Raced to death in 1920s Hawaiʻi : injustice and revenge in the Fukunaga case / Jonathan Y. Okamura.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Okamura, Jonathan Y., author.

Series:

Asian American experience.

Illinois scholarship online.

The Asian American experience

Illinois scholarship online

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Trials (Murder)--Hawaii--History--20th century.

Trials (Murder).

Discrimination in criminal justice administration--Hawaii--History--20th century.

Discrimination in criminal justice administration.

Japanese Americans--Legal status, laws, etc--Hawaii--History--20th century.

Japanese Americans.

Hawaii--Race relations--History--20th century.

Hawaii.

Fukunaga, Myles Yutaka, 1909-1929--Trials, litigation, etc.

Fukunaga, Myles Yutaka.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (200 pages)

Place of Publication:

Urbana : University of Illinois Press, 2020.

Summary:

The Fukunaga case demonstrates how race operated in Hawai`i to enforce the hierarchical relations between Whites and non-Whites. In arguing that Fukunaga was raced to death, two different meanings of race are employed. First, he was hanged because he was of the "Japanese race" and committed his crime during the 1920s, when Japanese Americans were perceived as the most politically and economically threatening group to continued White supremacy in Hawai`i. Second, Fukunaga was raced or rushed to his death sentence less than three weeks after his crime because Whites wanted immediate revenge. The book argues that the Fukunaga case was a major component in a trajectory of racial injustice against non-Whites, including Japanese and Filipino labor leaders who, after organizing multiplantation strikes in 1920 and 1924, were imprisoned based on likely perjured testimony.

Contents:

Introduction

The racial setting of Hawaiʻi in the 1920s

Kidnapping, killing, and racial profiling

Capture, confession, and court

Racial bias and injustice in jury selection and trial

The insanity question

Aftermath of death sentence : racial, legal, and community

Conclusion : Fukunaga and Kahahawai.

Notes:

Description based on online resource; title from home page (viewed on May 7, 2020).

Previously issued in print: 2019.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780252051449

0252051440