The Hilo massacre, also known as Bloody Monday, was an incident that occurred on 1 August 1938, in Hilo,

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

, when over 70

police officer A police officer (also called a policeman and, less commonly, a policewoman) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, "police officer" is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of the ...

s attempted to disband 200 unarmed protesters during a

strike Strike may refer to: People * Strike (surname) Physical confrontation or removal *Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm *Airstrike, military strike by air forces on either a suspected ...

, injuring 50 of the demonstrators. In their attempts to disband the crowd, officers tear gassed, hosed and finally fired their riot guns at the protesters, leading to 50 injuries, but no deaths.Hilo Massacre
. University of Hawaiʻi - West Oʻahu Center for Labor Education & Research. Accessed 21 February 2009. These protesters were from a number of ethnicities, including

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

Native Hawaiian Native Hawaiians (also known as Indigenous Hawaiians, Kānaka Maoli, Aboriginal Hawaiians, First Hawaiians, or simply Hawaiians) ( haw, kānaka, , , and ), are the indigenous ethnic group of Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands. Hawa ...

, Luso and

Filipino American Filipino Americans ( fil, Mga Pilipinong Amerikano) are Americans of Filipino ancestry. Filipinos and other Asian ethnicities in North America were first documented in the 16th century as slaves and prisoners on ships sailing to and from New ...

s, and from many different unions, including the

International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) is a labor union which primarily represents dock workers on the West Coast of the United States, Hawaii, and in British Columbia, Canada. The union was established in 1937 after the 1934 Wes ...

. The different groups, long at odds, put aside their differences to challenge the

Inter-Island Steam Navigation Company Inter-Island Steam Navigation Company was headquartered in Honolulu and ran steamship passenger and cargo service between the Hawaiian Islands from 1883 until 1947. Inter-Island constructed the Kona Inn in 1928, the first hotel in Kona on the Big ...

. The unions, led by longshoreman Harry Kamoku, demanded equal wages with workers on the

West Coast of the United States The West Coast of the United States, also known as the Pacific Coast, Pacific states, and the western seaboard, is the coastline along which the Western United States meets the North Pacific Ocean. The term typically refers to the contiguous U.S ...

and

closed shop A pre-entry closed shop (or simply closed shop) is a form of union security agreement under which the employer agrees to hire union members only, and employees must remain members of the union at all times to remain employed. This is different fr ...

union shop In labor law, a union shop, also known as a post-entry closed shop, is a form of a union security clause. Under this, the employer agrees to either only hire labor union members or to require that any new employees who are not already union me ...

. Strikes began on 4 February 1938, and culminated on 1 August when 200 workers gathered to protest the arrival of the SS ''Waialeale'', a steamship owned by the Inter-Island Steam Navigation Company. The protesters were ordered to disband, but refused to comply. Force was used, resulting in hospitalizations.

Background

As part of the New Deal,

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

in 1935 passed the

Wagner Act The National Labor Relations Act of 1935, also known as the Wagner Act, is a foundational statute of United States labor law that guarantees the right of private sector employees to organize into trade unions, engage in collective bargaining, and ...

, legalizing workers' right to join and be represented by

labor unions A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits (su ...

. Hawaii — not yet a State — had been, starting in the 1920s, virtually controlled by the "Big Five":

Alexander & Baldwin Alexander & Baldwin, Inc. is an American company that was once part of the Big Five companies in territorial Hawaii. The company currently operates businesses in real estate, land operations, and materials and construction. It was also the last ...

, C. Brewer,

Castle & Cooke Castle & Cooke, Inc., is a Los Angeles-based company that was once part of the Big Five companies in territorial Hawaii. The company at one time did most of its business in agriculture, including becoming, through mergers with the modern Dole F ...

, American Factors, and Theo. Davies. Furthermore, the Hawaii labor force had been divided up into racial blocs, which helped keep wages low. Harry Kamoku (1905–1957) was the primary organizer and leader of the first real union in Hawaii to be legally recognized. Kamoku was a Chinese-Hawaiian and a

longshoreman A stevedore (), also called a longshoreman, a docker or a dockworker, is a waterfront manual laborer who is involved in loading and unloading ships, trucks, trains or airplanes. After the shipping container revolution of the 1960s, the number o ...

, born in Hilo. On November 22, 1935 Kamoku and about 30 longshoremen of every ethnicity formed the Hilo Longshoremen's Association. This successful, and other unions were created or came into Hawaii from other states or countries, including the Inland Boatmen's Union (IBU), the

(ILWU) and the Metal Trades Council (MTC).

The strikes

On 4 February 1938, strikes began. The strikers demanded equal wages with workers on the West Coast and

. Strikes continued well into July and August. The SS ''Waialeale'', owned by the Inter-Island Steamship Company, which in turn was owned by the Big Five, was due to come into port on 1 August. On that day, protesters from different unions arrived to protest the ship's docking. Witnesses estimated the crowd anywhere from 80 to 800, with the newspapers reports saying around 500 to 600. It is likely, however, that there were only around 200 protesters.

The incident

After the ship docked, the crowd advanced down the dock. The police had set up a "dead line" that the protesters were not supposed to cross. The protesters, however, crossed it. The police threw about a dozen

tear gas Tear gas, also known as a lachrymator agent or lachrymator (), sometimes colloquially known as "mace" after the early commercial aerosol, is a chemical weapon that stimulates the nerves of the lacrimal gland in the eye to produce tears. In ...

grenades into the crowd. Among the protesters were members of the

Hawaii Territorial Guard The Hawaii Territorial Guard ( haw, O na La kiai) was the state defense force of Hawaii during World War II. As a result of the National Guard of Hawaii being federalized for the duration of the war, the Hawaii Territorial Guard was created to ser ...

who took action and threw tear gas grenades back at the police or away from the crowd. They were also instrumental in providing the unions police plans on how the police were going to react to the strike. The tear gas did cause some protesters to leave and temporary confusion, but after regrouping, the crowd kept on advancing. Meanwhile, the police were getting ready to bring out fire truck hoses. The police sprayed the crowd with water. During this, the police made no attempt to make any arrests, being unsure whether or not they had jurisdiction. The protesters eventually regrouped. The protesters remained peaceful the vast majority of the time, sitting down and refusing to leave when confronted by police officers. Sheriff Henry K. Martin ordered the police officers to change out their ammunition from

buckshot A shotgun shell, shotshell or simply shell is a type of rimmed, cylindrical (straight-walled) cartridges used specifically in shotguns, and is typically loaded with numerous small, pellet-like spherical sub-projectiles called shot, fired thro ...

birdshot A shotgun shell, shotshell or simply shell is a type of rimmed, cylindrical (straight-walled) cartridges used specifically in shotguns, and is typically loaded with numerous small, pellet-like spherical sub-projectiles called shot, fired throu ...

to disperse the crowd without fatalities. Police warned the demonstrators they would fire on them if they did not disperse voluntarily; few heeded the warning. At 10:20 a.m., Lieutenant Charles Warren stabbed one of the protesters in the back with a bayonet. The police then opened fire for five minutes on the crowd with birdshot, and with buckshot from police officers who failed to hear the orders. At least 16 rounds of ammunition were fired, and at least 50 people were shot, including two women and two children.

Aftermath

Later that day, a larger crowd gathered to be addressed by Harry Kamoku. Estimates of the size of the crowd range from 500 to 3000 people. Kamoku said, "The only reason we know for them shooting at us like criminals is that we are members of our chosen unions. The order to shoot came while we were sitting down." Joseph V. Hodgson (1899–1973) was appointed Attorney General of the territory by Governor

Joseph Poindexter Joseph Boyd Poindexter (April 14, 1869 – December 3, 1951) was the eighth Territorial Governor of Hawaii and served from 1934 to 1942. Early life Joseph Boyd Poindexter was born in Canyon City, Oregon to Thomas W. and Margaret Pipkin Poind ...

a few weeks before the Hilo Massacre. Hodgson later released the Hodgson Report, which reported on the Massacre. In October 1938, injured protester Kai Uratani filed a lawsuit against the officers responsible for the shooting. He lost, and instead had to pay for the officers' defense costs.

Legacy

Despite the injuries, the strike did not achieve any immediate major gains for the unions. However, within ten years, Hawaii unions had become very powerful, and the August 1 anniversary of the Hilo massacre was regularly commemorated at the Hilo docks.

References

Bibliography

* * {{American Labor Conflicts Hilo Labor disputes in the United States History of Hawaii (island) 1938 labor disputes and strikes Police brutality in the United States Protests in the United States Labor-related violence in the United States International Longshore and Warehouse Union Law enforcement operations in the United States 1938 in Hawaii Labor disputes in Hawaii 1938 protests August 1938 events