<p>If you are really upset about this, bring someone with you, and lodge an official complaint with the administration. If they then ignore you, contact a local media outlet, and watch as oh so much fire and flack comes to the school. Heck, you may even be able to file a suite.</p>
<p>What does HAPA stand for? Is it in common usage? I’ve never heard of it, either. I agree with OldFort; some biracial people, of any mix, are really strikingly beautiful. As for the situation you are in, it very well may be that the boy is denigrating you to distance himself from his asian half. How sad.</p>
<p>“Hapas are especially smart and good looking”</p>
<p>I certainly believe this to be true as far as my niece is concerned. :)</p>
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<p>Not true here. I am the parent of half-Asian kids (I am the non-Asian parent), and we like most people from most ethnic groups. We don’t think about ethnicity overmuch, but we are certainly not Asian-haters here.</p>
<p>The term “hapa” comes from Hawaii, I think, and perhaps from the Hawaiian language. If you Google “half asian people’s association” you will see that that acronym is used on various elite college campuses for organizations of students with half-Asian ethnicity.</p>
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Well, let’s not generalize. I myself am a Hapa or Wasian or whatever you’d like to call it and the majority of my friends are Asian including my best bud. Then again, Asians as a whole outnumbered any other ethnic group in my high school.
Also agreed. I know a couple of biracial people who came out just absolutely good-looking. It doesn’t seem to matter how good or what the parents look like, biracial kids tend to come out easy on the eyes.</p>
<p>I assumed “HAPA” stood for “half Asian-Pacific American”.</p>
<p>Yep, the term “hapa” originated in Hawaii. </p>
<p><a href=“http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hapa[/url]”>http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hapa</a> </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.mixedfolks.com/names.htm[/url]”>http://www.mixedfolks.com/names.htm</a> </p>
<p><a href=“http://media.www.studlife.com/media/storage/paper337/news/2005/09/23/Forum/New-Group.mixes.It.Up.With.Race.Dialogue-996476.shtml[/url]”>http://media.www.studlife.com/media/storage/paper337/news/2005/09/23/Forum/New-Group.mixes.It.Up.With.Race.Dialogue-996476.shtml</a></p>
<p>Hapa (shortened from hapa-haole, meaning half/part Caucasian) is a commonly recognized and well-understood term in Hawaii and the areas of the US mainland (west coast mostly) where the beauty and Aloha of Hawaiian culture has been manifested. I have always thought of it as an inclusive in spirit and I think that anyone who has grown up in this culture will agree. We hapas identify ourselves as beneficiaries of the gifts that our multicultural heritage affords us in the prism of the spirit of Aloha. Hapas of my generation do not reflexively identify themselves as part of the dominant Caucasian culture of their father</p>
<p>(cut off above) their father’s ancestry – hapas were primarily offspring of Caucasian fathers due to the relative economic advantages these men held. Although we may not speak the mother tongue of our “other” side (mixed Hawaiian/Portuguese, Japanese, Chinese, Okinawan or Filipino were most common during the baby boom years in Hawaii), we are intimately familiar with the food, customs and folk culture of the provinces where our mother’s ancestors came from.</p>
<p>As you can tell, I don’t think of your classmate as a hapa. To the point, yes, hapas of my generation are always aware of differences, their looks and the inherent struggle with identity. As much as I would love to think otherwise, we are not all blessed with the right hair, eyes, nose, or with some unique hybrid intelligence. It sounds like the boy in question is very uncomfortable with himself and may be disadvantaged in that he is divorced from his Asian culture. From what you say his attitude is to exclude and demean anything Asian. I think that you have a choice. You can turn your back on him and ignore him as some have suggested, or you can ask that counselors and the administration intervene. Either way, please be proud of who you are and don’t let the boy’s unpleasantness tarnish your view of mixed race kids.</p>
<p>I think it’s a problem that has to do with maturity.</p>
<p>I think it’s a problem that has to do with the fact that this kid obviously rejects fully one half of who/what he is. As bad as it is for you to endure his slurs, it’s doubly bad for him. It’s truly sad when a person literally hates the skin into which he’s been born.</p>
<p>This is not to say, however, that you should put up with his cr#p. Nail his keister to the wall. Confront him out loud in the classroom and in front of all and sundry. Point out the obvious in a cool and oh-so-condescending voice, that his frequent insults concerning your race only emphasize how much he must truly hate himself. Then sit back and watch how he tries to rescue his ego from the bald-faced truth.</p>
<p>First of all, while a significant % of hapas do seem to have issues with their Asian side - not all hapas are like that.</p>
<p>The same issues of self-esteem and identity can be seem in segments of the Asian-American and other minority populations (i.e. - black women with lighter skin and straight hair v. black women with darker skin and “kinky” hair).</p>
<p>While the guy certainly is acting immaturely, that’s simply a cover for his insecurity and feelings of inadequacy (making fun of Asians is simply a way of showing his peers that he is more like them).</p>
<p>While I doubt anything you say will change his current mindset - a calm, cool response back to him such as “why do you hate your mother (or father) so much?” or “are you this insecure about who you are?” may make him reflect at a later date.</p>
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<p>Stereotype.</p>
<p>OP, I am so sorry you are having to listen to ugly, racist slurs from this jerk. I’m not sure what the roots of his harassment may be. The more important thing is for Asian students at your school to feel safe in an environment free from having to listen to racist garbage (in the presence of your teachers, yet!) And it is also important for all students at your school to get the message that in their community, this sort of language is completely unacceptable. </p>
<p>My kids’ school has many, many students whose two parents come from two different ethnic backgrounds. We also have a zero tolerance policy on racist speech. I think that the point made by the adults who came up with and enforce the policy is that no member of our school community will ever again be subject to racist language from his peers. </p>
<p>OP – Please go ahead and stand up for yourself and make a difference. If your school has a policy on racist language, find out who enforces it. If you’re not comfortable asking the teacher who tolerates garbage in her class to make it stop, see if your GC will speak with her. Talk to your GC and let her know what’s going on.</p>
<p>If there is no policy on hate speech at your school, maybe it’s time to develop one. Are there organizations for students of different ethnicities at your school? If so, that might be a good place to raise the issue of racist speech on campus. If there is a faculty advisor to these organizations (if they exist), that might be a good ally in your efforts to get hate speech banned on campus.</p>
<p>For heaven’s sake, don’t hit, shove, or even touch the other kid; you will come out of that one looking bad and possibly suspended while he’ll end up looking like the innocent victim. Instead, let him know in a direct, mature that what he is saying is hate speech and that it disgusts you.</p>
<p>dont stereotype hapas, the vast majority are friendly with asians (and any other race for that matter).</p>
<p>Since this thread won’t die, I am finally fed up with the term HAPA and would like to call the original poster on his use of it. Hamakko says it’s an Hawaii term “hapa-haole” and “manifests the beauty of Hawaiian culture.” My son went to school on the Big Island (Hawaii island county of Hawaii the state) and would be happy to tell you that most native Hawaiians consider “haole” pretty insulting and that in fact he was invited to fight a few times by Hawaiians who called him an haole, along with the rest of their taunts. (And, in case you’re wondering, a tourist whose skin is peeling from sunburn has “haole rot.”)</p>
<p>Namecalling is namecalling no matter who’s doing it.</p>
<p>At my college, HAPA stood for the Half-Asian Persons’ Association. I’ve always seen/used the term in that context.</p>
<p>Since I’m not Asian, I readily will conceed to the opinions of Asians about the word hapa. However, I first heard it when it was used in a one act play that showed people of various races from their perspectives. The word was used to self identify, and wasn’t used as a put down.</p>
<p>I also notice that there are sites like the following, which seem designed by Asians, so it doesn’t seem as if the word has negative connotations:<a href=“http://www.hapas.com/[/url]”>http://www.hapas.com/</a></p>
<p>" A resource index site relating to the eurasian, biracial, multiracial, amerasian, mixed asian, blasian, hafu, half asian, and hapa. The site provides a place to discuss and share information on the racial and ethnic diversity found in the partial asian and pacific islander heritage. Hapas derives from the Hawaiian word Hapa which derived from the English word Half. The Hawaiian dictionary defines Hapa as: of mixed blood, person of mixed blood, as hapa Hawai’i, part Hawaiian. The word has been used to describe somebody who is Hapa(half/part) popolo(black), haole(white), pake(chinese), kolea(korean), pilipino(filipino), kepani(japanese), kamoa(samoan), sepania(spanish), and so on. "</p>
<p>Checking further on the Internet, I see that other colleges beside Hanna’s have HAPA associations.</p>
<p>I think the term “hapa” was initially a rather derogatory term, but lately, it’s been turned around into a more positive term by the people it applies to.</p>
<p>This boy just has an issue. Even if he was all white or all asian, he’d probably find another way to offend you. </p>
<p>I’m a “hapa” myself, and I definitely don’t dislike asians. Most of my friends are white, but that’s just because all the asians I know prefer to talk in a different language. But, the guys I’ve dated (or have been interested in) are mostly half asians or full asians. There are a lot of stereotypes about any race, and making a blanket statement is unfair. Don’t let him ruin your impression of other multiracial people.</p>
<p>For now, I personally would just give him the cold shoulder - confronting him might make things better, but, from the type of person he sounds like, it could just fuel his teasing. I would definitely look into addressing the issue for the future, too. What CCSurfer wrote sounds like great advice.</p>