Saturday, September 8, 2007
Keeping It Real
You can’t champion equality for your own people when you tolerate discrimination against any people because of who they are. Freedom is indivisible. You cannot grant it to some and deny it to others. It is either for everybody or it is for nobody. -- Christine Chavez, UFW
Thursday, March 8, 2007
IF WE DON'T CALL IT ONE, WE DON'T HAVE TO REPORT IT
Hawaii is the only state in the country that doesn't report hate crime statistics.
The BEATING Goes On
STAR BULLETIN
Vol. 12, Issue 67 - Thursday, March 8, 2007
OUR OPINION
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Waikele beating does not meet hate-crime standard
THE brutal beating of a military couple at Waikele Center as described by witnesses has produced understandable public outrage, focused on a racial epithet that accompanied the attack. If racial animosity had motivated the attack, it could have been charged as a hate crime, but that is not the case.
City Prosecutor Peter Carlisle correctly declined to charge the accused assailant with a hate crime because a car accident, not racial bias, triggered the incident. U.S. Attorney Ed Kubo has asked the FBI to determine whether federal civil-rights laws were violated.
Kubo appears to be motivated by public opinion. Like the state law, federal criminal civil-rights laws involving hate crimes are those committed against people or institutions because of their race, ethnicity or religion.
Accounts of the Waikele incident are without doubt horrific. A 26-year-old Army soldier who served two tours in Iraq pulled his sport utility vehicle into a Waikele parking place, and the SUV struck an adjacent vehicle. A 16-year-old boy got out of the other vehicle, called the soldier a "f--ing haole" and began attacking him.
The soldier's wife reportedly tried to intervene, but the teenager's mother fought with her. Gerald Paakaula, 44, the teenager's father, then emerged from an ice cream shop and allegedly punched the soldier's wife unconscious and, with his son, beat and stomped the soldier. Both the soldier and his wife sustained concussions and bone fractures.
Paakaula is charged with second-degree assault, which carries a penalty of up to five years in prison. If the attack had been charged as a hate crime, the maximum sentence could be doubled. The son, who barked the racial slur, will have his confidential day in Family Court.
Hawaii law, enacted in 2001, describes a hate crime as one "in which the perpetrator intentionally selected a victim" because of racial or any of other specified forms of prejudice. In this case, the soldier was targeted because of the car accident, even though his ethnicity triggered the bigoted verbal outburst by Paakaula's son.
Prosecution of hate crimes is rare in Hawaii, not because of the state's racial, religious and sexual harmony but because bigotry must be, beyond a reasonable doubt, the cause. In 2003, a Hawaiian man assaulted a white man off Waimanalo Beach Park after asking a woman, "Where's that f--ing haole?" and that "a f--ing haole is gonna die on the beach today." The confrontation was motivated not by race but by the victim's attempt to save the Hawaiian's dog from a beating by its owner.
A Big Island man was charged with a hate crime in 2004 for an unprovoked attack on campers at North Kona beach in which witnesses heard various people making racial comments about Caucasians. The defendant accepted a plea bargain -- without the hate-crime tack-on -- resulting in a five-year prison sentence.
Though the Waikele beating does not meet Hawaii's legal standard as a hate crime, it is a profoundly disturbing incident that has produced a flood of letters and phone calls to law enforcement offices and the media. Many are angered by the $20,000 bail set for the elder Paakaula and the maximum five-year sentence attached to the assault charge. As insufficient as they might seem for so violent an attack, those are issues to be addressed by lawmakers.
It will be harder to remedy feelings that the incident reflects a dangerous coarsening of life in Hawaii, twisting our image as the land of aloha into an ugly distortion.
Vol. 12, Issue 67 - Thursday, March 8, 2007
OUR OPINION
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Waikele beating does not meet hate-crime standard
THE brutal beating of a military couple at Waikele Center as described by witnesses has produced understandable public outrage, focused on a racial epithet that accompanied the attack. If racial animosity had motivated the attack, it could have been charged as a hate crime, but that is not the case.
City Prosecutor Peter Carlisle correctly declined to charge the accused assailant with a hate crime because a car accident, not racial bias, triggered the incident. U.S. Attorney Ed Kubo has asked the FBI to determine whether federal civil-rights laws were violated.
Kubo appears to be motivated by public opinion. Like the state law, federal criminal civil-rights laws involving hate crimes are those committed against people or institutions because of their race, ethnicity or religion.
Accounts of the Waikele incident are without doubt horrific. A 26-year-old Army soldier who served two tours in Iraq pulled his sport utility vehicle into a Waikele parking place, and the SUV struck an adjacent vehicle. A 16-year-old boy got out of the other vehicle, called the soldier a "f--ing haole" and began attacking him.
The soldier's wife reportedly tried to intervene, but the teenager's mother fought with her. Gerald Paakaula, 44, the teenager's father, then emerged from an ice cream shop and allegedly punched the soldier's wife unconscious and, with his son, beat and stomped the soldier. Both the soldier and his wife sustained concussions and bone fractures.
Paakaula is charged with second-degree assault, which carries a penalty of up to five years in prison. If the attack had been charged as a hate crime, the maximum sentence could be doubled. The son, who barked the racial slur, will have his confidential day in Family Court.
Hawaii law, enacted in 2001, describes a hate crime as one "in which the perpetrator intentionally selected a victim" because of racial or any of other specified forms of prejudice. In this case, the soldier was targeted because of the car accident, even though his ethnicity triggered the bigoted verbal outburst by Paakaula's son.
Prosecution of hate crimes is rare in Hawaii, not because of the state's racial, religious and sexual harmony but because bigotry must be, beyond a reasonable doubt, the cause. In 2003, a Hawaiian man assaulted a white man off Waimanalo Beach Park after asking a woman, "Where's that f--ing haole?" and that "a f--ing haole is gonna die on the beach today." The confrontation was motivated not by race but by the victim's attempt to save the Hawaiian's dog from a beating by its owner.
A Big Island man was charged with a hate crime in 2004 for an unprovoked attack on campers at North Kona beach in which witnesses heard various people making racial comments about Caucasians. The defendant accepted a plea bargain -- without the hate-crime tack-on -- resulting in a five-year prison sentence.
Though the Waikele beating does not meet Hawaii's legal standard as a hate crime, it is a profoundly disturbing incident that has produced a flood of letters and phone calls to law enforcement offices and the media. Many are angered by the $20,000 bail set for the elder Paakaula and the maximum five-year sentence attached to the assault charge. As insufficient as they might seem for so violent an attack, those are issues to be addressed by lawmakers.
It will be harder to remedy feelings that the incident reflects a dangerous coarsening of life in Hawaii, twisting our image as the land of aloha into an ugly distortion.
Pretty Soon We'll Have To Report... What Can We Do?
Wednesday, October 21, 1998
Hawaii is the only state in the country that doesn't report hate crime statistics. It also does not have stricter penalties for hate crimes like most other states have.
Aloha 1998
Only One Word Is Necessary.... DENIAL!
1998 Hawaii is the only state in the country that doesn't report hate crime statistics.
It also does not have stricter penalties for hate crimes like most other states have.
A 58-year-old man was beaten to death" in Hawaii Kai "and the guy got convicted of a misdemeanor assault. What's up with that?" Winterbottom said, referring to the killing of a gay man, Kenneth Brewer, a year ago.
1998 Hawaii is the only state in the country that doesn't report hate crime statistics.
It also does not have stricter penalties for hate crimes like most other states have.
A 58-year-old man was beaten to death" in Hawaii Kai "and the guy got convicted of a misdemeanor assault. What's up with that?" Winterbottom said, referring to the killing of a gay man, Kenneth Brewer, a year ago.
Friday, March 2, 2007
The Color Of Justice In Hawaii
By Debra Barayuga
dbarayuga@starbulletin.com
One of two men convicted of attacking a pedestrian who asked them to move their car so his injured wife would not have to walk into a puddle was sentenced yesterday to a year in jail and five years' probation.
Circuit Judge Richard Pollack also ordered Maurice Nakama,(Local) 26, to serve 250 hours of community service at a rehabilitation center so that he could understand the damage he caused.
Murray Wallace suffered a brain injury in the October 2005 attack, which started as a verbal confrontation. He fell and hit his head after a scuffle on Kapiolani Boulevard with Nakama. Prosecutors say he likely would likely died had he not received prompt medical attention.
Murray Wallace was taken by ambulance to the Queen's Medical Center in critical condition, where he remains, police said.
Prosecutors charged Nakama with attempted murder, but in October a jury found him guilty of the reduced charge of second-degree assault.
In imposing probation, Pollack relied on the verdict of the jury, which found that Nakama recklessly, not intentionally, inflicted serious bodily injury.
Pollack described the incident as senseless and entirely avoidable by Nakama and that the injuries Wallace suffered were substantial. But he agreed that it was unlikely that Nakama's conduct would recur and that he would likely respond to probation.
Wallace testified at trial that he could not remember what happened. He still suffers from short-term memory loss as a result of the head injury and continues to undergo therapy, prosecutors said.
Nakama apologized to Wallace and his wife, Alice, who also suffered a mild concussion after the driver, Daniel Miyamoto,(Local) struck her in the back of the head when she tried to stop him from leaving the scene. She suffered a mild concussion. At the time, she was wearing a leg cast.
Alice Wallace had asked that Nakama receive the maximum term possible, calling the attack on her husband "brutal and relentless."
Her husband lay on the ground unconscious and unable to fight back, yet Nakama continued assaulting him, she said.
Nakama had no prior criminal history, said his attorney, Deputy Public Defender Ed Harada.
Miyamoto was sentenced in October to a year of probation with 30 days in jail to be served on consecutive weekends. He had pleaded guilty to third-degree assault for striking Alice Wallace.
Under a plea agreement, Miyamoto is expected to be sentenced next week to one year's probation and 30 days in jail.
Hawaii State Sponsored Racism: Facilitated By Hawaii Courts, and The Hawaii Press...Star Bulletin That Is.
Corey Childs once stayed at the YMCA, around 4 years ago. But could this be? The YMCA says, one must be 18 to rent a room there. And that would mean that Mr. Childs was only....let's see, only 13 or 14 at the time.
COURTESY PHOTO
Preston Ingram, shown here in this undated photo, was taken to the Queen's Medical Center, where he underwent brain surgery last year after being attacked in Waikiki.
Teen attack suspect to be tried as adult
By Nelson Daranciang
ndaranciang@starbulletin.com
A teenager who is accused of inflicting permanent brain damage to a 49-year-old visitor last year is being prosecuted for first-degree assault as an adult.
Corey Childs (Black) was 17 when police said he punched Preston Ingram in the face on the sidewalk in front of the Food Pantry Store July 29. Ingram fell backward and hit his head on the sidewalk, knocking him unconscious, according to court documents.
Ingram, now 50, was taken to the Queen's Medical Center, where he underwent brain surgery, his wife, Barbara, said. She said her husband suffered permanent brain damage and is still recovering from the attack in a rehabilitation facility in his home state of Virginia.
"He'll probably never work his job again. He'll never drive again," Barbara Ingram said.
Witnesses told police that Childs confronted Ingram, who was with some co-workers, then punched him, according to court documents. Two witnesses told police that Childs appeared to be wearing brass knuckles when he struck Ingram.
Police arrested Childs near the Food Pantry Store Aug. 22, then released him to the custody of the state Family Court. According to the Honolulu Police Department's arrest log, Childs has no local address. He turned 18 last September.
Family Court Judge Frances Wong waived jurisdiction over Childs on Tuesday, allowing police to charge him as an adult yesterday. Police also charged Childs with two counts of driving a stolen car for incidents that occurred last April. His bail is $35,000. He was scheduled to make his first court appearance on the assault charge this morning.
Barbara Ingram said she is pleased Childs is being prosecuted as an adult to face stiffer penalties than if he were prosecuted under the juvenile justice system. But she said whatever punishment he receives will not equal the damage he inflicted."This boy will never suffer anywhere near what I suffered, what my husband suffered, what the family is suffering and what we're going through financially," she said.
Ingram said her husband arrived in Hawaii July 24 to do some work on a ship at Pearl Harbor. He works for diesel engine maker Fairbanks-Morse. She said her husband and his co-workers were supposed to be in Hawaii for only a week, then head to San Diego for some sea trials for another week and then head home.
She said her husband does not remember the attack or even being in Hawaii. But she said he knows he was assaulted and that people are trying to help him.
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