There is no majority racial group in Hawaii, where nearly a quarter of the population reports having a multiracial background.

However, Pacific Island communities, including Native Hawaiians, Micronesians, Filipinos, and others that live in Hawaii, still suffer from discrimination.

State legislators have introduced House Resolution 159 which urges the governor to implement programs and training to combat discrimination against Pacific Island communities. In 2020, there were 35 hate crimes recorded in the state, and 31 of those were based on race, ethnicity or ancestry.

“The passing of the resolution is to help come up with strategies to combat discrimination,” Rep. Adrian Tam, a co-introducer of HR 159, said. “Whether it’s in the workplace, when they’re seeking employment, and when they’re walking across the street without being harassed or assaulted.”

The resolution – which condemns racial and cultural discrimination, violence, and defamation against Pacific communities – will push for more efforts for diversity training at the workplace, in government offices, and in schools.

HCR 159 passed the House Culture, Arts and International Affairs on Wednesday and next faces a hearing in the House Judiciary Committee.

Rep. Jeanne Kapela said she links discrimination in the state to its history of settler colonialism as well as the nation’s military-industrial complex.

“There are two types of residents in our state,” Kapela. “Those who call Hawai’i their forever home, and those that will be forever visitors.”

Many Pacific Island communities are displaced from their homes, and among those displaced communities are Micronesians who came to Hawaii after their island was polluted by military weapons testing.

From 1946 to 1958, the Marshall Islands served as a nuclear testing zone, with the U.S. testing 67 nuclear weapons in that area, meanwhile displacing Micronesians from their homes.

“I see the racism and discrimination they face every day,” said Kapela. “And it plays out in these extreme levels of poverty and lack of access to health care, lack of access to quality education, and racism that students face.”