Pacific Islanders a Distinct Ingredient in Cultural Stew

Pacific Islanders are not Asians! I would write it 500 times if I thought you’d print it. The U.S. Census Bureau no longer counts Pacific Islanders as Asians. Why, one wonders, is the Orange County Department of Education less enlightened than the Census Bureau (“Changing Faces in South County Schools,” graphic, March 23)?

No one should be more aware than educators that Pacific Island children are not racially, linguistically, culturally or religiously Asians any more than are American Indians or Alaskan Natives.

I am truly puzzled. How can the OCDE identify our native Hawaiian-Americans, Samoan, Tongan and Marshall Islands students in classrooms from kindergarten to college in Orange County as Asians? Take another look! They are an invaluable part of our cultural diversity. They deserve respect and recognition. They deserve to be counted.

MEL KERNAHAN, Laguna Hills