Hate Crime?

[PoiBoy]

Re: Hate Crime?

Sounds like the Paakaula father wasn't involved in the initial scuffle. When a father sees his family involved in a fight his natural reactions are to go and defend his family.

[Miulang]

Re: Hate Crime?

I think it was a case of road rage, but I also think the wife of the guy exacerbated the problem by coming to her husband's defense and confronting the driver. Knowing that she had a 3-year-old child sitting in the back seat witnessing all of this, why didn't she think of the safety of her kid first and try to de-escalate the situation? If they had a cell phone, couldn't they just have dialed 911 and gotten the cops out there to defuse the situation instead? Better to get your car doors kicked in than to get your face beaten into a pulp, as the victims discovered.

The best way to get beaten or shot at in a case of road rage is to try to out testosterone the person who's swearing at you. A hate crime, IMO, is when the crime is committed with malice and forethought. This particular incident was caused because of a fateful encounter, not willful planning.

Miulang

[glossyp]

Re: Hate Crime?

The Star Bulletin story has revealing details about the Paakaula family history of violence. Apparently, the 16-year old was beaten so severely as a child that at least once his father was arrested and convicted of abuse to a family member.

I have to say I lean towards pz's general attitude towards hate crimes.

[PoiBoy]

Re: Hate Crime?

The dudes didn't go out looking for any ol poor caucasian to beat up. It was more of a reactive rage thing. So it definitely wasn't a hate crime.
And of course the story is one sided. You don't know what REALLY happened. The haole could have been running his mouth.
edited

quote:
"Dawn Dussell then exited the car, confronted the teen and attempted to push him away from the Dodge and her husband."

how does someone "attempt" to push ? Sounds like the first blow.

[Pomai]

Re: Hate Crime?

The "Hawaiian" studies teacher IMO, is wrong. It is a hate crime and should be treated as such. Public outcry should make it known that nothing llike this should occur in the land of "aloha". Osorio wouldn't have made that statement if he didn't think it was a hate crime......Auwe!

I sort of disagree this is a hate crime. Possible but unlikely. It's unlikely these two (father and son) were looking for a "reason" (like an accident) to beat down "haoles". This situation could have easily been "you f***ing jap" or "you f***ing flip" or plainly "you f***ing @ssh@le".

The father and son suspects were plainly enraged to the point of beating these people senseless, regardless of what they looked like. Obviously, if the kid walked straight up the car and kicked it, then hit the WOMAN. All this points to the fact they BOTH need anger management (and a good time in jail to think about it).

Sure it's possible the "haole" driver might have been a reckless and inconsiderate driver; something we ALL see every single day, by ALL RACES. I do. To incriminate yourself by beating someone up for it is foolish.

The scary thing is, with the insane traffic congestion on Oahu, this incident could happen to ANYONE, ANYWHERE, including you and I.

At the LEAST, I hope they revoke the perpetrator's driver license. At the LEAST. This is just as bad as injuring someone from a DUI. People like this SHOULD NOT DRIVE. Who knows, maybe he was high on Ice? They'll probably do a blood test on everyone involved.

[pzarquon]

Re: Hate Crime?

Shameful? Sure. But for simple stupidity, and not for "hate crime." Sheesh.

We've had more than a few recent examples of stupid traffic accidents becoming fatal confrontations, and the races of the attackers and victims have been all over the map. Had the guy been fat, the attacker would've singled that out. Had he been Vietnamese, same thing. Or bald. Or bearded. Whatever. People sparked into that kind of rage have issues with people, not races.

The more I read about "hate crimes" and related prosecution, the more I think it's a stupid idea. Which, of course, further estranges me from my liberal, left-leaning friends.

[alohabear]

Re: Hate Crime?

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/ap...702240334/1001

One can only imagine what would happen if it was another Hawaiian who hit their car. Shameful!!

Jonathan Osorio, chairman of the UH Kamakakuokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies, said that based on what he was told, he does not believe a hate crime was committed.

"It doesn't matter if their ethnicities are different. It doesn't matter that we're dealing with Hawaiians and haoles here," Osorio said.

He said he is troubled by suggestions that the incident may have been a hate crime.

"It worries me when people start calling something like this a hate crime because it starts to ramp up the public temperature over race in Hawai'i, and I don't think we need that," he said.

He said the incident occurred because of a fender bender. "Leave the rest of us out of it," Osorio said.

The "Hawaiian" studies teacher IMO, is wrong. It is a hate crime and should be treated as such. Public outcry should make it known that nothing like this should occur in the land of "aloha". Osorio wouldn't have made that statement if he didn't think it was a hate crime. As noted his statement is based on hear say ,not on eyewitness accounts(somebody must have seen it).....Auwe!

[Keanu]

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/ap...702240334/1001

One can only imagine what would happen if it was another Hawaiian who hit their car. Shameful!!