Forget Them Not: The Great Countryhumans Archive

Hawaiian Propaganda

Thank you so much to ApeculiarChild2 for helping me write this. She was a big help in research and bouncing ideas off of and she wrote all of Hawaii's interview. I highly recommend you check her out.

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Propaganda Poster created in March 1942

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[Image Description: At the top of the image are the words "Remember Pearl Harbor...Work~Fight~Sacrifice!!" and at the bottom of the image are the words "We'll remember—and by God, you won't forget!!" The image shows the top part of a globe, without any type of geography, with an image of Hawaiʻi lying down on top of the globe. She is noticeably drawn as white, and there is a large knife in her back. Clutching the glove is a racist caricature of a Japanese soldier. The soldier is very monkey-like in appearance. The right hand of the Japanese soldier is dripping blood and being pulled away from Hawaiʻi by Uncle Sam's hand. The arm of Uncle Sam is labeled as "130,000,000 United Americans."]

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Recording of an interview of Hawaiʻi, 9 September 2022. Interviewed by Mahinanuioalii "Mahina" Wakabayashi of the Countryhumans Research Archival Project. Transcribed by Angel Canesta.

[Start Recording]

[Shuffling of Papers]

Interviewer: September 9th, 2022. Interview with the State of Hawaiʻi about the role of Propaganda in the Second World War. Hello Miss Hawaiʻi, my name is Mahina Wakabayashi. It is an honor and a pleasure to be able to meet you face to face.

State of Hawaiʻi: It's very nice to meet you, too. Wakabayashi. That's a nice last name. You related to Charlie Boy?

Interviewer: No, Ma'am.

Hawaiʻi: Shame, he's a good boy. [Long pause.] So what, I don't get Miss Corbelha to question me about this? I thought Sera would be the questioner, she'd like this kind of information for her editing of that biography she's making. Anyways, what was the topic again?

Interviewer: She wished to, but unfortunately, Sera's schedule didn't allow it. And we are speaking about propaganda during the Second World War, Miss Hawaiʻi.

Hawaiʻi: Right. Oh, f*ck, I was in quite a few of those films and posters, wasn't I? Don't remember all of them. Those years were very blurry for me, with the martial law and all fogging up my brain.

Interviewer: How exactly did martial law affect you? We know very little from first-hand sources what something on that level of almost mind control to be. What was that like?

Hawaiʻi: Sort of like a dream. You vaguely know something's wrong, but you don't question it. You watch, and you don't speak back, and you say, "Yes, Sir, yes, I will let you take photos of me in clothing no man nor woman in the war effort would ever wear." Those stupid little skirts were the bane of my existence.

Interviewer: I completely understand. And what was it like being "woken up"?

Hawaiʻi: Am I allowed to be blunt on this thing? It was a nightmare to finally have your mind cleared enough to think about just how fu—I mean, messed up it all was, and then you see all these posters, all these propaganda pieces are putting back years of work to be respected. Though I suppose it was never a matter of respect at all.

Interviewer: Were you aware of what sort of propaganda was being made, and did you have any say into what was created using your image?

Hawaiʻi: Kuʻuipo, most of it I wasn't aware of at all. They took my likeness and ran with it because they were allowed to do so during a time when I couldn't say no to anything. It was patriotic to want to protect the poor little territory woman, and it was patriotic for me to be the face of that. Though, I think the one recurring piece that surprised me the most was all the Avenge Pearl Harbor posters that used the same illustration of me sobbing into my hands. Never knew who drew that.