Posted at Radio KPUA Hilo Hawaii
Posted: Thursday, March 19th, 2009 4:42 AM HST
Native Hawaiians protest statehood
By Associated Press
HONOLULU (AP) — Those seeking the restoration of the Hawaiian Kingdom are protesting the 50th anniversary of Hawaii's statehood.
Members of the Hawaiian Independence Action Alliance chanted and marched to the state Capitol yesterday. They wore shirts that spelled out "A history of theft" and "Fake state."
Organizer Lynette Cruz says the 1893 overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom was illegal, and there was never a legitimate treaty of annexation bringing Hawaii under the power of the United States.
One protester, Richard Pomai Kinney, carried his Hawaii state flag upside-down as a signal of distress.
He says statehood has resulted in Hawaii becoming an island getaway for the wealthy that has forgotten its native people.
Times of India has an AP article about the events at the state capitol yesterday commemorating President Eisenhower signing the Admission Act on March 18, 1959, but also includes with these grafs about the protests outside:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/Hawaii-celebrates-50-years-of-statehood/articleshow/4285086.cms
The Native Hawaiians outside weren't so cheerful. Longtime protester Richard Pomai Kinney carried his Hawaii state flag upside-down as a sign of distress.
"Statehood is a fraud," said Kinney, who was 19 years old at the time. "My parents said Hawaii would become a place only for the wealthy. Look at it today. There's nothing to celebrate."
Others with the Hawaiian Independence Action Alliance said they feared the islands' native people will lose what's left of their sovereignty if the US Congress passes a pending measure that would give them a degree of self-government similar to mainland Native Americans.
They insist that Hawaii is still an independent nation because the Hawaiian Kingdom never agreed to be annexed.
"There was no treaty of annexation. Show me the treaty," said group organizer Lynette Cruz. "There's been an incorrect interpretation of history all these years."
And here's an excerpt from an article on MSNBC.com from KITV
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29766265/
Not everyone is celebrating the anniversary. Outside the House chamber, Native Hawaiian groups protested.
"The state of Hawaii is not a state, and although it has pretended to be for 50 years it is not a state because there was never any lawful turnover from the Hawaiian Kingdom," protestor Leon Siu said.
HULO ME KA MAHALO NUI (cheers and thanks) to HIA, Lynette, Pono, Leon Siu, Hui Pu a pau and all supporters for the education of truth for the lands of Hawaii! MAHALO NUI LOA to you all.
I watched both 6:00 & 10:00 newscasts yesterday and again this morning to surmise that the physical impact of your STAND was GREAT.
This is the SAME degree of physical impact the STAND of Hui Pu led by Andre, Kelii, Uncle Soli ma at the Queen's Statue on 28 Feb. had. It is the same degree of physical impact the HO'A march had upon life as we know it here. And the numerous other "ceremonies" being held in Hawaii and elsewhere for telling of the aspects of truth of Hawaii.
I single out the aspect of "physical impact" because that's an aspect we can get a sort of "border" around. As for the other, untold, spiritual aspects of these actions...no borders - we're not easily able to say "what happened and the extent to which it did". We who don't confine our universe(s) understand this question. "How can we describe the word "large" or "huge" relative to degree of spiritual impact"? Like our 'ohana always have, let us continue to seek and heed the signs.
Whether it's carried by the newscasts or not, the purposeful energy created in aloha is the importance. To members of Hui Pu like me who "place our spirits into these efforts" by prayer from afar, mahalo. It goes somewhere...'Oia ka malamalama 'oia'i'o, it is the shining light of truth.
MAHALO MAU.
Replies
We are moving closer every day towards justice and the reclamation of our sovereignty both as a people and a nation!
Onipa'a!
Lynette Cruz
(808) 284-3460
palolo@hawaii.rr.com
50th STATE or HAWAIIAN STATE UNDER OCCUPATION?
Demonstration for the History the State Does Not Want Remembered
Honolulu, Hawaii – The Hawaiian Independence Action Alliance (HIAA) is calling a press conference at 11a.m, March 18, in front of the Queen Lili‘uokalani statue between ‘Iolani Palace and the State Capitol. HIAA, comprised of more than 10 different Hawaiian groups, will peacefully draw attention to the wrongs committed against the Hawaiian nation and the fraudulence of the history being celebrated at the capitol.
Statehood is memorialized as a civil rights victory, where Hawai‘i defeated a notion that it was unqualified for statehood because of its largely Asian population and rumors of communism. Lynette Cruz organizer of the demonstration argues, “the human rights violations committed against Hawaiians do not warrant celebration. Why should we commemorate theft?”
Hawai‘i was listed as a Non-Self-Governing-Territory by the United Nations in 1946, and the United States had a “sacred trust” obligation to promote self-determination. In 1953 the U.N. General Assembly passed Resolution 742, which stated that offering “independence,” “separate systems of self-government,” and “Free Association” were factors that would determine “whether a Territory is or is not a Territory whose people have not yet attained a full measure of self-government.” The federal ballot used in 1959 did not afford the people of Hawai‘i several possibilities besides statehood, and thus violated U.N. Resolution 742.
Furthermore, on January 17th 1948, the 55th anniversary of the overthrow, Alice Kamokila Campbell filed a lawsuit against the Hawaii Statehood Commission in Campbell v. Stainback et. al. Her lawsuit won an injunction against the legislature for using taxpayer money to advertise nationally for statehood, which the Hawai‘i Supreme Court ruled in 1949 “are to the exclusion and detriment of citizens and taxpayers …opposed to statehood for Hawaii.”
Indeed, in 1998, United Nations Special Rapporteur Miguel Martinez, after reviewing the process by which Hawai‘i was made a territory and state of the U.S., recommended that Hawai‘i be placed back on the United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing-Territories.
In 1988, the Justice Department issued a memo to the State Department stating that the annexation of Hawaii required a two-thirds vote, which never took place.
For more information visit www.hawaiianindependencealliance.org or call Lynette Cruz at (808) 284-3460.
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