To the Editor:
It is interesting that a luau party could be considered "offensive" and inappropriate when the Hawaiian tourism industry and many native Hawaiians make millions from tourist dollars spent on luaus that are held in Hawaii. In fact, I lived in Hawaii for a short time in 1987 and had no idea that a luau was a religious ceremony as they are presented quite differently to people who visit the Hawaiian Islands. While someone from Hawaii might know this intuitively, how would a middle-class kid from the suburbs of Boston know? It seems to me like false media images and hokey tourism icons are more at fault than deliberate "bigotry" and "racism."
