Honolulu Adertiser - By Jerry Burris - June 8, 2007
...The poverty rate for Hawaiians is higher than the overall state average. But the "staggering" figure is that, among the people considered to be in poverty in the Islands, fully 27 percent of them are Native Hawaiians.
...nearly a third of all people who earn less than $10,000 are Native Hawaiians versus about 19 percent for non-Native Hawaiians. It works the other way as well: A smaller percentage of those in the high-income group are Native Hawaiians as compared with non-Hawaiians.
...The only category in which Hawaiians out-earn the rest of the state is in public assistance.
Now, there are lots of reasons for these discrepancies, including the fact that Hawaiians tend to be younger (less wealth accumulation), come from larger families, are somewhat less-well-educated and have fewer people in high-income fields.
...Is that the answer? Who knows? But what seems to be obvious is that the answer to Hawaiian poverty and lack of financial success is not going to come from pretending it does not exist.
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http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007706080365
