Chinky Mahoe

[Miulang]

Re: Chinky Mahoe

While I'm glad to hear that Mr. Mahoe appears to have rehabilitated himself, if I was a parent looking for a halau for my child, his would be the last one I would consider, even though he is well known in the hula community and was taught by George Naope. It's up to the parents to decide whether or not to trust a "former" pedophile. And apparently there are lots of parents who either don't know about his conviction or are comfortable having him teach their keiki. Caveat emptor.

Miulang

[LikaNui]

Re: Chinky Mahoe

Kinky Chinky is still allowed to work with kids but only if another adult is present at all times.
Whether or not that is being enforced is unknown.
And the creep still refuses to apologize to the kids he molested and/or to their families.

[lurkah]

Re: Chinky Mahoe

It was the time just after Chinky had gotten busted for child molestation and was still going through his legal proceedings when I happened to be walking through the UH-Manoa Campus Center and I heard live Hawaiian music being performed at the bottom of those Campus Center stairs, which also served as its bleachers. It was as I was scanning the all-male members of the musical group when I saw Chinky standing in the back, off to the side, singing and playing guitar, and I remember saying to myself with a sneer on my face, "WTF is he doing here!! The nerve and the shameless gall he has by even being here performing in public!!"

I don't think I was alone with my feelings. The expression on Chinky's unsmiling face as he faced the audience said it all. Sure, he was singing and playing guitar, but his demeanor was that of someone who had just been invited to dinner at a cannibal's home and he was about to become the main event. Priceless. Wish I had a camera just then.

[kamuelakea]

Re: Merrie Monarch 2006

Great to see ####, Chinky, and ###### back.

I guess Hawaiians really took the Missionary's Christian concept of forgiveness to the extreme.

Can't imagine many cultures totally forgetting, ignoring or forgiving a convicted child molestor.

Amazing.

How any parent of any boy could trust their son with a convicted child molestor is even more amazing. If it's happening, I consider it child neglect and the children should be taken away.

Mahalo Circuit Judge Wilfred Watanabe. Is child molestation acceptable in the Japanese culture as well?

Please don't claim that discussing Chinky Mahoe, who was mentioned by others, is not related to the Merrie Monarch. It is absolutley amazing at how Hawaiis media, Hawaii's people can shove their head in the sand.

[LikaNui]

Re: Merrie Monarch 2006

Can't imagine many cultures totally forgetting, ignoring or forgiving a convicted child molestor. Amazing.
How any parent of any boy could trust their son with a convicted child molestor is even more amazing.

Absolutely correct. I've been very outspoken here on HT in the past about Kinky Chinky, and it infuriates me that he's in Merrie Monarch. Like you, Kamuelakea, I don't want to rain on this thread, so we should probably resurrect one of the other threads about him, like this one here.
Just wanted you to know that you're definitnely not alone in your opinion.

[kamuelakea]

Q

Absolutely correct. I've been very outspoken here on HT in the past about Kinky Chinky, and it infuriates me that he's in Merrie Monarch. Like you, Kamuelakea, I don't want to rain on this thread, so we should probably resurrect one of the other threads about him, like this one here.
Just wanted you to know that you're definitnely not alone in your opinion.

Thank god! I was sure everyone was going to start firing their ammo at me for being "angry and cynical" again. That "I'm the guy with the problem".

As offensive as this is, it should be the biggest story of the Merrie Monarch, ........sad but true.

If people are don't want their thread "rained upon" they should consider the lives of those 4 boys who were molested only to have their molestor walk free. Thats a little worse than a rained upon thread. If no one in the Merrie Monarch or Hula community can comprehend the PR problem here not to mention the moral, ethical problems, then they deserve the discussion.

Don't Let the B%^&#&S GET YOU DOWN!

[Lei Liko]

Re: Q

Thank god! I was sure everyone was going to start firing their ammo at me for being "angry and cynical" again. That "I'm the guy with the problem".

As offensive as this is, it should be the biggest story of the Merrie Monarch, ........sad but true.

I hope those 4 boys are as normal as they can be.

Sorry for opening a can of worms.

In all fairness and to be objective, I've always considered him a marvelous kumu hula and his work and creativity in the spirit and integrity of the HULA, not his personal actions, are to be commended. Allowing him back into competition was something Auntie Dottie guys probably thought long and hard over.

Of course I don't condone his actions, but then again my name's not God nor is it Judge Watanabe, so I'm in no position to punish anyone.

Also, blanket statements like

Mahalo Circuit Judge Wilfred Watanabe. Is child molestation acceptable in the Japanese culture as well?

are unfair and you know it. Assumptions based on one individual's actions shouldn't be reflective of his/her ethnic group. If you have proof that would exhibit otherwise, feel free to share in the appropriate thread.

That is all.

[kamuelakea]

Re: Q

Of course I don't condone his actions, but then again my name's not God nor is it Judge Watanabe, so I'm in no position to punish anyone.

Now you show yourself to be part of the problem.

There is no doubt he is guilty. HE PLED GUILTY!

When it involves children, I have no mercy. I judge. Not because I want to play God but because of the very Liberal philosophy that a society can be defined by how well it protects the weakest of its members.

A society that takes an adult, who pled guilty to child molestation, a man who was in a position of respect and power as a teacher (Kumu), a man who exploited that power to prey on his weakest subjects, and then lets him walk, and then even lets him go right back to the high profile, public endeavor which involves teaching children, and without even a mention regarding his participation as a child molestor in the Merrie Monarch,... IS A VERY SICK SOCIETY.

I ask if Judge Watanabe represents the people of his background based upon their general silence when this verdict went down. For people who talk about "shame" as though they own the concept, there was little "shame" for Judge Watanabe when he let a child molestor in the community walk.

We can find explanations, justifications, excuses for many of our human mistakes. Stealing to survive, even murder in a heat of passion. But child molestation is not one of those forgivable crimes. There is no excuse.

To suggest that we cannot "Judge" this kind of behavior is to say to those 4 boys, "sorry, get over it".

[admin]

Re: Chinky Mahoe

I've split posts from the Merrie Monarch 2006 festival discussion relating to Chinky Mahoe to this thread, specifically dedicated to him and the appropriateness of his continued involvement in the community. Carry on.

[scrivener]

Re: Chinky Mahoe

Kamuelakea:

Please read my post above (#18) and see that I, as one of Judge Watanabe's "people" did not choose to remain silent. Your outrage is warranted and even supported by many of us here; however, to tie one's ethnicity into the issue and then to file everyone else of the same ethnicity in the same drawer is not serving your purpose at all in participating in this discussion.

I don't believe anyone is beyond forgiveness, but I do believe, as I said above, that to allow a convicted child-molester to work with children, ever again, goes beyond reprehensible. If the people who run the Merrie Monarch feel differently, I suppose it's up to them, and if you want to remind everyone of what Mahoe did, that's up to you.

But if you want people to listen, you should probably stick to the issue, and leave the Christianity and Japanese stuff out; this was never about either of those.

sign me
A Japanese Christian

[kamuelakea]

Re: Chinky Mahoe

Kamuelakea:But if you want people to listen, you should probably stick to the issue, and leave the Christianity and Japanese stuff out; this was never about either of those.

sign me
A Japanese Christian

I don't want people to listen to me. Only to make them think about themselves and their own prejudice and hypocrisy.

I am sure you are Japanese and a Christian offended by Chinky Mahoes non-sentance.

I am also sure that if I asked 1000 Japanese in Hawaii what they thought about a child molestor who pled guilty to molesting 4 kids in Hawaii being let off, at least 999 would be offended.

But I also bet you that if Chinky Mahoe had raped 4 Japanese girls from Aiea Intermediate, those 999 wouldn't just express disgust if asked, they would have been screaming for blood and Chinky Mahoe in that case would still be behind bars today if not dead.

4 Japanese girls raped by their teacher. Think about it. How would that go over in Hawaii. Really. What would be the community reaction, the media reaction, if a Hawaiian judge let the rapist off with probation.

Think about it some more.

If you are honest, you know very well that the outrage would have been a tsunami and the outcome very different. So ethnicity can matter in justice. Just look around.

[Lei Liko]

Re: Q

Now you show yourself to be part of the problem.

How, exactly am I part of the problem? He's a great kumu hula, I find it disgusting what he did, and I too believe that he should have received some sort of punishment. Just because I don't share in your 'no mercy' attitude to this individual does not give you the right to assume that I'm part of the problem.

A society that takes an adult, who pled guilty to child molestation, a man who was in a position of respect and power as a teacher (Kumu), a man who exploited that power to prey on his weakest subjects, and then lets him walk, and then even lets him go right back to the high profile, public endeavor which involves teaching children, and without even a mention regarding his participation as a child molestor in the Merrie Monarch,... IS A VERY SICK SOCIETY.

The courts allowed him to walk. Men and women of all ages continued to learn from him and wanted to learn from him because they know he's a good kumu, albeit one with issues. Your 'very sick society' is a 'very forgiving society' to many others.

Parents and students have a choice to have him as a kumu or not. It's as simple as that.

It's my hope that he's sought help for this because I believe that everyone has the right to better themselves rather than be ostracized by the whole community.

I ask if Judge Watanabe represents the people of his background based upon their general silence when this verdict went down. For people who talk about "shame" as though they own the concept, there was little "shame" for Judge Watanabe when he let a child molestor in the community walk.

Not speaking out after the fact does not necessarily = being for or against. You fail to provide proof, so again, I must disagree with your above comment.

We can find explanations, justifications, excuses for many of our human mistakes. Stealing to survive, even murder in a heat of passion. But child molestation is not one of those forgivable crimes. There is no excuse.

To suggest that we cannot "Judge" this kind of behavior is to say to those 4 boys, "sorry, get over it".

Just because I choose not to judge doesn't mean I expect others to do so as well. Please direct me in my initial post as to where I suggested that others should follow my lead.

Again, I like to look at things objectively from both sides and it's evident that you and I have different levels of forgiveness.

That is all.

[helen]

Re: Chinky Mahoe

I found this article on the Honolulu Star-Bulletin web site that was dated back in August 1998. Basically Chinky Mahoe got 5 years probation and some community service. Assuming he hasn't done anything to violate that probation and has done the community service he has paid the debt to society that he was told to pay.

[1stwahine]

Re: Chinky Mahoe

I am a victim of Child Molestation. I was a mere four years old. No one believed. I still have scars. I am fifty years old. The victims will suffer the rest of their lives. Nuff said.

Auntie Lynn

[lurkah]

Re: Chinky Mahoe

I am a victim of Child Molestation. I was a mere four years old. No one believed. I still have scars. I am fifty years old. The victims will suffer the rest of their lives. Nuff said.

So sorry for what happened to you, Auntie, but I no think nuff has been said yet regarding Chinky.

Since the hula community seems to have accepted him back into the fold, I think the least Chinky should have done, for the integrity of his halau and supporters and to show that he had any measure of being worthy of forgiveness, would've been for him to step down and assign an alaka'i to replace himself to be the new "face" and spokesperson for his halau with Chinky voluntarily forgoing any celebrity he might have had in the past as a token of humility and atonement, and especially as some kind of acknowledgement towards the atrocious crime that he committed.

Instead, there he is in all his glory — as if nothing happened.