Protesters see no reason to celebrate

Today's Admission Day holiday is no cause for celebration, according to a crowd of Native Hawaiians and supporters who rallied Thursday afternoon by the State Building in Wailuku.

"Statehood is a fraud," Kahu Ken Ho'opai Jr. said into a hand-held megaphone as he spoke to passing motorists on High Street. "The truth needs to be exposed. We've been all lied to."

The rally on High Street took place on the eve of today's 50th anniversary of Hawaii statehood.

Another rally will be held from noon to 1 p.m. on Keolani Place approaching Kahului Airport.

The Thursday event initially drew about a dozen people, but as the afternoon wore on and the workday ended, dozens more joined in the sign waving.

The rally was organized by several Native Hawaiian organizations and individuals - including Foster Ampong, a frequent letter writer in The Maui News, and the husband-and-wife team of Johanna and Kanilo Kamanu. The latter are officers of Hui Pono 'Ike Kanawai, a group that researches laws pertaining to Hawaiians and their rights.

Kanilo Kamanu led the group in prayer, encouraging them to be positive during the rally. "We're here to support each other. We just let people know we exist," he said.

Johanna Kamanu said research of the laws and Hawaiian history shows Native Hawaiians' rights have been trampled on.

"They're observing something that covers up our rights," she said of the statehood-related observance. "They're not taking care of our rights

"You forget we were very akamai people. We are very intelligent people," she said, adding that the 1893 overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy led to the denigration of the local culture and caused the ills that many Hawaiians suffer today. "While under this new Western government rule, we are no longer the most literate people in the world."

John Kinimaka and Crandall Kama sold T-shirts for $10 that said "1893 Kue" on the front and "Nationhood" on the back. The "kue," meaning resist or protest, hearkens back to a petition with at least 38,000 Native Hawaiian signatures submitted against the 1898 annexation of Hawaii.

The two men said they were not discouraged by Thursday's small turnout.

"It would be nice (to have more people participating). A lot of people gotta work. We're in a recession, and this is a positive thing," Kama said.

Kinimaka said that for him the rally serves as a time to educate both Native Hawaiians and non-Hawaiians about the history of the islands. Aside from the selling T-shirts, the men distributed paraphernalia produced by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs that spelled out the Apology Resolution, or Public Law 103-150.

The bill passed by Congress in 1993 refers to "the sovereign and independent kingdom of Hawaii" whose "people never relinquished their claims to their inherent sovereignty as a people over their national lands."

Kinimaka said that because Hawaiians never relinquished their nation or their lands either through monarchy, plebiscite or referendum, the 1959 referendum for statehood should have had only Native Hawaiians casting votes and not other residents living in the islands at the time.

"The reason why people don't get it is they don't have the information," Kinimaka said. "To us statehood is a falsehood. It's a lie. It's propaganda."

Still, Kinimaka said he is encouraged that one day the nationhood he hopes for will happen.

"It's about truth and justice," he said.

Kinimaka called "statehood a historic coverup of an international crime."

He and other Native Hawaiians attending the rally said they hope people will study the history of the islands and its indigenous people, and understand why today would not be a cause for celebration.

"We're told a lot about the Hawaiian overthrow and that we wanted statehood. That's just not true," Kanilo Kamanu said. "We never wanted statehood. We want to be sovereign."