'Today I'm going to be a black man': Man convicted of road rage stabbing shows up to court in blackface

A Hawaiian man who was convicted in a 2016 road-rage incident showed up for sentencing on Monday wearing blackface, then puzzled onlookers by delivering a defensive rant in which he compared himself to “a black man.”

Mark Char of Oahu was pushed into a Honolulu courtroom in a wheelchair wearing orange prison fatigues. His face had been completely darkened with a black permanent marker, a law enforcement source told Hawaii News Now.

Three years ago, Char was involved in an altercation with three men on the H-1 Freeway. The situation escalated, and Char was accused of stabbing all three motorists. He plunged his knife into one of the victims five times, leaving him in critical condition.

At a March hearing, Char was found guilty of attempted murder and two counts of assault. The man testified that it was the three victims who attacked him first, and he had been acting in self-defense when he carried out the triple stabbing.

During this week’s hearing, Judge Todd Eddins sentenced Char to life in prison with the possibility of parole. In retaliation, the convict read a vitriolic, drawn-out speech directed at both Eddins and his own “incompetent, court-appointed” attorney.

Char called his trial unfair and “a prime example of the habitual corruption and conspiracy” within the Hawaiian legal system. He also slammed Eddins’ “kangaroo court.”

Then the rant took a bizarre turn. Char claimed that he was being punished for defending himself against three alleged assailants — “in essence, treating me like a black man,” he said.

“Today the reason why I’m like this,” Char continued, referring to his blackface, “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.”

He then asked the Eddins to put a stay on his sentence pending his appeals. The judge never directly acknowledged Char’s blatant face paint, but he did address the man’s courtroom misconduct. “This continues a pattern of disruptive behavior designed to undermine the administration of justice,” Eddins said.

Char reacted by taunting the judge, saying, “Aw, why don’t you give me the death penalty now?”

Eddins then reprimanded Char once again for “blaming everyone for your own volitional conduct, for your own actions.” The judge concluded, “What you need to do is look in the mirror. And if you look in the mirror, Mr. Char, you’re not going to see a black person. You’re going to see a menace to society.”

Kenneth Lawson, a University of Hawaii law professor, told KITV that he disagreed with the judge allowing the hearing to continue while Char was in blackface. But even more offensive, he said, was the blackface stunt itself.

“The way it came across to me,” Lawson said, “was, ‘Look, you’re supposed to treat black folks like this, not me.’”

Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:

• Teens paint blackface, use N-word in viral video: 'Ooga booga'

• High school yearbook delayed after school officials discover blackface photo

• Teens' 'blackface' bake sale dessert sparks anger

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day.