Hilo massacre

In their attempts to disband the crowd, officers tear gassed, hosed and finally fired their riot guns at the protesters, leading to 50 injuries, but no deaths.

[3] Strikes began on 4 February 1938,[3] and culminated on 1 August when 200 workers gathered to protest the arrival of the SS Waialeale,[2] a steamship owned by the Inter-Island Steam Navigation Company.

[3] As part of the New Deal, Congress in 1935 passed the Wagner Act, legalizing workers' right to join and be represented by labor unions.

Hawaii — not yet a State — had been, starting in the 1920s, virtually controlled by the "Big Five": Alexander & Baldwin, C. Brewer, Castle & Cooke, American Factors, and Theo.

Harry Kamoku (1905–1957) was the primary organizer and leader of the first real union in Hawaii to be legally recognized.

Among the protesters were members of the Hawaii Territorial Guard who took action and threw tear gas grenades back at the police or away from the crowd.

[5] The tear gas did cause some protesters to leave and temporary confusion, but after regrouping, the crowd kept on advancing.

[5] The protesters remained peaceful the vast majority of the time, sitting down and refusing to leave when confronted by police officers.

[5] Sheriff Henry K. Martin ordered the police officers to change out their ammunition from buckshot to birdshot to disperse the crowd without fatalities.

[6] In October 1938, injured protester Kai Uratani filed a lawsuit against the officers responsible for the shooting.