Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai‘i,
University of Hawaiʻi Mānoa Office of Multicultural Student Services present
Hoomanao (Remember)
The Massie Case and Injustice, Then and Now
UH Manoa Architecture Auditorium
Wednesday, October 21, 6 pm to 8 pm
A nationwide sensation in 1931 – 32, the notorious Massie Case served as a touchstone for race, class, and injustice in Hawai‘i for decades. The case began with an accusation of rape by European American naval wife Thalia Massie against five local young men, and ended with the vigilante killers of one of the men, Joseph Kahahawai, having their prison sentences commuted to one hour spent over drinks with the governor.
A distinguished panel will discuss the Massie Case and its relevance today, outlining the facts of the case, discussing the ways it affected the subsequent history of Hawai‘i and its various communities, and its contemporary echoes in such issues as racial differences in prison sentencing:
- RaeDeen Keahiolalo-Karasuda, Ph.D., Research Analyst, Kamehameha Schools
- John Rosa, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of History, University of Hawaiʻi Mānoa
- Carrie Ann Shirota, J.D., Soros Justice Fellow ’09
- David Stannard, Ph.D., Professor, American Studies, University of Hawaiʻi Mānoa, author of “Honor Killing: How the Infamous “Massie Affair” Transformed Hawai‘i”
Co-Sponsors:
African American Lawyers Association of Hawai‘i; American Civil Liberties Union of Hawai‘i; American Friends Service Committee, Community Alliance on Prisons; Hawai‘i Filipino Lawyers Association; Hawai‘i People’s Fund; Hawai‘i Women Lawyers; Ka Huli Ao Center for Excellence in Native Hawaiian Law, William S. Richardson School of Law; Imanaka Kudo & Fujimoto; National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, Hawai‘i Chapter; Native Hawaiian Bar Association; Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation; National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Honolulu-Hawaii Branch; Office of Hawaiian Affairs; UH Mānoa Hawai‘inuiakea School of Hawaiian Knowledge; UH Mānoa Kamakuokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies
For further information on this event, please contact Brian Niiya, Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai‘i, at 945-7633, ext. 32.
If we are able to mark the Massie Case in regards to thinking its relevancy in the present as raced and classed. My hopes are that the panel discussion will also set a historical context in order to begin to talk about the Massie case. What was the larger context in with this case was situated meaning what were the relations between Hawai’i and the United States as well as the military at that time? It is exciting to know that there will be a discussion on the case, sadly I only learned about this case in a college course. What is up with that, why didn’t I learn about this earlier in High School? In our education system what is omitted and what is highlighted in what we learn about Hawai’i history? If race links to notions of identity wouldn’t it be relevant to include this into history classes?
Good question: “why didn’t I learn about this earlier in High School?”
I guess it’s the same reason why the schools play military bugle calls in the morning flag raising and afternoon lowering, and why JROTC was mandatory for boys for so many years and is still prevalent in many schools, and why military recruiters have virtually unrestricted, even privileged access to the public schools…under U.S. occupation, militarization is a powerful, perhaps crucial element in creating loyal American subjects. The Massie Incident was one of those events that helped to illuminate the oppressive power relations in Hawai’i in its naked ugliness and galvanized oppressed groups in opposition to the ruling classes. This is a dangerous memory from the perspective of those in power.