Journey to Justice: A Conversation with Ernie Libarios and Eiko Kosasa

Ernest "Ernie" Libarios Sr., retired counselor at Leeward Community College for over 40 years, was one of the most popular professors on campus, due to his easy-going, warm, and genuine personality. In this interview, Ernie gives a wonderful history of an immigrant extended family in Hawai'i, as he narrates his own life story growing up on a variety of plantations on the Island of Hawai‘i. Ernie discusses different circumstances that changed the direction of his life for the better. He is known for his lifelong dedication to community service, from working with disadvantaged youth to doing prison ministry at the Halawa Correctional Facility. The Catholic Church inspired, and continues to inspire, Ernie's community work; he currently serves as a Deacon. Some of his current projects are collecting the histories of Filipino plantation workers of the 1930s and researching the histories of Filipinos executed by the State of Hawai'i.