American Experience: The Massie Affair
In the early years of the 20th century, at a time when the U.S. Navy dominated Hawaii, Americans thought of the islands as a Pacific Paradise. But in 1931, an explosive incident shook the semblance of tranquility and exposed growing racial tensions. The alleged rape of a white woman by a group of Hawaiians led to violence and murder. The Massie affair inflicted a wound on the psyche of the Hawaiian people that has yet to heal.