Bob Koure
2 min readOct 21, 2020

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Why leave the country? Just move somewhere reliably blue with decent gun laws. If you have a mixed race family, think seriously about Hawai'i. There, being hapa-whatever (mixed race) is very much NBD. Downsides: it’s quite expensive (both housing and food), ‘island fever’, not a lot of jobs with tourists gone. Upsides: it’s Hawai’i, year round climate lets you spend a lot of your day outside so you don’t need a lot of inside space, ocean swim every day if you want; beaches all have public access, tourists are gone, fresh tropical fruits are cheap and pretty amazing.

Second to that, is, MA, or NY - both states strongly influenced by what Colin Woodard calls Yankeedom. If you’ve read his American Nations you’ll know exactly where I’m going with this. And Hawai’i is sort of a mixture of old New England and Polynesia.

Of the countries listed, I’ve gone to school in France (Caen) and spent several months in New Zealand. Although France was famous as a place for Black people to escape to (e.g. James Baldwin) and NOLA style jazz is popular, there are two things to consider: learning a new language and Marie LePen / National Party.

New Zealand’s amazing. Although there’s a history of Europeans taking advantage of Polynesians (e.g. Treaty of Waitangi in Maori translation did not show the loss of sovereignty in the English version), Pakeha (Europeans) and Maori seem to be on the path to live and let live. Maybe not the place for a mixed race family as you’d be not-exactly-european and not a member of an iwi (Maori ‘clan’). Disclaimer: I tried to emigrate there decades ago, but did not have enough ‘points’ in their then-system to make up for being a too-old 29 (sheesh!). I understand that points system has changed. As a New Englander, I felt very ‘to home’ in NZ. Politically, I’m on the Left in MA, but there, those same attitudes make me center to center-Right. Also, NZ is not yet open to visitors from the US, even if they quarantine for 14 days. I have friends going back there in February and I’m jealous as hell.

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Bob Koure
Bob Koure

Written by Bob Koure

Retired software architect, statistical analyst, hotel mgr, bike racer, distance swimmer. Photographer. Amateur historian. Avid reader. Home cook. Never-FBer

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