Thursday, May 6, 2010
A Strike Gone Wrong...
Brutal Fight Causes Many Deaths
Yesterday, the ninth of September, a strike to give the plantation workers more pay went south. The fight ended when the police had to get involved and break up the fight, but not before 20 people lay dead in the streets of Kauai.
The people who made up 70% of the plantation workers, the Filipino’s, went on a strike yesterday in Hanapepe, Kauai. The deaths included the beatings of 4 police officers and 16 Filipino plantation workers.
The fight is said to have started when police suspected that the strikers had two “prisoners” in their camp. When the police heard this they acted on it and went to investigate in the camp of the strikers. From this point it is uncertain how the spark got fanned but we do know it turned ugly pretty fast. There were eight or ten police officers carrying rifles against less than 600 Filipinos with who knows how many carrying weapons.
We interviewed a witness (Lindsay Faye) to learn that the Filipinos who fought had pistols up against the policemen with rifles. “It wasn’t a real battle; it was a slaughter, really” says Lindsay Faye, a witness to the fight. Soon after the breakout National Guardsman hurried down to the fight scene to break everything up. When we fight over money we become angered, when we die over it we become regretful.
Yesterday, the ninth of September, a strike to give the plantation workers more pay went south. The fight ended when the police had to get involved and break up the fight, but not before 20 people lay dead in the streets of Kauai.
The people who made up 70% of the plantation workers, the Filipino’s, went on a strike yesterday in Hanapepe, Kauai. The deaths included the beatings of 4 police officers and 16 Filipino plantation workers.
The fight is said to have started when police suspected that the strikers had two “prisoners” in their camp. When the police heard this they acted on it and went to investigate in the camp of the strikers. From this point it is uncertain how the spark got fanned but we do know it turned ugly pretty fast. There were eight or ten police officers carrying rifles against less than 600 Filipinos with who knows how many carrying weapons.
We interviewed a witness (Lindsay Faye) to learn that the Filipinos who fought had pistols up against the policemen with rifles. “It wasn’t a real battle; it was a slaughter, really” says Lindsay Faye, a witness to the fight. Soon after the breakout National Guardsman hurried down to the fight scene to break everything up. When we fight over money we become angered, when we die over it we become regretful.
A Week In The Fields...
A Week In The Fields
April 4th, 1913
Today was a foggy day but to myself only. I seemed to be going throughout the day with no consciousness except for the thought of what is to come. I thought to myself “I think I’m making a good decision but it if isn’t I’ve wasted all my time working strenuous and away from my family for a little extra cash.” This thought disturbed me greatly as I was deeply torn.
Then, when my mind was in the middle of thinking about the surf board that I want so badly, an American came up to me and started talking. He first started talking in a language that I believed was American and then started talking in Pidgin so that I might understand his literacy. He told me his name was Sam. He also said something about religion and what I believed in. I told him that many people have told me about some guy who loves me and somehow knows me and everyone else in the world at the same time. He started his next sentence with the words “Can I” when the Luna harshly scolded him to get back to work.
For the next few hours my mind curiously wandered to what the American was going to say. “Maybe he would have spoke ’Can I help you out’ or maybe ‘Can I give you a surfboard”. For awhile that thought just kept coming in and out of my head while I hoped for the best.
The next week Sam and I finally were in the same group for the work and he came up to me. When he did, I wasted no time in asking him what he was going to say. While He said that he was going to ask me if I was interested in a gift I felt like I was six years old and about to open my first Christmas present of the year. When he finished the sentence I said “Yes you may” and just waited there as my heart was pounding. Then I stopped and looked puzzled as he said he was going to ask if he can give me the gift of eternal life. I just stared at him with a puzzling look before he spoke the words “You see, Jesus got crucified on a cross to cleanse our sins” in Pidgin. With this, he talked to me a little bit and asked if he could give me a bible. I took it as I felt I had nothing to lose.
When the next Chicken fight came along I was right there and was playing in all the Tong Its games I could before the night was over. Although this was just a normal fight setup, tonight was different. In the last game of Tong Its I had a very strange feeling I had never felt before. It felt as If I were not complete, as if I were missing something. When I felt this a weird presence also surrounded me as I got the urge to read.
When I got back to my bed my bible was the first thing I was laying there. I picked it up and started reading and as I read more it got deeper and deeper into my heart. I read It for a few weeks before I talked to Sam.
When I finally got to see him and told Him what had happened and what I had been doing he got so excited I thought he just got rich. He sat down with me and began telling me all about this God and eventually prayed with me and led me to a relationship with Him.
I began praying to Him and the Lord began talking to me. He guided me through all of the difficult situations with my family and living situations. He told me that Hawaii would be a great place to have my family grow up in and that my decision to move here would be a great one for my next generation and generations to come.
April 4th, 1913
Today was a foggy day but to myself only. I seemed to be going throughout the day with no consciousness except for the thought of what is to come. I thought to myself “I think I’m making a good decision but it if isn’t I’ve wasted all my time working strenuous and away from my family for a little extra cash.” This thought disturbed me greatly as I was deeply torn.
Then, when my mind was in the middle of thinking about the surf board that I want so badly, an American came up to me and started talking. He first started talking in a language that I believed was American and then started talking in Pidgin so that I might understand his literacy. He told me his name was Sam. He also said something about religion and what I believed in. I told him that many people have told me about some guy who loves me and somehow knows me and everyone else in the world at the same time. He started his next sentence with the words “Can I” when the Luna harshly scolded him to get back to work.
For the next few hours my mind curiously wandered to what the American was going to say. “Maybe he would have spoke ’Can I help you out’ or maybe ‘Can I give you a surfboard”. For awhile that thought just kept coming in and out of my head while I hoped for the best.
The next week Sam and I finally were in the same group for the work and he came up to me. When he did, I wasted no time in asking him what he was going to say. While He said that he was going to ask me if I was interested in a gift I felt like I was six years old and about to open my first Christmas present of the year. When he finished the sentence I said “Yes you may” and just waited there as my heart was pounding. Then I stopped and looked puzzled as he said he was going to ask if he can give me the gift of eternal life. I just stared at him with a puzzling look before he spoke the words “You see, Jesus got crucified on a cross to cleanse our sins” in Pidgin. With this, he talked to me a little bit and asked if he could give me a bible. I took it as I felt I had nothing to lose.
When the next Chicken fight came along I was right there and was playing in all the Tong Its games I could before the night was over. Although this was just a normal fight setup, tonight was different. In the last game of Tong Its I had a very strange feeling I had never felt before. It felt as If I were not complete, as if I were missing something. When I felt this a weird presence also surrounded me as I got the urge to read.
When I got back to my bed my bible was the first thing I was laying there. I picked it up and started reading and as I read more it got deeper and deeper into my heart. I read It for a few weeks before I talked to Sam.
When I finally got to see him and told Him what had happened and what I had been doing he got so excited I thought he just got rich. He sat down with me and began telling me all about this God and eventually prayed with me and led me to a relationship with Him.
I began praying to Him and the Lord began talking to me. He guided me through all of the difficult situations with my family and living situations. He told me that Hawaii would be a great place to have my family grow up in and that my decision to move here would be a great one for my next generation and generations to come.
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