The future belongs to the young, and I’m always encouraged to see them grab for it in our island society in which the old jealously cling to most of the power.
Which is why I was happy to get an email from Nicole Velasco, a Kalihi product and 2008 Princeton graduate, trying to rekindle a discussion about Hawaii’s brain drain — the exodus of some of our brightest young talent to the mainland for better career opportunities and a higher standard of living.
In particular, Velasco wants to talk about those who are coming home to contribute to a better Hawaii, as she did a year ago when she gave up a good job in TV post-production in New York City to return home.
"We’re highly educated, we’re well rounded, we’ve been able to live other places, but we want to move back," she said in a recent radio interview.
She was partly motivated to return by the news of Furlough Fridays in local public schools, which Hawaii expatriates on the mainland saw as a huge embarrassment for their native state.
"Given that I am 25 years of age, I’m old enough to know that things need to change and young enough to believe that it can while I’m still alive," she says.
Velasco, whose personal passion is innovative music education, is convinced that Hawaii has the talent to overcome our toughest problems but needs a boost in creative energy — especially opening ourselves to new ideas that didn’t necessarily originate here.
Her email sent me digging for a 1999 Star-Bulletin series, "Hawaii’s Brain Drain," by Lavonne Leong, then an Oxford student from Hawaii (archives.starbulletin.com/specials/braindrain.html).
Leong’s stories and the responses from Hawaii expatriates struck themes we still see today: They want to come home but are frustrated by a stifling two-industry economy of tourism and government employment, a gaping divide between rich and poor, rampant parochialism, a substandard public school system, a lackluster state university and a political system that keeps rewarding those who don’t get the job done.
I noted then that Hawaii’s last political and social revolution was led by young Japanese-American soldiers of the 442nd, who came back from World War II with a broader worldview and a determination to build a better Hawaii.
I expressed hope that our army of expatriates would find their way home as a modern 442nd bringing the initiative, courage and leadership to get our state back on course.
Who knows if Velasco and others like her will be part of the answer or if they’ll become frustrated and end up back on the mainland, but I choose to be optimistic that our young people have what it takes.
Velasco’s blog on the brain drain is at why-hawaii.tumblr.com.
Reach David Shapiro at volcanicash@gmail.com or blog.volcanicash.net.
