Comment: ""Rioting and killing" is a mainland generalization that does not fit from my experience."
I suppose not.  Tragically, in the islands, the frustration seems to be expressed more internally as family violence, including two wives who have been murdered (and nobody knows how many beaten) on Molokai in recent years.  
Yes, we took on a sitting State Governor,several multinational corporations, the State's largest public utility and some 'locals' who stood to gain financially from big wind, and won (for the time being) on Molokai, but, with due respect to Mr. Kanoho Helm for his efforts, much of the organization and funding for that did not come from the poor community.  
I must admit that the Honolulu based government, duly elected by voters, had aligned themselves with the big money, much as with the SuperFerry before and the current rail scandal.  The system is not perfect but it still beats mob rule.