The Knockout game

Everyone of you have been drivin downtown at least once, perhaps you are going to dinner with your family, are going to a show with your significant other, possibly even with young children the car, and you have at least on one occasion seen a truckload of men driving by, screaming at everyone within earshot.  Gesturing, hoping that at least some one will look back for even a moment.   Perhaps they were drinking, maybe even called 911, but your call like most when it comes to the Honolulu police department fall on deaf ears.  You hoped, you thought “I hope they get theirs.” Well, look at the opening lines of the report as it reads “a truckload of men drove by screaming and swearing obscenities” and these guys go on TV, showing a 5 second cut of a cell phone video and proclaim “you see, it’s proof.  dis one skinny Haole guy attacked all seven of us big 250 pound local guys when we were sitting in the truck innocently minding our own business.

<p>With all the media coverage for the past couple months about black youths and gangs walking up to unsuspecting victims and punching them in the face and playing the "knockout game", a lot of people in Hawaii have made comments about aloha, and how they hope that this game won't be brought to Hawaii.  first of all, it isn't a game.  It's serious.  And people have lost their lives from it. I'm here to tell you that this game has always been in Hawaii.  It's called the "false crack! "  Whenever the trend in the mainland, especially in the west coast or in major metropolitan cities involves any sort of illicit, criminal or inappropriate behavior, Hawaii is not far behind when it comes to adopting whatever the fad of the moment.  All the way back from the popularizing of the L.a. street gangs. even today local boys are still flashing gang signs, posing in pictures, dressing like Mexican Vatos. Local Filipino, Japanese and Hawaiian kids are using the word  "Niggahz" like they own it.  (Newsflash, it's a derogatory term, secondly you are not entitled to use it.  And you're not black) You can watch any black comedian talking about gangs and violence and glorifying it through the stage performances.  And for the most part we have been taught through the media and society that we are just supposed to accept it.  Because that's just how it is.  For several years now People cannot walk down Kailua Beach at sunset anymore without fear of being victims. A couple of years ago young man came into my gym, and told me he got beat up for walking on Kailua Beach at night. He said that he and a friend were walking along the beach minding their own business when a group of five young Hawaiian men walked up to them. They blocked the path and one of them asked to use his cell phone that he was talking on at the moment. Before he could even respond, one of the men punched him in the face as hard as he could and broke his phone. As angry as this made me, and having went over there a few times to walk up and down the beach at night myself, I was even more angry at the fact that when this young man asked me what he could've done to prevent it, I told him to learn to protect himself. He needed to spar, he need to have some self esteem and some confidence. And he needs to accept that he will NOT be a victim! He honestly told me that it was easier to just give up. If that is your mindset, you are definitely a potential candidate for the knockout game.  It’s already a recreational pastime in the islands to go to the more popular tourist populated areas, to walk up and false crack unsuspecting tourists to rob them.  The young criminals who were committing these crimes seem to feel that it’s a rite of passage for them or a badge of honor to beat the same unsuspecting tourists who are here trying to “stimulate the economy” and even pay the salaries of the family members who work in the tourist industry of the young punks who're out committing these crimes. And the people who live in the state that aren’t aware that this has been going on for years really do need to get out more often. And the liberal politicians need to get off of their high horses, come out from behind their gated communities and spend a couple of weeks in kuhio park terrace instead of pretending that you can intellectually subdue the gang activity thats a going on in this state. Morning talk show host Rick Hamada himself discussed how even on the golf course over the weekend, a group of local guys who’d been playing golf and drinking all morning wanted to start a fight with him. Drive down through Honolulu, waikiki or even kalihi for that matter and it's not uncommon to see a truckload of young men barking at, gesturing and threatening every car that goes by any night of the week, anywhere in this state.  Everyone in the truck glaring at people, throwing beer bottles with the opportunity presents itself, threatening every one that they drive by, even families, with threatening looks, yelling and trying to get a response for the sole purpose of provoking a fight.  And lo and behold, look what happens.  Sure enough, no sooner than I wrote this article then this has happened again. The victim, Adrian Dady, says he was walking down Kuhio Avenue near Kalaimoku Street, when a truck pulled up next to him. "They had their windows down and they were yelling obscenities at me. Then they turned the corner and they got out of the truck stopped the truck then all the guys got out and then I realized I was in trouble," Dady said.  (now, notice Feliciano’s response.  “He got good old fashioned lickings!” https://www.khon2.com/news/man-recovering-after-he-says-he-was-beat-up-by-7-men Even though the 7 men spun a great story, even a kindergarten student could figure out that a single man is not going to walk up and try to rob 7 men, large local braddahs @ 250+ pounds ea.  And (how convenient is it that one of the girlfriends was nearby with a video camera to videotape approximately 03 seconds of the fight that just happened to show only one of the guys in the scuffle with the victim, or that the video stopped at just the point where one of the accused was getting ready to punt the victim in the face?) Sadly, now because the victim will not go directly to the prosecutor’s office and press charges directly, the 7 will walk free.  Not only that, but the lesson that they will have learned is that they can get away with it and they got a little free press to help their street cred.  And it will be worse the next time. The bottom line is violence in this state, the encouragement of using violence to accomplish your goal, the acceptance of violence between certain groups perpetuates racism as well as ignorance and is itself in fact what needs to be addressed.  Even the media glorifies the ignorance, the lack of education and a violent mentality on television.  Yesterday evening while watching the television show “American jungle” a great deal of emphasis was put on cast members while hunting pig as one family was literally screaming death threats to another family across the valley, as though this is how you settle a problem in Hawaii.  First of all, it isn’t.  But when the local people watch it, they can accept that it is.  People around the world watching this will also assume that this is how it is.  And therefore it continues to perpetuate the primitive animalistic mentality that everybody already believes is commonplace here among the local people.  What I can tell you after spending a third of my life here is that for everyone who wants to claim Hawaiian royalty as their own personal bloodline, if she were alive today, Queen Lili’okalani would weep if she saw the sad state of affairs her kingdom has become.  Here’s a woman who spoke 6 languages and composed as well as understood classical music. Educationwas, the sole purpose of her foundation was to guarantee that EVERY child of Hawaii was educated, well mannered, and civilized. Here's a quick history off the top of my head of some of the more popular incidents, including an all out brawl that happened at aloha tower last year after a MMA event that was promoted which pitted the side against the west side. A couple of years before that, another mixed martial art event in the Blaisdell arena in which police officers had to use pepper spray to break up the mobs that were fighting. Honolulu police arrest six men in Waikiki robbery. Not to mention the Michael Deedy case case where a Federal agent shoots a local guy for supposedly starting a fight with him.  There was so much controversy in this case that it was declared a mistrial. Cab driver dies of injuries after being beaten in the back of the head and robbed by two men in waipau. Gabriel Kealoha: threw an HPD officer off of the H1 freeway to his death.  After he was released within days, he was arrested for trying to run over a jogger in the diamond head area. Les Schnabel: killed a tourist with the punch to the back of the head causing arterial bleeding as the tourist was walking to his car to retrieve a camera. Schnabel's intent was to rob the man of his expensive camera. Kelii Acosia & Benjamin Pada, approached a couple in Waikiki, after punching the man in the face, knocking him to the ground and then kicking him in the face along with knocking the girlfriend down, they were approached by a elderly Hawaiian gentleman that they also punched in the face which resulted in the death of Ned nakoa for being a good Samaritan.  As the two boys ran away, they were herded the screaming, laughing and chanting “west side mutha fu---'s!” Kupuna Ned Nakoa lost his life trying to help a innocent couple and after his death the defense Atty.  For the two young men actually had the nerve to state that it was partially Nakoa’s fault for getting involved and trying to be a good Samaritan.</p><p> </p><p>A couple of years ago a father and son tag team decided to beat a military couple in front of their infant daughter as she was restrained helpless in her baby seat watching her mother being choke slammed on the pavement while her husband was stomped mercilessly and kicked underneath the vehicle in broad daylight of the Waikele shopping center parking lot in front of a Baskin Robbins.  A crowd of 30 plus people gather around to watch the beating including two security guards that were working at the time, and not a single person stepped in to help.

In 1992 a Korean martial arts master by the name of Ben Chi killed a popular high school football star from aiea high school with a single kick to the chest in the middle of Zippys parking lot as the young high school student, Justin Kekahuna and his girlfriend were at the restroom trying to get dinner. This one is always a tickler for me because everyone seems to have information about this case, everything from the two of them having a slugfest in the middle of zippys to black magic being used. Even the police officer who wrote a book later called Honolulu homicide had almost all of his facts wrong about this case.  (Yes, I do know because I was an expert witness in the case and had personal dealings with the man) another was a Popular waikiki nightclub five years ago, a patron walked up and false cracked the bouncer when he wasn't looking.  The bouncer fell to the ground which resulted in his death.  (Yes, I was also a expert witness in this case too).

Society is teaching us that there are two types of animals in the jungle, there are predators and their prey.  Sadly, the prey are the law-abiding respectful citizens who decide to live within the laws of the society.  And the predators are racking up dozens of violent offenses and still being let loose by our local judicial system. So, what can really be done?  The first thing is, decide that no matter what happens, you will not be a victim.  You might lose the fight, but you will not give up.  No matter how frightened you are.  You deserve the 1000 times the dignity and respect of the cowardly little punk say you're possibly facing.  " but bob, I'm not a fighter." Yes, I understand that.  But there isn't an animal on the planet that will not fight back when it's backed into a corner. The second thing is, there is strength in numbers.  I don't know how many times I've seen crowds of people watch something happening only to turn their back on it and pretended that they don't see it.  A good example is four years ago, only one block from the Kailua police station Alapeti Tunoa savagely beat his girlfriend to death with a shotgun well 16 people stood there watching.  Not a single person do nothing to help this port girl as her life slowly slipped away.  Imagine for a moment the fear she must have felt, possibly making a momentary connection with each and every one of these people as their eyes caught one another while she was beaten so badly that the man broke the stock off of the shotgun that he was beating her with.  A single senior citizen tried to intervene and was given a concussion for his efforts. Simply because our society is being taught "don't get involved. " it was sickening to watch the news after this incident with so many witnesses willing to give their opinion of how bad this was to get their 15 seconds of fame, but not one of them tried to help.  Reports state that it took the Honolulu police department 40 minutes to respond, even though their station was located only one block away. If the entire crowd when showed some balls and rushed this man and beat his ass, quite possibly this young mother that he murdered would be alive today. Tunoa by the way had 68 violent felonies on his record and yet he was out walking around on the streets.  What does that teach him and other criminals?  That they can literally get away with murder. The last thing is, EVERYONE in this state is too be more proactive and get involved politically.  Demand for your state representatives and the chief of police, the right to concealed carry.  A lot more of these young punks who walk around thinking they are bad asses would certainly think twice if the average law-abiding citizen has alternatives and options for defending themselves.  Until that time happens, nothing in this state will change, and crimes will continue to get worse.  You don't think so?  How often do you hear somebody talking about how beautiful the beaches were on the West Coast in waianae in the eighties and nineties? And now every beach is covered with blue tarps of homeless people as far as you can see.  Some of those family's truly need help.  But there are many,whose only problem is that they want to live off of the system of government stipend while they do as many drugs is they want, which leads to the increase in violence.  And the recreational sport of the "knockout game" which has infested All the islands years ago.