If you hail from New York, you are a New Yorker. In my life I've been an Oregonian, a Coloradoan and a Californian. That's because I've lived in those states. I live in Hawaii now, but I can never be Hawaiian. To be Hawaiian, you must have Hawaiian blood. A Hawaiian can be a Californian or a Nevadan, a Washingtonian or a Vermonter, but a haole mainlander of European descent can never be a Hawaiian. Here in Hawaii, I am a Hawaii resident. No less, but no more. According to my state I.D., I am kama'aina , insofar as my ability to receive an occasional local discount on stuffs l'dat . Technically, however, kama'aina means native born. Hawaiians born in the islands are both Hawaiian and kama'aina . A Hawaiian born in California is still Hawaiian, though not kama'aina . Third, fourth or fifth generation descendants of missionaries or plantation workers who were born in Hawaii are kama'aina , but not Hawaiian. I am officially a malihini ...