most honest kid I’ve ever met. When we see Saint Peter and line up to get into heaven, based on goodness, John should be up front, the first in line. And me... I should be way back toward end of the end line.”  

The priest said: “John is going to hell.”

I said: “My God would never allow that to happen!”

That was my last day in catechism. My wonderful teacher asked if I could stay after class for a short talk.  I’d been asking way too many questions, partly influenced by Mark Twain. And other kids were starting to ask questions too. 

This kind priest asked if I’d stop coming to class because he was having a very difficult time with my questions. I was heart broken because the class was so interesting.  

John Trosper top left, Toby on the right of this photo.

 

John enlisted in the Marine Corp after graduating from Franklin High School in Los Angeles.  He became a Marine Air Corp Air Traffic Controller.  If the military gave medals for ethics, I’d nominate John Trosper for the highest honors. He will always be the most honest kid I ever knew. He inspired integrity and that’s quite a feat for a 5th grader!

Click HERE for "What Are You"?

Explaining Identity As A Goal of the Multiracial Hapa Movement

Hapa #2  Chucky Thomas, is hapa and the first student genius of my career as a teacher.  He was in my first Biology class when I started teaching at Foothill High School. There was, in his science questions, a deep insight that at first I did not understand.  Later, I was told he was “too smart for his own good” and that explained everything about the intensity of his inquiry.

Not long after the first week of class Chuckie stayed after school to tell me about Outward Bound Adventures:  “OBA takes inner city kids on backpacking trips to the High Sierras. You should volunteer as a credentialed teacher.  A week behind, I was up to my eyeballs with papers to grade but he kept asking for the rest of the year. Somewhere in that first term together he told me he was half Japanese. The following year he enrolled in Anatomy and Physiology where he continued to sell me to become an OBA volunteer.  He taught me how to be relentless. After a few more months he had me meeting Helen Mary Williams and volunteering to supervise inner city kids on a hike in Angeles Crest National Forest. Persistence pays off.

Now he is the CEO of Outward Bound Adventures. He’s doing plenty of good now making the world a better place.  https://www.obainc.org/

Click HERE for: Who Gets To Be 'Hapa'?

Four hapas at Cal Tech

Hapas #3-6. Being half Japanese, I sought Matthew Mori's advice before my first genealogy trip to Japan. He too is half Japanese  A student genius I met as an educator in 1985. He knew exactly what documents were needed besides a birth certificate showing my mother’s name: Tamaki Patricia Ishihara. What else would I need? He had all the details. Last I’d seen him we’d met at Cal Tech in Pasadena California.  He brought his twins. I instantly knew he’d have his hands full managing their genius.

So I boarded a plane with Matthew’s recommendations: “Take all forms of ID, then take anything else related to your mother and her family. And finally, take more than you think you'll ever need.” 

He was right as I discovered when I walked into City Hall in Niimi, Okayama Japan, it took 4 hours to search their archives. What did the trick was a card from my mother's funeral. I'd enlisted both buddhist and Catholic priests to celebrate her life. Buddhists are given a new name when they pass that's recorded on a memorial card. This was the evidence that convinced Shoji Ishihara at Niimi City Hall that I was legitimately half Japanese.

Hapa #7 Nichole Stephen Fisher, half Seneca-Cayuga native american of Oklahoma, and half german. "My dad's, dad's, dad was the Seneca-Cayuga chief of his time".  See the map below.  For more, click HERE.