On Tue, 7 Oct 2003 Lee Bell <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

<snip of the kiwi shears>
>Here in the U.S., one of the ethnic catagories, information that is
>captured in just about all aspects of our business and personal lives,
>is Asian/Pacific Islander.  I can't say that I know what a Pacific
>Islander looks like, but the catagory would seem to indicate
>similarities.  Yes?

Unless you are deaf, dumb and blind ... definitely not!

>If so, would a Pacific Islander be offended at being called Asian?

Being of Pacific Islander extraction myself on my mothers side, in
particular Polynesian Maori, I can tell you now that if you called any of
my tribe 'Asian' the **least** that would happen to you would be a few
missing teeth.

Here's a breakdown defining who is considered a Pacific Islander.
http://www.pica-org.org/Terms/terms.htm

Maybe you should also check out the census stats for the US.
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0779063.html

The data is out of date by 3 years but you should get the idea.
Viv