The case highlights the struggles between Native Hawaiians who are adamant about not having their culture erased and people who move to Hawaii without considering its history.
March 6, 2023, 7:01 PM UTCHONOLULU — Two Native Hawaiian men wouldn’t have brutally beaten a man if he weren’t white, a U.S. judge said Thursday in sentencing them to yearslong prison terms for a hate crime in a case that reflects Hawaii’s nuanced and complicated relationship with race.in November, finding that they were motivated by Christopher Kunzelman’s race when they punched, kicked and used a shovel to beat him in 2014. His injuries included a concussion, two broken ribs and head trauma.
Seabright said Thursday he understands the argument that Alo-Kaonohi isn’t racist, but, “You were a racist on that day.” He sentenced Alo-Kaonohi to six and a half years in prison. “We loved Maui; we loved the people,” Lori Kunzelman told The Associated Press, describing how her husband planned to fix up the house himself.“It was obviously a hate crime from the very beginning,” she said. “The whole time they’re saying things like, ‘You have the wrong skin color. No ‘haole’ is ever going to live in our neighborhood.’”
But it’s more than racial, Rohrer said, explaining how the Hawaiian word has become part of Hawaii Pidgin, the creole language of the islands, to describe behavior or attitudes not in sync with local culture.In video recorded by cameras on Kunzelman’s vehicle parked under the house, only one racial utterance can be heard, defense attorneys said. Aki is heard saying, “You’s a haole, eh.”that what’s not audible in the video is the men calling him “haole” in a derogatory way.
Tiare Lawrence, a Native Hawaiian community advocate on Maui, said she doesn’t condone the attack but is deeply familiar with the tensions that permeate the case. They could have killed Kunzelman, Seabright said, but added that Alo-Kaonohi and Aki should also be glad to be alive. Kunzelman had a gun during the attack, Seabright said, but chose not to use it.In a letter to the judge, Aki said he doesn’t see himself as racist: “Not only because I am almost half-Caucasian but also because I have people who I love and care about who are white.”
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