Honesty

“I was never convicted.”

Martial arts schools use a lot of words that become their bushido, things that they say they instill in their students on the road to becoming a champion. “Drive”, “discipline”, “perseverance”. More traditional schools have internal traits they brag about too, like “patience”, “humility”, and “letting Sensei eat the last french fry”.

Our school has 8 phrases that we work while on the road to black belt, words we call our “Eight Mental Aims”: patience, perseverance, belief, honesty, courage, self control, respect for others, and love of humanity. One of the strangest in that list is “honesty”. We can talk about being honest with yourself in your training, in holding yourself accountable or admitting your limits. But an often overlooked aspect of honesty is being honest with our history.

A lot of people still think the Okinawan/Japanese art of “Karate” was studied by one of the founders of Kajukenbo. Even Adriano Emperado, the man credited with bringing the Black Belt Society’s training together to form an official art called Kajukenbo, thought that was true. Now we know it most likely wasn’t.

Very little groundwork has been passed down in many Kajukenbo schools, despite having Jiu-jutsu and Judo in our roots. It takes honesty to admit that.

The murder of Joe Emperado is full of untruths explored and explained by David Tavares in his book, Black Robe, available here if you’re interested. I highly recommend it.

Honesty includes being willing to say “I was wrong about my understanding of where we come from.”

With all that in mind, I found out in a recent conversation how much information regarding a certain individual has faded. This individual is never mentioned when possible and now some younger instructors don’t even know who he was. When people talk about their lineage, they jump over his name and pretend he never existed. He became “He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named”. As a result, the young bloods among us don’t know the story. And this is dangerous.

Despite being kicked out of Kajukenbo decades ago, and a formal letter later being written to reiterate and confirm this in 2014, the individual has since then been behind the promotion of others who have become a source of further trouble and headaches in the world of Kajukenbo.

Who is this man?

Verily, I can’t say the name as I want to avoid getting sued for alleged libel. Actually, the victims of the man never testified because their parents wanted to avoid traumatizing their kids further, so this man was set free. Really? Gosh. Astute readers will notice something very strange with this paragraph. Surely, there’s a reason?

On a completely unrelated note, acrostics is fun. You should try it sometime. Anyway, because of the way things went, this man will not show up on any list of sexual offenders.

According to the newspaper report: It was common for young students to hang out at this man’s cabin. He was arrested by police after one student said (according to court records) that he had been molested on 15 to 20 different occasions. Another victim said he was taken to the cabin on the pretense of helping with landscaping and was given a mix of Jack Daniel’s and Everclear. He passed out and woke up to a nightmare. A brother of one of the victims alleges that other victims may have been as young as four, and claims the man often tried to massage him at the dojo and get him alone.

A bunch of pornos were confiscated at this cabin that he would regularly invite boys to.

In the end, this monster got away with it because none of the victims testified in court. If you don’t understand why a child wouldn’t testify in court in front of a trusted teacher that molested them, or why a parent wouldn’t put their child through that, or how the man’s lawyers dragging out a court case would exacerbate the problem, check out my article here on how the martial arts should be working to stop this kind of problem. Also, get your head checked.

Being ignored, being left out of lineages, being shunned…this all serves as it’s own hellish punishment. And 40 years ago, that might have been okay. But today, we have the internet, and a quick look on social media shows that this individual uses the title “Sifu” on his profile and falsely claims to have been the head of a Kajukenbo organization still around today.

He’s still holding on to a title used by teachers. He’s still out there, despite Sijo kicking him out. And younger Kajukenbo practitioners don’t know who he is because some of the old guard don’t want to talk about him.

I mean, I get it…telling your students that a child molester studied what you are teaching them isn’t a good way to attract and retain students. Some people have nice, wholesome memories of the man and his excommunication from Kajukenbo must hurt him on a deep level that serves as punishment enough. But “those who forget history are doomed to repeat it,” and the shadow of this man is affecting Kajukenbo today.

Kajukenbo practitioners had some things to say, regarding the good and the bad of it all.

From Nick Striebich: “I first met [name redacted] briefly on February 12, 2011, when we were having a seminar for Kajukenbo co-founder Uncle Frank Ordonez. In May of 2013 we hosted a Back to the Roots event at various locations here in Hawaii, and I spent some time talking story with (him). He loved to take hundreds of pictures of Kajukenbo events, and he later sent me a batch of pics from the BTR event. So we corresponded. In August of 2014, the news hit the Kajukenbo Cafe, and I think you all know about it. None of us here in Hawaii knew anything about that subject, until the Cafe articles and postings. Those and GM Dechi's letter to everyone. So I only know good things to tell you about (him), as I can't speak to any of the other stuff, because I really don't know. He is/was one of the most senior Black Belts in Kajukenbo. I hope folks remember the good, and I understand that the (alleged) bad can't be ignored. I don't hear from him much any more, he stays at his cabin in the woods, I believe. I will suggest that any of the negative past be left right where it is; in the past. It got a lot of press back in 2014.”

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From Trent Junker: “Regarding [name redacted], ask Sifu Mark Gerry. He contacted me years ago about it all, as [name redacted] was finding his way back in to the community here in the NW. That whole return is what prompted the letter from GM Dechi. People were accepting him around, and many of us didn't know much about it, that he was no longer allowed around here. He was my Sigung, though I hadn’t met him until his return then. I've heard some stories from people who were around him. I have directly asked him if he was guilty. His reply was just that he was never convicted.

That doesn't negate guilt.”

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From Ron Esteller: “Many people know [name redacted] was my original instructor 1968-1973. He was a very good instructor at that time and had an army. Classes were brutal. It included Juarez, the Pallen brothers, Rich Mainetti, Nate Willborn, and many others that were beasts. I’m sure he didn’t molest Juarez, Mainetti, Wilborn, or any of the Pallens either. We were too strong mentally to fall victim.

As a child I got to train for free because mom lost her job, and (he) put me on a scholarship. I was there almost every day, my job was sweeping/cleaning mats for my tuition, and I will always be grateful for that. What occurred after that I have no knowledge of. I personally never went on any camping trips so what happened on those I could not speak to. However, later in life alleged victims of his became students at my school and confirmed allegations.

People are arrested and released all the time that are both guilty and innocent. Only God and victims know the truth, and whatever was not paid for on earth will be when he stands at Judgment Day, and by then it’s not for any of us to say or have a hand in.”

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From Kajukenbo Professor “LJO”: “Well, I was probably 14 or 15 when he took 5 of us to the cabin. While we were there he made a tea, told us to drink it. The way he insisted we drink it made me uneasy. I only took a sip, others drank it all. I felt a little woozy but was still awake. I headed to bed. Others stayed but now I know it was spiked.”

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From Paul Peretic (in talking about this man): “I just feel like we try to hide the fact that some of the people from our past weren't saints. In fact, our style was founded by people who weren't savory characters. That's not condoning bad behavior, but we can't just pretend this issue doesn't exist. That’s especially true for the students who learned from those individuals. We have to face the truth about our history and learn from it.”

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My thoughts: Don’t let history be forgotten. Everyone can be redeemed, forgiven, and maybe allowed to return to the fold. Even this man. But that starts with honesty, paying for your crimes, and then continues with a life-long journey of rebuilding trust. Not with saying “the courts didn’t convict me.”