Under the Sun Cynthia Oi

Explosive event exposes fragile nature of decency

THE beating incident in Waikele had all the elements to turn an event into more than a sum of its parts.

Packed tightly with explosive substances -- race, profanity, violence, stereotypes, skewed perception and the symbol of status in America, the automobile -- its full force blasted through the community.

It was scary and still is.

A beguiling and strenuously marketed notion of a melting-pot society where beautiful landscapes, warm oceans and nice weather match the niceness of people cracked with simply the rap of two words, words that for all their incendiary nature are uttered -- no lie -- hundreds of times each day.

They aren't the only race-based-profanity combos muttered, shouted and vented over and over again in these lovely islands. We know better.

We also know that letting such words leave our mouths gets us nowhere. Most of us are ashamed that we even think them. But sometimes, sometimes they escape, or we let them go because frustration over being wronged either in the present or the past drowns decency.

The words fused with the reported descriptions of awful violence. That one of the casualties was a two-term Iraq war veteran gave license to drag in the question of locals' patriotism. That the other was his wife allowed gender outrage for hitting a woman. That the yelling and pounding took place in front of their young child magnified the offense. That none of those who witnessed the fight tried to stop it was also inflammatory even though they were probably afraid for themselves.

Local vs. nonlocal, the most common detonation device in Hawaii, touched off as usual, but another source of fuel pumped in when court documents showed the man who beat the couple had once beat his son so badly that the cops were called in. No wonder then, the chatter went, that the teenage boy who initially sparked the beef reacted as he did. He was just following his dad's lead; like father, like son.

Another prickling component was that the whole matter started when the couple's SUV bumped the teenager's car. How could a little accident, at most a fender bender, blow up like it did? Though some would deny it, drivers install personal equity in their cars. If merely cutting in front of another driver is taken as an insult, actual car to car contact can become absolute provocation.

Because the local family is from Waianae and their last name is Hawaiian, the ensuing clamor threw garden-variety stereotypes in with a host of other extrapolations about what's wrong with Hawaii: a culture of innate ferocity, reverse racism, hate, hypocrisy, ignorance, poor family values, deprivation, indulgent local judges and lousy public education system. Even copper thieves, the American Civil Liberties Union and Al Sharpton were stirred in.

It seemed as if every person who'd ever suffered a slight, an indignity, a stink eye, a smirk or rude behavior because of skin color or birthplace linked their plight with the couple's. Hawaiians and other locals, tarred simply and collectively through their birthplace and skin colors, were put on the defensive.

It's scary. The flashpoint attack and its intensity was frightening, the reaction alarming. Even more so is the potent breach that's left exposed.