By Cynthia Morihara, November 5, 2020 — This is a story about the jailing of a part Hawaiian boy named Kimo. To preface this story, I will say that some mainland Americans are not welcome in Hawaii. Next, I will explain some of the historical injustices that were perpetrated against the Hawaiians in the late 18th Century. These events have caused hard feelings and I think you can understand why.
In 1895, the Queen of Hawaii was imprisoned. Her name was Queen Liliuokalani. Lands belonging to Hawaiians that were not registered to the United States government were confiscated. Also, the Hawaiian language was banned. All of this was to try and suppress the Hawaiian culture and advance American domination.
Today Hawaiians and part Hawaiians make up 1/3 of Hawaii’s homeless population. Kimo is a modern 20-year-old of Hawaiian ancestry. He had been in special education classes throughout school, likes to drink alcohol, and is from a tightly knit Hawaiian family. He also owns a pick-up truck.
One evening as Kimo’s truck was stopped at a stop sign his lights went out. A tourist in a rental car was behind him. The tourist, a United States Veteran, repeatedly began to honk at Kimo’s stationary truck that was in front of him. Honking is not often done in Hawaii and because it was a tourist honking at a Hawaiian resident, the behavior was perceived as being extremely rude.
Well, Kimo got out of his truck, threw a beer can in the bed of his truck, and approached the man’s car. Kimo then cold punched the man as he sat in his car. As Kimo walked away, the man followed Kimo. Kimo then turned to the man and threw him down into the road. The tourist sustained a head injury and Kimo received a conviction, he had to go to jail for several years.
This ends my story of Kimo and the tourist. Kimo is currently out of jail and is living back at home with his family. The male tourist has to live with the effects of his head injury. It is apparent in this situation that Kimo’s behavior was wrong. He had to pay a stiff penalty. Hopefully, he will have been rehabilitated in some way through his punishment.
The epilogue is that the government has [the] Hawaiian homeland available to Hawaiians at reduced prices. Also, college scholarships are abundant for Hawaiian and part Hawaiian youths. This is in compensation for wrongs done to the Hawaiians in the 18th Century.
I knew Kimo very well and I didn’t want to have tell [everyone] that was a representative story, but that was one of the things that impressed me the most about living in Hawaii. That was one of the most, you know, poignant stories that I could have written. This epilogue was important because about, you know, African Americans, the same thing is true, there should be some compensation for what happened to them. And we can’t just say I’m sorry, we have to do something. So that is what I got out of that.