Hawaii, the Aloha State, is well-known for its hospitality, especially to tourists. However, one local who uploaded a warning to social media about Hawaii’s dark underbelly has more or less shattered certain illusions about the state. The woman has warned Black people that some locals are allegedly racist and even liberally use racial slurs in almost every sentence. Calling them out will apparently result in painful and dangerous repercussions.
TikTok user marklemoe is the Hawaiian woman in question, and she described her lineage as a mix of Black and Korean. Sadly, marklemoe has deleted her video after it went viral, and in it, she stated that, “If you’re black, do not come to Hawaii, unless you have a strong soul and you like hearing non-Black people say the n-word in every sentence like it’s their favorite word. And you’re fine with them beating you up if you say something about it.”
marklemoe continues, “Don’t ask how I know this, just beware. Heed my warnings. Every sentence, they say it [the n-word] and everyone is not black.” While she deleted her clip, marklemoe’s videos gained overwhelming traction elsewhere, earning millions of views on other platforms. Her sentiments have also sparked concern from Black people, but of course, some have disputed her claims. With that said, the Hawaiian woman did mention that Hawaii also has its harmonious side in a follow-up clip.
“Majority of th people here will not say the n-word if they’re not Black. Majority of them are very kind,” adds marklemoe. The half-Black, half-Korean Hawaiian woman corrected her initial statement; she mostly hears the racial slurs from the “local youth, like high school and stuff,” which is something that aligns with this data about racism collected from Hawaiian schools.
She might have opened a can of worms with her original video
One of the reasons why marklemoe deleted her original viral video was, “I don’t wanna get bullied at school for this 😭,” though she did bring a spotlight to a rather serious issue among the Hawaiian youth. And even though marklemoe corrected her statement to limit the racism to the local youth in Hawaii, some Black people have still disputed her original claim.
“I lived in Hawaii for three years, she is full of [expletive],” says a Black X/Twitter user. Another Black person who lived in Hawaii also claimed that, “I was stationed at Pearl harbor for four years. Never had a problem with locals. We drank and sang karaoke. If they were shipyard workers they would use their base Access to drop me off instead of looking for a cab.”
Thankfully, it appears these adult testimonies about Hawaii‘s actual friendliness have been heard well, though it’s not clear just how much marklemoe’s original video affected online perception of Hawaii, as some Black people seem to agree with her original video, “lived there 11 years, she is NOT lying,” claims a commenter.
