The Racial Setting of Hawai‘i in the 1920s

This chapter situates the Fukunaga case in the racial setting of Hawai‘i during the 1920s, when the anti-Japanese movement peaked before World War II. It begins by discussing Haole political and economic power, which resulted from Haole’s enforcing race as the dominant organizing principle of social relations. Also outlined is the anti-Japanese movement, which sought to subordinate Japanese Americans because they were considered the most dangerous threat to Haole domination. The chapter discusses previous racial injustices against Japanese and Filipino labor leaders in the 1920s who had upset the racial hierarchy by organizing plantation strikes. It concludes that the racial setting was demarcated by an uneven racial divide between Haoles and non-Haoles because Native Hawaiians had much greater political access than most of the latter.