![]() They used their authority and weapons to strike fear into us.Defense attorney Crystal Glendon shared the information included in a report that her client Christopher Fredeluces submitted about the incident. What the cops did to us was in fact bullying. I’m sorry that I didn’t stand up for you like you did for me against my bullies. Mike, you didn’t deserve to be treated like that. It was not safe even in the smaller community that Mike and I grew up in, where supposedly everyone knew everyone and the officers were our neighbors, family members, church congregation members, etc. Ignoring that does a disservice to everyone here who has to struggle to be happy, successful, stay fed, or feed their families. These events are a reflection of how bad racism, the police, and the entire system is in Hawaii and the USA. I hadn’t realized until recently that this was trauma we were all carrying. But I know now that it’s important to tell this story, and whatever stories we have about racism and the police. I couldn’t speak up then, and hadn’t been able to for a long time. If there were good apples in the bunch, where were they when the officers drew their guns on the children, or when these children were crying? Why didn’t they try to comfort us or try to make us feel safe, protected, served? Those officers believed it was okay to intimidate a child and promote hate to kids. That is exactly what that officer said to Mike, in front of young, impressionable children. “Ah Mike (Surname), you’re Micronesian aren’t you? Do you want me to send you back? Send your family back?” Mike’s real name is a name that is obviously islander in origin, and the officer reached his own conclusions and made it a point to intimidate him. Mike said something along the lines of, “We’re young kids just playing basketball. ![]() Mike tried to take charge as I and the other children started crying.Ī bald officer who looked Filipino quickly asked, “What’s your name? Where are you from?”Īs if where anyone’s from was a bad thing. To this day, the sight of those officers’ guns is still very clear in my memory. ![]() The situation didn’t compute in my developing brain. Screaming, they dashed out of their cars without even closing their doors, drawing their firearms on us. Bata palang kami noon.Ī few minutes later, three police vehicles with multiple officers arrived at our quiet neighborhood park. You called saying that someone was getting raped.”Īt that age, I didn’t even know the word rape and had to ask what it even meant, but even then the fact that they said it terrified me.ĭid we commit a crime? Were we bad people? Ano’ng ginawa namin? Masamang tao ba kami? Instead of asking about where my mom was or what was happening, I was greeted with, “This is the 911 operator. Much like us, they wanted a better life, but instead were greeted with hate and racism – including from Filipino Americans. After World War II, when the United States detonated nuclear bombs to test their effects in places like Bikini Atoll, this meant many of these Micronesians, Marshallese, and other Pacific Islanders had to find new homes here in Hawaii, bringing with them the health and economic problems from their irradiated homes. The killing was a culmination of racial stereotypes, systemic failures, and lack of education in the Hawaii community, which Filipinos are a major part of, against Micronesians and other Pacific Islanders like Iremamber.įilipinos as a migrant community came before the mass immigration of Micronesians, Marshallese, and other Pacific Islander nations. Iremamber Sykap, aged 16, was killed by the Honolulu Police Department on April 5, 2021. I wrote this as a direct result of a young child’s murder. I hope that through my story, the situation will make more sense, and that if you don’t have the time to help us, that you make the time. Contrary to what Philippines-based Pinoys may believe, the police here are just like the PNP, and the government at the LGU and federal level are levers of oppression for FAs and other migrant populations. The system in Hawaii pushes FAs and other immigrant communities to not care or have the time to consider what’s happening around them. ![]() This is my story about what happens on a daily basis in Hawaii from the perspective of a Filipino American (FA).
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