Ka Hookae Haole: Linguistic Inequality Between Hawaiian and English and the Resulting Injustice

• In Event: Indigenous Languages, Identities, and the Justice in Construction of Educational Opportunities

Abstract

This descriptive study and political commentary focuses on the linguistic inequality between Hawaiian and English and the resulting injustice. We contend that the shift from Hawaiian to English was supported, and exacerbated by a dominant American power structure, and contention over the use of the Hawaiian word “haole” is a critical case in point at the crux of the issue. This study focuses on the aforementioned current hegemonic relationship and its influence on the adjudication of a court case in which two Hawaiian men were charged with assaulting a non-Hawaiian neighbor. Having served their time, they were released, but a federal judge decided to tack on an additional, augmented charge, that took the case to the level of hate crime.

Authors

• Katrina-Ann R. Kapā‘anaokalāokeola Oliveira, University of Hawai‘i at Manoa

• Kerry Laiana Wong, University of Hawai‘i at Manoa