Honolulu Advertiser says “Mixed-martial arts superstar B.J. “The Prodigy” Penn, 28, was sentenced today [December 11] to one year probation and ordered to pay $2,000 in restitution for hitting a Honolulu police officer during a melee outside of Waikiki bar two years ago.”
Since the crime happened two years ago, OHA clearly knew about it when they chose him to be the star of a Kau Inoa commercial. The ad shows him throwing a rapid flurry of punches while background music features an ipu [gourd] being hit, slapped, and pounded (just as Penn hits, slaps, and pounds his sports opponents and that policeman).
Obviously there’s a message of strength and pride being sent to ethnic Hawaiians. Equally obviously there’s a message to the larger community that ethnic Hawaiians are quite capable of using violence to get what they want.
Mr. Penn laments that someday there might be no “pure” Hawaiians left — thus implying that 99% of ethnic Hawaiians are impure, having their genealogies stained by “outsiders.” He concludes: “Before anything, be proud to be Hawaiian.” That’s what Kau Inoa is — a racial registry. There is one thing and only one thing required to sign up — a drop of the magic blood. Individual accomplishment is irrelevant.
See transcript, complete analysis, and link to movie of the commercial, at
http://tinyurl.com/33j6qk