‘It begs the question:
Ah Quon McElrath
Have we done enough in other areas?
For all the talk about diversification,
we have never achieved it.’
One of the subjects whose history of activism is detailed in Robert and Anne Mast's new book, "Autobiography of Protest in Hawai'i," McElrath ebulliently recalls, "Aala Park was the site of many protest movements. I remember rallies here in the '30s, the color, the pageantry, the music and bombastic speeches!"
Today the lush park goes virtually unused, save by some of society's lost souls.
"It's fear of the homeless, fear of crime and wanting to be insulated from what is perceived to be dangerous, that keeps people away," McElrath said. "And without seeing what is going on, we can hardly analyze the problems and come up with a solution."
Contrary to public perception, she adds, Aala Park is "still a working man's domain."
But for a luck and family, it's been reported by social services agencies that up to 25 percent of people in Hawaii are at risk of homelessness. Even more may feel they are just two or three paychecks away from disaster. Yet all continue to toil in hope that things will magically get better. We still cling to the notion that a super leader will arrive one day to fix every pothole and patch up the economy, too.
Well, Superman isn't coming. So the dirty job of social change rests with individuals, some, like McElrath, who have shown superhuman strength and endurance in the task, first fighting for laborers' rights through the ILWU, and in recent years as a co-convener of the Committee on Welfare Concerns.
The 81-year-old McElrath keeps going even though she has seen hard-won gains in labor and welfare lost within two generations.
"My late husband (Robert McElrath, ILWU leader) used to love to quote H.L. Mencken, who said, 'The ship of socialism smashed on the shoals of roast beef and mashed potatoes,'
"His comment was that the trade union movement did such a good job in winning better wages, better working conditions and fringe benefits, that it created a whole new middle class which forgot its roots in the labor movement."
It is only now that Hawaii's middle class is beginning to feel goosed again by a higher power, but these days, the solution for many is to flee to the mainland. But that doesn't stop the changes in the global economy affecting labor today.
The export of jobs overseas that Hawaii has suffered with the loss of pineapple and sugar is a loss the mainland is also experiencing, most obviously in manufacturing.
McElrath is pessimistic about Hawaii's future. "It is not enough to tout Hawaii as a tourism area. Even though (leaders) say it is the only thing going for us. It begs the question: Have we done enough in other areas? For all the talk about diversification, we have never achieved it."
There has been talk about a future in sustainable agriculture, but she said, "In my opinion there has never been the kind of collaboration between the state Department of Agriculture, the College of Tropical Agriculture, private industry and land owners to know if we can become a self-sufficient island in the middle of the Pacific.
In a vicious cycle of lack of jobs leading to lack of money, leading to lack of funding for social services and schools, leading to crime, leading to lowered educational expectations, leading to poor job prospects, any thinking person would go crazy trying to come up with a solution.
The process is "exhausting," McElrath said, "but I think what sustains a person is this: In the matter of trying to bring about change, every little bit helps."
Progress, she said, is "a jagged line. You win some and you lose some, but if you get discouraged, you might as well forget about the fight."
It's a thought echoed by fellow activist Gary Gill, who said, "Each small piece of involvement may be insignificant, but it becomes significant if it involves lots of people."
A former union organizer, city councilman and current director of the state Department of Health's Environmental Quality Control Office, Gill's spent his early years campaigning for his father Tom Gill, whose career spanned the Territorial House, U.S. Congress and lieutenant governor of the state.
Gary Gill said one change he's seen over time is that in the past, "People understood change would come over a long period of time. They realized that the work they were doing might not pay off until years off in the future, and they were willing to wait, or at least have it pay off for their kids."
Today, he said, "People are into instant gratification. As society has evolved communication has become so much faster and society changes so much that I don't think people take the long view. But the expectation of a quick reward for minimal effort rarely pays off."
Still, he has reason to be optimistic. Perhaps, with a 5-year-old daughter, Lorin, he has to be.
"Fifty years ago people would have thought you were crazy if you said the countries of Europe, that were fighting, would agree to a common currency, and that's happening.
"There have been dramatic advances in environmental legislation which give us hope. When my father was in politics, if you mentioned the environment they would have thought that you were were some kind of wacky bird watcher. That's not the case today."
There is sometimes a tendency to view activists as being overly idealistic and somewhat myopic. Those who may, for example, wish to save trees may not consider other costs, such as loss of housing material, loss to the lumber industry and loss of jobs.
Similarly, social service agencies often find themselves angling to win more support for their cause at another's expense.
"We have to move out of our narrow interests," McElrath said. "What we need is a holistic approach. We have never said, as a society, here is what is desirable and here's how we can work together to achieve that."
Changing the school system, for example, will take sacrifice from students, teachers and parents. To show the slow process of change, McElrath points out that the current school schedule dates from the 1920s, tied to the plantation harvest season. Although most students were off the plantations by the 1950s, it's taken nearly 50 years for the Department of Education to give year-round schools consideration.
"Maybe it will work better if school ran from Thursday to Monday instead of Monday through Friday. Or maybe it should run from noon to 5 p.m.? But how many of us have thought about it? And if we do think of it, how many of us are willing to change? We are trapped by four walls."
It is crucial that the education system we choose turn out future leaders who can take a holistic approach to solving problems, she said. But failing that, it is up to individuals to become enlightened.
"We have a highly individualistic attitude about responsibility and pulling yourself up by the bootstraps. But lots of people can't do that -- the sick, the disabled, those without work skills, some women. We cannot ignore their needs.
"It might make a difference in a dull existence if activism adds a new dimension to your life. If all you want is an education and a job that gives you wheels, maybe you'll find you'll have a more interesting life if you take the bus every day. Maybe you'll have a more interesting life if you didn't live alone in a high rise, but lived with your family and shared a yard.
"I think it would make a difference if young people were told to look at life from different perspectives. (Money) isn't just the one thing."
There is no doubt people are going to have to learn to live with less, Gill said. "For people in America the economy is likely to get worse for a long time before it gets better, because on a global scale the wages and benefits of industrial workers are going to have to rise before things get dramatically better in America."
Our test, he said, will be to create a sustainable economy more in balance with natural forces than the forces of commercialism served up by corporations such as Disney and Nike.
Sacrifice is part of a sustainable economy and that is not a bad thing, Gill said. "A citizen in Europe uses less than half the energy consumed by an American and they enjoy a rich culture and high standard of living."
Gill rides a bicycle to work daily and said, "I like living less of a consumer lifestyle. I don't need to have every electronic gadget to be happy. It's a challenge to consume less of our natural resources, but I enjoy that challenge and I think more and more people are seeing it the same way."