Kaulapi World

1) “Given the limited facts presented, doesn’t this sound similar to the parking lot incident? Why is this a hate crime and the parking lot incident is not?”
2) “I still don’t think this should be a hate crime either just because of the added use of racially charged words, this is an open and shut assault and battery case.”
3) “Doesn’t this inconsistency of applying the hate crime statute highlight my earlier point about the difficulties of applying hate crimes legislation based on words alone?”
4) “Isn’t 1 year kind of short sentence for a “hate crime” that we are seem to be going out of our way in punishing?”

I found his responses to the article typically short, oversimplified, but interesting nonetheless. First he declined to address the crux of my argument that hate crimes based on words alone are very problematic to characterize, and really classify, especially in a multi-ethnic setting such as Hawaii. Then he went on to comment that only minorities gang-jump victims, and are without honor or respect, and that this epidemic of hate crimes (6 out of 8,000 nationally for 2006) back home as an example of how Hawaii needs a dose of their own “Aloha Spirit” instead of imposing their brand of multiculturalism to the mainland.

His statements overall I wasn’t too surprised with, but I think illustrate the misconceptions and downright ignorance that Americans have with Hawaii in general, especially my immediate reactions which were captured in my responses to him:

“I think it is totally elitist to associate gang jumping as somehow characteristic of minority communities only. It’s not like minorities are the only ones that roam in packs, think about all the times we’ve seen all those fights down state street at bar time. Gang-jumping is really a standard tactic used by military and law enforcement to subdue an enemy/suspect. Don’t forget the history (and definition) of lynching in America.”

“I agree with you that respect and honor seems to be lacking in our present society, but I think I disagree with you on the root cause, which I think you’re implying that minorities lack respect and honor due to their culture or values. I think your point (and general admission of holding elitist points of view) actually raises another very good question: To what extent do you think that elitism or polarization of groups that individuals identify with is contributing to the lack of respect and honor in our society?”

“do the math. 6 hate crimes is a tiny share of the national hate crime statistic even with the state with a population of 1.5M. Lets just estimate, saying that there are 260M people in the US, and 8,000 hate crimes in 2006, that would mean that a state with 1.5M should have about 46 hate crimes. 6 is a lot less than 46.”

“I’ll agree with you about the aloha spirit if you mean being more open and respectful of people of different cultures, and resolving conflicts non-violently. But again, your statement still demonstrates a limited understanding of race relations in Hawaii. A few isolated assaults where racially charged words were exchanged does not indicate a culture’s failure at race relations – take the statutory application of the hate crime, for all of 2006, Hawaii has only 6 of the 8,000+ hate crimes reported/charged nationally. I think the rest of the U.S. could use more “aloha spirit” as a whole as opposed to Hawaii. These types of crimes are being committed all the time out here, and with more extreme racial overtones and more serious outcomes. What is getting all the attention is the fact that the races of the victims are reversed – in these two cases the victims Haole, and the aggressors are “minorities” by U.S. classifications of race – usually on the mainland its the other way around.”

In trying to end on a lighter side I also shared a link to a related cartoon in the Honolulu Weekly resident cartoonist and provided this sidebar:

“This raises an important nuance abut the term “Haole” by the way the USA today article used it, a cold reader might think that it is a derogatory word, like the N-word or something. In reality it is used in the newspaper all the time, in fact most people will use the word to describe themselves in ethnic terms. Language, meaning and culture in Hawaii is especially contextual – a big guy charging down the beach yelling “F-ing Haole” is obviously a different context than someone writing a newspaper article about the governor or Captain Cook, or Father Damien.”