Due to her labor organizing and opposition to the death penalty, Kanahele was subpoenaed by the Territorial Committee on Subversive Activities in the 1950s.

Her brother was participating in a strike by International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) dockworkers.

She visited him at the union's headquarters at Pier 11 and encountered a group of two hundred haole women who were against the strike.

[3] During the summer of 1951, Kanahele's focus turned to the death penalty with the looming hanging of John Palakiko and James Majors for the Morgan's Corner murder.

She compared the case with the Massie Trial and thought of how there were separate systems of justice for native Hawaiians and the upper crust haoles.

[3] She sought the assistance of attorney Harriet Bouslog and made an appeal on the radio on behalf of the men days before their scheduled execution.