Ho Brah, relax - not dat kine.

On a serious note, I’m talking about the death of surfer Emery Kauanui Jr.. Haven’t heard of him? Me neither, except for when this story broke out last year (kinda long article but the most in-depth one I found) and I was floored as I read and heard the stories circulating about as the trial is starting.

The basic premise is this:

A packed bar.
Jr. spills a drink accidently on an underaged person.
They argue. Continue. Get kicked out.
Jr. goes home.
The underaged person - part of a “gang” (depends if you talk to his lawyer or not) gets all tantaran and calls him out on the phone.
Goes over to Jr’s home.
They start fighting.
From differing reports - Jr. is kicking da oda guys okole.
Then the rest of the “gang” jump in.
Jr. is literally beaten to death and left for dead.
The “gang” flees except for one lo-lo looking for his missing tooth.

All I gotta say is…frickin’ panties.

As a keiki growing up, fighting was inevitable where I lived but it was nothing like you hear or see about now - kicking in the head, pipes, bats, knives, everybody on 1. I got into more than my share of fights but never looking for trouble - it was more standing up for myself.

Nowadays, you never hear about standing up for yourself. It’s all about someone “calling out” someone for no apparent reason other than you getting a stink eye or “just because”. Do I condone fighting? Heck no! But I do believe it is a part of growing up and there should always be a serious reason if you need to throw down.

As you know by now, I’m a firm believer of codes and morals and in fighting there’s a lot of of “unwritten codes” that has been lost. Again, I do not support fighting - unless it’s done properly in the ring - but if you must, here’s some codes that I’ve been taught and still live by today:

• If you must fight, fight ONE ON ONE! If you not can fight one on one - NO FIGHT!
• No weapons other than your fists. If you can’t fight like a man, go home to mommy. 
• No jumping in unless it’s to break it up.
• If Braddah - or Sistahs, believe it or not - calls no joy, you back off and leave him/her be. You don’t keep pouding ‘em.
• If you call no joy, no try stand back up and throw down again. You took the beating. It’s ovah.
• If you “won”, no brag or talk trash. Da oda guy already know what happened and so did everyone watching.

Simple rules no? I cannot believe NOBODY fights one on one anymore. Everyone is about mob fighting and pounding da guy till he’s unconscious. What panties.

Truth be told, I’ve walked away from many a fights but sometimes even being the good guy gets you into trouble. One time I was trying to STOP a fight for a guy I didn’t even like and I ended up being “called out”. He even went so far to pick up a rock while still calling me out (we were in high school too - sad yeah?)! My friends and I were already walking away to the parking when he comes out of nowhere and shoves me in the back. Needless to say, we tussled and were done. My boys were there and followed rule numbah three above and that was it. No retaliation. No “I going get you back”.

Then there was another time at the basketball courts where one guy was playing extremely rough so I roughed him back. He tried to false crack me - missed. I cracked him and the rest of his four boys were on me.

Wassap Wit Dat?

Where was my boys? Only had one that day and he was on the faaaar end of the court walking over watching. Oh, what fun. After the one minute fight,

Me: “Braddah, wea was you?”

Friend: “Eh, was only five of them. I knew you could handle.”

I guess dat’s why people gotta mob eh?

Sad.