On Sept. 9, 1924, what began as a simple arrest by Kauai sheriffs at the Filipino strike headquarters in Hanapepe quickly turned deadly. Sheriffs had been sent to retrieve two Filipino laborers being held captive by strikers in a Japanese-language school. A struggle broke out between the strikers and the authorities and, minutes later, 16 strikers were shot and killed, many by deputized sharpshooters hiding on a nearby hill. No one knows who made the first move in the incident that has become known as the Hanapepe Massacre.
Hardly anyone remembers the massacre now. Even our best plantation memories are quickly fading as the industry shrinks. Sugar processing came to a halt on Kauai last October when Gay & Robinson closed, leaving only one sugar plantation, on Maui. But the story is worth remembering; it tells us how far weâ??ve come as a culture and a people. As much as it is a part of Hawaiiâ??s labor history, it is also specific to the Filipino plantation experience, which was different from that of the Chinese or Japanese laborers before them. Its relative obscurity could be because there were no clear-cut victims or villainsâ??neither side was completely innocentâ??and there were no real aftereffects of the strike; strikers did not win concessions until decades later and the massacre did not spur further strikes, or even a public outcry. That we remember the massacre at all is due to the diligence, if not obsession, of a handful of historians, for whom the story is personal, appreciable and intriguing. â??It [is] important for the Filipino community and the community at large to acknowledge this pivotal moment in labor history,â? says Emme Tomimbang, who included a segment of the massacre in her documentary on Filipinos in Hawaii.
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