Mark Matsunaga
Special to The Hawai‘i Herald
Sansei have carved a comfortable place in Hawai‘i and America. Maybe too comfortable.
Individual Sansei have done very well, earning national stature that transcends ethnicity. Think Ellison Onizuka, Eric Shinseki, George Takei. In Hawai‘i, Sansei achievers abound in politics, business, education, the law, medicine, entertainment, celebrity cooking. Less heralded, but far more numerous are those Sansei who toil anonymously as contributing members of society.
Thanks to the Nisei of the 100th Battalion, Military Intelligence Service and 442nd Regimental Combat Team, the Sansei generation grew up as full citizens, able to pursue just about any education, job or lifestyle we desired. We were free to be as successful, smart and secure as the next American, and just as self-indulgent, petty and evil. The worst mass murderer in modern Hawai‘i history was a sansei.
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