Hawaii’s culture, reduced to an ignorant sound bite

Blanket claims about culture in Hawaii, except for the most banal, rarely end well.

We are a complicated place.

So last week when Sen. Sam Slom charged that in Hawaii "there is misplaced compassion" for those who sexually assault children because of "an underlying cultural problem here where some of our diverse cultures actually don’t see any problem or any crime in having sexual relations with young children," it would not end well.

Slom made his comments during a national television interview with conservative talk show host Bill O’Reilly. Afterwards in an interview with Star-Advertiser reporter Derrick DePledge, Slom added "that in some cultures that are here, that they have a different interpretation of what may be sexual abuse or molestation."

Back in 2006, defense attorney Myles Breiner raised questions when he had his own interpretation of Hawaii’s culture as he defended a liquor commission supervisor on extortion charges.

"We live in a culture of corruption which permeates most of our public institutions," Breiner charged.

Really? A "culture of corruption" or an inability to see a problem with "sexual relations with young children"?

Stereotyping an entire state while searching for a sound bite doesn’t work.

Slom, the only GOP member of the Hawaii Senate, obviously enjoys being something of the square peg approaching the round hole.

In 2006, Slom’s concern that Hawaii doesn’t do enough to celebrate Statehood Day prompted him to stage a celebration at Iolani Palace complete with a high school marching band and former Rep. Barbara Marumoto dressed up as the Statue of Liberty. It may have been camp, but also politically tone deaf to not think that — as certain portions of Hawaii’s residents consider the island archipelago to be occupied territory — there would not be reaction. Native Hawaiian protestors said Slom’s actions were arrogant, disrespectful and ignorant, "all at the same time."

Last week Slom declined to either back down from his O’Reilly comments or elaborate on specifically which island group favored pedophilia.

The issue of punishment for child molesters has been framed by national groups around the so-called Jessica’s Law calling for mandatory minimum sentences of 25 years without the possibility of parole for sexual assault against minors.

The movement is in reaction to the 2005 abduction, rape and murder of 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford in Florida.

Slom was unable to get even a hearing for his bill, but other legislation that would increase the penalty was heard and was supported by Honolulu Prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro.

Kaneshiro said during testimony that studies by the state attorney general and the Sex Abuse Treatment Center show that between 1990 and 2001, the treatment center had assisted an average of 460 victims a year, with nearly a third of them being under the age of 12.

Kaneshiro’s bill called for a mandatory minimum sentence of six years and eight months without the possibility of parole or probation for persons convicted of first-degree sexual assault of a minor under the age of 12.

If Slom had given O’Reilly some of that dialogue instead of wandering off into his prejudiced sociological discussion of what drives various cultures in Hawaii, it would have elevated both his reputation and the conversation.

———

Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach him at rborreca@staradvertiser.com.