Mark Char, a nonblack 61-year-old man from Oahu, Hawaii, appeared in court this week to be sentenced for attempted murder. Char decided to appear in blackface. His explanation was that the court had treated him like a black man, and thus, he said, “I’m going to be a black man.”
On Monday, Char was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole on charges stemming from a road rage attack from 2016. According to court documents, Char was accused of stabbing the driver of another car and assaulting the driver’s passenger and a passerby who tried to intervene. This included pepper-spraying them. Char was accused of taunting the victims prior to the attack, including pointing his hand at them in the shape of a gun. He maintained that this was all in self-defense. He also noted that he believed his lawyer, Keith Shigetomi, was “incompetent.”
As NBC affiliate
KHNL reported, when Char appeared in court on Monday, his head was covered with what seemed to be black marker ink.
In his written statement, Char explained that he believed the court was, "in essence, treating me like a black man," and that, "Today, the reason why I am like this is because I prepared myself to play my part in your kangaroo court, treating me like a black man, so today I'm going to be a black man."
“You’re a menace to the public,” First Circuit (Oahu) Judge Todd Eddins responded. “This is not a kangaroo court; you got a fair trial.”
According to a spokeswoman for the state Department of Public Safety, staff members at the Halawa Correctional Facility did try to get him to wash the ink off of his face before he appeared in court. According to the spokeswoman, Char refused. It’s unclear how he got the marker to begin with.
"He will be charged with disobeying several direct orders," the spokeswoman told KHNL.
Here’s a clip from the courtroom, which comes with a big trigger warning for blackface and racist language:
Here’s a clip of one of the stabbing victims describing the attack, back in 2016: