A child is killed. Social media posts pop up like mushrooms overnight. The Micronesian communities mobilize and neighbors come together to grieve in solidarity. Yet that support largely does not extend beyond their community. Instead, the attitude of the broader community is that he got his just deserts: “Good for him.”
When it “could be one of ours,” even if killed by police, we relate. When it is “one of theirs,” we struggle to empathize. Iremamber Sykap’s death and the social media chorus chanting “good for him,” remind us that when our Micronesian children flounder, we condemn them. They are not like us and we ignore their realities.
We are blind to the challenges Micronesian communities have overcome, including the U.S.-imposed atrocities in their homeland. We do not bother to learn the beauty of their culture and the obstacles they face here in Hawaii. However, if we did, we would see that their experiences echo the challenges that other immigrant families have endured, and mirror the suffering of many native people alienated from their homeland.
What is the cost of our indifference? The price is too exacting and destroys the potential in children like Iremamber who are led astray and snatched from us too soon. Even worse, often our treatment of the Micronesian community goes well beyond indifference. Tune into a local radio morning show and there is a good chance you will hear “because he’s Micronesian” as the butt of a denigrating joke. Browse through the media posts describing this incident and the comments make clear that killing Iremamber was justified “because he was a Micronesian thug.”
What kind of community have we become where it is acceptable to say a teenage boy deserves to die? Especially when the cost of caring is nominal at most. Often, all it takes is the strength to speak out against the cacophony celebrating a boy’s death or engage in a meaningful conversation with a neighbor from Chuuk, Kosrae or Pohnpei, for example.
These first steps will help to break the vicious cycle.
Beyond first steps, recognizing and supporting groups already working hard to uplift marginalized members of our community is similarly crucial. Kalihi Rising Collective, composed primarily of Filipino and Micronesian members, is one such organization struggling to make a positive impact.
Recently, Kalihi Rising Collective held an essential item drive to support the youth still reeling and figuring out how to cope with Iremamber’s death. This approach — acknowledging the pain these teens are experiencing and supporting their emotional journey, instead of one that shames them and solidifies their mistrust in the greater community — is clearly the right one. Such sensible actions both help to heal the harm caused by this tragedy and prevent future horrors.
Iremamber may not have been perfect, but he was a human being and a child in our community. Those who justify — or even celebrate — his death while knowing nothing about him beyond his ethnicity and the criminal allegations, contribute to the unraveling of the fabric of our community that continues to cause so much unnecessary suffering.
Minda Yamaga is 1st vice president and president-elect of the Japanese American Citizens League, Honolulu Chapter.
