The Massie Affair: More Than a Hawaiian Tragedy

A few brief reflections on the new PBS documentary on the Massie Affair, where four "local" Hawaiians were accused of raping the wife of a military officer, acquitted, and then retried under duress from the military provincial governor of the Islands. It occurred around the same time my grandfather, Amado Oxiles, and great-grandfather, Juan Oxiles, emigrated from Manila to Honolulu.

As a Hawai'i native, I was saddened to see so much of the racial animus directed toward the "polygot" population on the part of the military and the mainland press.

What really struck me about The Massie Affair was how justice was in fact served in the courts on each occasion, which proved Princess Kawananakoa correct.

Justice was thwarted in the end by an incendiary press, an overbearing Congress, and a feckless governor.

The moral of the story, which resonates to this day: don't look for principled leadership from the military establishment, political leaders, or the newspapers. For each of them, facts are but trifling inconveniences in the pursuit of keeping the public misinformed--and thus resolutely malleable.