Racism in Paradise: Why Did Three Native Hawaiians Put Two Mainlanders in the Hospital?
Then Andrew and Dawn Dussell, an Army sergeant and his wife, and their three-year-old daughter tried to pull their SUV into the parking lot next to the Paakaulas. (For those who have never driven in Hawaii, all parking spaces are notoriously small. I have trouble parking our Neon in them, and I won't even try the Waikele lot with my van. )
Not surprisingly, the Dussell's SUV could not quite take the turn. Mr. Dussell dinged the Paakaula's car. Here's where things got ugly.
The Paakaula son, according to witnesses, lost it. He leapt out of the car and started cursing at the Dussells, calling them "fucking haoles" and, ultimately, kicking the driver's side door repeatedly. Mrs. Dussell, a petite 115-lb. woman, got out of the SUV at this point to try to stop the teen; her husband, with his door being bashed by an angry teen who was bracketed by both vehicles, couldn't do much of anything.
There were several witnesses at this point, and all agreed that the teen attacked Mrs. Dussell when she approached him (the Paakaula family claims that Mrs. Dussell threw the first punch). At this point, Mrs. Paakaula joined in, and son and mom proceeded to beat the living crap out of Mrs. Dussell.
With the teen distracted from kicking his door, Mr. Dussell could finally get out. He tried to protect his wife. At this point, Mr. Paakaula, a large man, came out of the Baskin Robbins. Seeing what was going on, he leapt in to, according to his attorney, protect his family. The first punch by Mr. Paakaula took Dawn Dussel to the ground, where bystanders said she was knocked out for a couple of seconds.
Mr. Paakaula then turned and hit Mr. Dussell in the windpipe, making it impossible for him to breathe and taking him down almost immediately. Now both the Dussells were on the ground, and their child was hardly likely to get out to help. People everywhere were staring and calling the police.
But this was not enough for the Paakaulas. They kicked the Dussells where they lay on the ground, Mrs. Dussell barely conscious, Mr. Dussell completely out. They broke both the Dussell's jaws. Mr. Dussell had a teeth knocked out by one kick, and started convulsing after the Paakaulas jumped on his head. The Paakaula men picked up Dawn's petite body and slammed her into the asphalt, wrestling-style.
At some point during this okole-beating, the police showed up, broke things up, and arrested all of the Paakaulas. Mrs. Paakaula was later released, but father and son both remain in jail. The Dussells were both taken to the Queen's Medical Center in Honolulu (not the much-closer military-operated Tripler Medical Facility, but instead the best trauma hospital in Hawaii - an indication of how badly injured they were), where both were kept for weeks. The final tally of their injuries: Dawn Dussell had a concussion, broken jaw, nose, and wrist; Andrew Dussell also had a concussion and broken jaw as well as a broken eye socket. The Paakaulas were uninjured.
Unfortunately, the Dussells are not an isolated incident, just a very public one. On a beach near Kona on the Big Island, a campground was terrorized and six people beaten by thugs. And it is widely acknowledged quietly that many beaches away from urban areas in Oahu are also dangerous because of the high proportion of homeless and drug addicts that live in tents on the public land.
The Word "Haole" in Hawaii
A crucial point in this incident involves the word "haole," pronounced "howlie." Hawaiians sometimes use this word to refer to mainlander Caucasians, and it is a derogatory term, used to refer both to race and to the supposed ignorance of mainlanders.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying all Hawaiians use this word in this way, and I'm not saying that no mainlander is ignorant. But it's a common enough term that I know it, and I've only been here for about four months. When I asked some kama'aina (people who are at home on the island) friends here about the word, I got the same shifting and glances away you'd expect in a group having to explain the word "nigger." It's a word that carries impact.
Hawaiians - both ethnic Hawaiians and kama'aina - are also in love with the word "local." Advertisements here, even for national brands, are often specially filmed on the islands to include a lot of locals - Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders, Japanese - because it sells more product. Job boards advertise "local jobs for local people." There is a distinct prejudice from some quarters against those who are not from here (the Hawaiian government fights this like crazy because it harms the tourist-friendly atmosphere they prize).
Yet one of Hawaii's favorite selling points is its ethnic diversity: more Asians than Caucasians, about a fifth native Hawaiians, and increasing numbers of native Americans, Blacks, and Hispanics. More than once, I've heard at least four different languages besides English at the grocery store or McDonalds. If any state in America needs to avoid racial and ethnic tension, it is Hawaii.
Many islanders discussing the case think it's ironic that Mrs. Dussell, who is Portuguese, was called a haole. I find a deeper irony in that if the word used had not been "haole" but was instead a phrase like "fucking soldier," it would be a prosecutable hate crime. You see, the United States Military (and by extension their families) are a protected minority class by federal law. (This scenario is not beyond reason; vehicles owned by military members are clearly marked with base stickers, and anyone living near a military base recognizes the sticker.)
The Paakaulas are proof of one thing, at least: the family that hates together, goes to jail together.
Published by Jamie K. Wilson
Jamie K. Wilson is the wife of a US sailor and mother of two teen boys, one Marine, and two beautiful baby girls. The family hails from Louisville, Kentucky originally. View profile
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127 Comments
Post a CommentI have lived in Hawai'i all my life and love it!!! Does racism in Hawai'i exist? Of course, its no different then anywhere else in the world....racism is everywhere. To all the people who have experienced racism in Hawai'i, it wasn't right...I believe it was the wrong place, at the wrong time, with the wrong people. About the word "haole", its just a Hawaiian word for "foreigner", but of course mainly used for people of white or light skin(european desent). Don't take it wrong if someone refers to you as a haole, unless they use it as a derogatory word. I myself have mutiple races and some of them include German, English and Irish. So when someone ask me what my race is? I use the word "haole" along with my other races.
What everyone forgets is that we all came from one man and one woman....we are all brothers and sisters in the eyes of God!! One day we will be able to live together in harmony....we just have to be patient!!!
The Massie Case is another reason why there is such a term as local, why ethnic groups that before were against each other came more towards each other, among a few other things. Anyway, Thalia Massie accused 5 boys of rape which they did not do. Fast forward along, they also get away with beating Horace Ida almost to death and killing Joseph Kahahawai. I will not go into details of the case, as I believe that if you are interested, you should read Honor Killing by David Stannard. No racism in Hawaii is right, whether to those who are not white or to those whom are. However, I do believe that one should look into the history of Hawaii to understand WHY there are such things happening today. History paints the present. Even if the present is semi-terrible. On another note, I wonder if you're glad you allowed all this racism to form.
According to David Stannard, "Hawaiians today find themselves relatively no better off - and politically worse. Like indigenous people everywhere, Hawaiians today are the most ill housed and impoverished people on the islands. They have far and away the worst health and the shortest life expectancy of any ethnic group. In some categories their quality of life profiles are indistinguishable from what prevails in much of the third world." Apart from that, what those people did to the poor couple is beyond disgusting, however, they do not represent Hawaii's local (From here, born here, raised here) as a whole. Such as, kids who don't care for school do not represent all the school children as a whole. Also, let's talk about the Massie Case and many that are similar to it. There were many white navy men who raped Hawaiian/local girls who either completely or almost completely got away with raping those women (+ some beat those girls up).
SURE know how to capitalize off of, displace, and propstitute Native Hawaiian culture for their local tourist industry. It's a disgusting disgrace, a vicious cycle of "survival of the fittest." Meanwhile, the State of Hawaii knows how to hold hostage the ceded lands from the NHs' former Kingdom of Hawaii ever since the inception of Hawaii's statehood in 1959, preventing NHs from achieving upward mobility on their own. Euro-Ams. and Japanese Ams. in HI commonly ally to denigrate NHs as "welfare recipients," however, they themselves are "not" welfare recipients when they collectively discriminate, deprive, displace, and deny my people of the same rights and privileges as themselves. Do us Native Hawaiians a favour: Visit some other tropical destination BESIDES Hawaii.
Both Euro- and Japanese-Americans have the most problems with Native Hawaiians than any other group in HI. Institutional and political racism against Native Hawaiians is blatant and ugly in these islands. "Aloha" is just a farcical facade there. No one challenges the many collective racial slurs and stereotypes that are made there, even in the Honolulu Star Advertiser press againt those who live in the following districts of Oahu: Waianae, Maili, Nanakuli, Kalihi, and Waimanalo--districts with the highest population of Native Hawaiians (NHs) on Oahu. NHs are at the very bottom of the socio-political and economic ladder of stratified Hawaii. NHs are unfairly over-represented in Hawaii's prisons and population of homeless persons. These "haoles" (which really means simply "foreigner" in Hawaiian), including Hawaii's Japanese-Ams., are often too blatantly arrogant, openly racist and hostile, condescending and belittling of the people whom they SU
Continued to Hawaiian Girl: I only WISH all the kids in Hawaii were interested in doing well instead of fighting and cussing. Lastly, of course I put this online. I do not fear it now and I did not fear it when I lived in Hawaii. I am telling the truth, exactly what happened to the Dussels and in my own life.
To Hawaiian Girl: I'm not trying to prove anything to anyone, but rather tell a story that I had to put together from several sources. I lived in Hawaii when I wrote this, I wasn't a tourist. And yes, I met a lot of nice Hawaiians and Filipinos and Japanese folks. Point is, there IS this streak of violence in Hawaiian culture - and drugs can't excuse all of it. Even if drugs did excuse it, visitors to Hawaii should not expect every place to be safe. Even a few blocks away from Waikiki, the neighborhoods can get really bad very suddenly. AFA the "abusive" part: I don't think I said a word about it in this article - but I saw stuff done IN PUBLIC to kids that shocked me, like a mother just beating the tar out of a child who was maybe 4 in the parking lot outside the Swap Meet. Couldn't find a security guard in time to report that one alas. AFA the school comments: both my sons were enrolled in Hawaiian schools.
You call Hawaiians racist? Why? Are you trying to prove "OTHER PEOPLE" That hawaiians are insulting. Remember now your putting comments LIKE THIS online. Then you come back to US saying things that we're dangerous, the locals are dangerous. The guys abuse their wife and kds. thats bullcrap. Only the strict ones abuse their kids. Do you expect all hawaiians to be abusive? yeah you did! Then you call us LAZY, i tell you something we are not lazy, every sngle hawaian trying so hard to go to school and graduate. you like know anything else. reply..
haha do you hawaiians really think "haole" is the best insult you can throw at whites? It sounds like "howling" or something. Just blabber, nonsensical Hawaiian bullshit. If you live in OUR country you WILL be civilized...or you will be put in jail.
Long Live the U.S.A!! 49 states
Why don't you learn to spell and form a sentence correctly? I realize you're probably in 8th grade (hence your moronic, hateful mentality), but still...