Child molester takes center stage at festival
booksamurai
Registrant
Not quite sure where to post this, so I’m going to put it here. Someone, please redirect me if I am wrong.
The Merrie Monarch Festival is the preeminent annual celebration of hula and Hawaiian culture. Hula schools, or halaus, compete just to be able to perform on this stage. One halau stands out not because they have the best dancers, although they did win the overall title in 2013, but because their kumu (hula teacher) is a convicted child molester. I wrote the following on my FB page last night. A few people have stepped up and expressed support for my position, but many others have messaged me about how I don’t really know what is going on and how he was framed- all those excuses we have heard time and again about child abusers.
It is that time of year that Hawaiians everywhere celebrate the art of hula at the Merrie Monarch Festival. What a proud gathering and display, but I always wonder how the pinnacle of Hawaiian culture can turn a blind eye to the crimes committed by an admitted and convicted child molester and celebrate him as if he were a saint. I am talking about Chinky Mahoe of Kailua.
On August 24, 1998 he was convicted of 5 counts of Sex Assault 3 and 1 count of Sex Assault 4 (felonies) for molesting boys in his halau who were between the ages of 9-14. He never did any time in jail, he never apologized for what he did to those boys or their families, and he is a registered sex offender but the court still allows him to teach as long as there is another adult present. Now, I am not trying to contest his skills as a kumu hula- I have no knowledge by which to judge him- but surely his conduct should exclude him from being celebrated so publicly. Raising him up sends the message that hula skills are more important than the spirits of the boys he crushed. Anyone who abuses the trust of a child placed in their care is unforgivable, in my opinion, and in Mahoe’s case it was a long-running pattern of child abuse effecting multiple victims. In what other arena would such a pedophile be welcomed back with such accolades?
Furthermore, despite him being forbidden from teaching children on his own in America, he makes several trips a year to Japan where he does not have that restriction and he works with halaus in Japan to organize such excursions. I get sick imagining what goes on during those visits. Not sure what to do with this but didn’t want to keep it in. Maybe someone will have a suggestion of how to get him out of the spotlight.
Thanks.
The Merrie Monarch Festival is the preeminent annual celebration of hula and Hawaiian culture. Hula schools, or halaus, compete just to be able to perform on this stage. One halau stands out not because they have the best dancers, although they did win the overall title in 2013, but because their kumu (hula teacher) is a convicted child molester. I wrote the following on my FB page last night. A few people have stepped up and expressed support for my position, but many others have messaged me about how I don’t really know what is going on and how he was framed- all those excuses we have heard time and again about child abusers.
It is that time of year that Hawaiians everywhere celebrate the art of hula at the Merrie Monarch Festival. What a proud gathering and display, but I always wonder how the pinnacle of Hawaiian culture can turn a blind eye to the crimes committed by an admitted and convicted child molester and celebrate him as if he were a saint. I am talking about Chinky Mahoe of Kailua.
On August 24, 1998 he was convicted of 5 counts of Sex Assault 3 and 1 count of Sex Assault 4 (felonies) for molesting boys in his halau who were between the ages of 9-14. He never did any time in jail, he never apologized for what he did to those boys or their families, and he is a registered sex offender but the court still allows him to teach as long as there is another adult present. Now, I am not trying to contest his skills as a kumu hula- I have no knowledge by which to judge him- but surely his conduct should exclude him from being celebrated so publicly. Raising him up sends the message that hula skills are more important than the spirits of the boys he crushed. Anyone who abuses the trust of a child placed in their care is unforgivable, in my opinion, and in Mahoe’s case it was a long-running pattern of child abuse effecting multiple victims. In what other arena would such a pedophile be welcomed back with such accolades?
Furthermore, despite him being forbidden from teaching children on his own in America, he makes several trips a year to Japan where he does not have that restriction and he works with halaus in Japan to organize such excursions. I get sick imagining what goes on during those visits. Not sure what to do with this but didn’t want to keep it in. Maybe someone will have a suggestion of how to get him out of the spotlight.
Thanks.
