Joseph Kahahawai Jr.: The Native Hawaiian Boxer Killed After the Massie Trial

Joseph Kahahawai Jr. was only twenty-two years old when his name became tied forever to one of the most infamous cases in territorial Hawaiʻi: the Massie case. Before the headlines, before the courtroom, before the one-hour sentence, Joseph was a son of Maui, a young Native Hawaiian man, a football player, a boxer, a guardsman, and part of a local family whose grief was forced into public view. In 1931, Thalia Massie accused five local men of assault after a night in Waikiki. Joseph Kahahawai Jr., Horace Ida, Henry Chang, David Takai, and Ben Ahakuelo were arrested and tried. The first Ala Moana trial ended in a hung jury after ninety-seven hours. They were not convicted. Before any second trial could decide anything, Joseph was taken from near the Judiciary Building with a forged summons, driven to Mānoa, and killed. Grace Fortescue, Thomas Massie, E. J. Lord, and Albert Jones were later convicted of manslaughter. Judge Charles Davis sentenced them to up to ten years. Governor Lawrence Judd reduced that sentence to one hour. This episode returns the story to Joseph, his family, the other accused local men, and the Hawaiʻi that lived with the wound. Not as scandal. Not as courtroom theater. As a human life cut down before the law ever finished speaking. Listener discretion is advised. This episode includes discussion of an alleged sexual assault, racialized press coverage, abduction, murder, vigilante violence, and injustice in territorial Hawaiʻi. Sources: The Massie Case and Hawaiʻi: A Timeline | American Experience | PBS – https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/island-murder-hawaiian-history-and-massie-case/ Joseph Kahahawai’s Murder | American Experience | PBS – https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/island-murder-joseph-kahahawais-murder/ The Island Murder | American Experience | PBS – https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/island-murder/ Hawaiian History Month: The Massie Case | University of Hawaiʻi West Oʻahu Library – https://westoahu.hawaii.edu/library/2021/09/21/hawaiianhistorymonth-the-massie-case/ Clarence Darrow and the Massie Trial | University of Missouri-Kansas City – https://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/darrow/massie.htm The American Raj | The New Yorker – https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2001/05/07/the-american-raj-pearl-harbor Contemporary reporting from the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Honolulu Advertiser, Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Hawaii Tribune-Herald, and Hoku o Hawaii via Newspapers.com – https://www.newspapers.com/ nupepa: Hawaiian Language Newspapers – https://nupepa-hawaii.com/ Music close: “Aloha ʻOe” by The Rose Ensemble from Nā Mele Hawaiʻi: A Rediscovery of Hawaiian Vocal Music. #JosephKahahawaiJr #MassieCase #HawaiiTrueCrime #NativeHawaiianHistory #BeneathThePalms