Some in Micronesian community feel racism in Hawaii, decry police shooting
Protesters gathered at Thomas Square in April to speak out against police brutality. (Source: Hawaii News Now/file)
By Associated Press | May 10, 2021 at 4:41 AM HST - Updated May 10 at 4:41 AM
HONOLULU (AP) — Comments on social media about a 16-year-old boy shot and killed by Honolulu police have been so hateful that a Catholic priest, who hails from the same small Pacific island as the teen’s family, hesitates to repeat them.
“It is really bad and I don’t want to say it as a priest,” said the Rev. Romple Emwalu, parochial vicar at a parish outside Honolulu who was born in Chuuk in the Federated States of Micronesia. “But, like, ‘Micronesians are dirt.’”