LIHUE — Aaliyah Nero, 10, Lytron Shinno 6, and Syler Nero, 9, held their homemade signs and waited for their friends to show up Sunday at Vidinha Stadium. They were greeted by the sound of cars being pushed to their
LIHUE — Aaliyah Nero, 10, Lytron Shinno 6, and Syler Nero, 9, held their homemade signs and waited for their friends to show up Sunday at Vidinha Stadium.
They were greeted by the sound of cars being pushed to their limits as an auto event in the parking lot filled the air while the children waited in silence, taking refuge from the broiling sun under a poinciana tree.
“Their father is a police officer,” said Stephanie Shinno, the children’s mother. “When they found out about the Dallas incident where police officers were shot, they reacted, saying ‘How can we not do anything?’”
Shinno said one of the officers who was shot was here recently visiting a police officer friend of the children’s father.
“It’s like they knew him,” Shinno said. “He was here visiting with a police officer, and two weeks later, he was gone. The incident affected them deeply.”
The children’s reaction to the incident also prompted her to start thinking.
“The incident brings out a lot of awful things,” Shinno said. “My children are super mixed, and what is going to happen to them by the time they’re college students? I’m scared for my kids.”
She said after talking with her children, they wanted to show aloha for the Dallas police officers.
They worked on creating posters to help spread the message by having some of their friends join them with a roadside sign-waving, hoping their aloha would be caught by passing motorists.
But no one came, and instead of honks of aloha, the children waited amidst the symphony of agonized tires against the hot asphalt and the smell of rubber and fuel wafting in the tradewinds.
“Everyone is feeling hate,” Shinno said. “We need to live aloha, and take the time to show our support and aloha — not just to the police officers in Dallas, but to everyone who does good in our world.”
