Three letters and an editorial, copied below, are quite extraordinary, especially when taken together. All were published in the newspapers of Hawai'i during the 4th of July holiday, 2005 -- our great national patriotic holiday. The three letters focus on the meaning of this holiday as a celebration of freedom, and liberation from tyrannical rule by foreign oppressors. The fourth item is an editorial published July 3 in the Kaua'i newspaper, linking America's independence day with the Hawaiian Kingdom's Sovereignty Restoration national holiday.
These items when taken together are a blockbuster firecracker packing an anti-American bang which further illustrates why the Akaka bill is dangerous to all America. Indeed, on previous July 4 holidays Hawaiian independence activists have gathered at the Hawaiian national palace to rant and rave against America. See:
https://www.angelfire.com/hi2/hawaiiansovereignty/antiamerican4thjuly2002.html
(1) The first letter speaks for itself, regarding French gratitude for the American role in liberating France from the Nazi occupation.
(2) The second was written by a tourist regarding an encounter he had with a local resident. This local resident is ethnic Hawaiian and, like most ethnic Hawaiians, is proud to be American; furthermore, he has recently suffered the loss of a son in military service to our nation.
(3) The third is from someone who favors independence for Hawai'i. She compares the Declaration of Independence with the appeal made by ex-queen Lili'uokalani to the United States following her overthrow in 1893. The (false) theory is that the U.S. was chiefly responsible for her overthrow, and the U.S. is the (continuing) oppressor of Native Hawaiians who are entitled to be liberated from U.S. military occupation.
(4) The fourth item is an editorial comparing today's July 4 celebration of Independence Day with a holiday of the Kingdom of Hawai'i which celebrated the return of sovereignty to the nation of Hawai'i following its illegal occupation by a rogue British naval officer for several months in 1843. The implication of today's Hawaiians reviving that Kingdom holiday is that someday the U.S. will recognize the illegality of its (on-going) occupation of Hawai'i and return sovereignty to Hawai'i as an independent nation.
First some background about the apology resolution and its role in the Hawaiian nationalist movement and in the Akaka bill, including internet links to the relevant materials. The three letters and editorial are copied after that.
In 1993 the United States Congress passed, and President Clinton signed, a formal apology to (only) Native Hawaiians for the U.S. role in the overthrow of the (multiracial) Hawaiian monarchy. That apology resolution is trumpeted by independence activists as a confession of a crime against international law, with the remedy being for the U.S. to withdraw from its illegal occupation of Hawai'i and restore Hawai'i to its former status as an independent nation.
That apology resolution is also the primary rationale cited at length in the Akaka bill as a reason why the U.S. should move forward with reconciliation by creating an ethnic Hawaiian Indian tribe.
The apology resolution contains many errors of history and law. Those errors have been refuted item by item in a lengthy analysis by well-known expert on Constitutional law, Bruce Fein. Mr. Fein's analysis was published in the Congressional Record.
But the use of the apology resolution in the Akaka bill is very dangerous to all of America; because, as Senator Slade Gorton said in debating the apology resolution in 1993,
"...the logical consequences of this resolution would be independence."
It is no accident that the Honolulu Advertiser published these three letters in close juxtaposition. The Advertiser has editorialized many times in favor of the Akaka bill. Anyone who understands the far-reaching consequences of the Akaka bill sees it as extremely dangerous to foster the mentality that would juxtapose letter #1 (French are grateful to U.S. for liberation from the Nazis) , with letter #2 (ethnic Hawaiians have made great sacrifices for America and deserve our sympathy and our gratitude), with letter #3 (U.S. is illegally occupying Hawai'i, violating its own fundamental principles in the Declaration of independence; and the U.S. should get out of Hawai'i). The Kaua'i Garden Island News editorial shows that the Honolulu Advertiser is not alone in enabling and ennobling ethnic patriotism toward a "nation of Hawai'i" by linking it with American patriotism toward our country.
All this is further evidence why the Akaka bill must be rejected.
The three letters and editorial are below. For those who are interested, here are some
RESOURCES
Excerpts from the apology resolution (notice the website is the "Nation of Hawai'i")
http://www.hawaii-nation.org/publawsum.html
Full text of apology resolution
http://www.hawaii-nation.org/publawall.html
"Hawaii Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand" (Essay by Constitutional lawyer Bruce Fein, as printed In the Congressional Record of June 14, 15, and 16 of 2005 by unanimous consent, by request of Senator Kyl) Mr. Fein's essay is of special interest to scholars because of his analysis of the apology resolution of 1993 as well as the provisions of the Akaka bill.
https://www.angelfire.com/hi5/bigfiles3/AkakaHawaiiDividedFeinJune2005.pdf
13-page official publication of the U.S. Senate Republican Policy Committee issued on June 22, 2005 "S. 147 Offends Basic American Values -- Why Congress Must Reject Race-Based Government for Native Hawaiians."
http://rpc.senate.gov/_files/Jun2205NatHawSD.pdf
Anti-American 4th of July Hawaiian Sovereignty Rally at 'Iolani Palace, July 4, 2002
https://www.angelfire.com/hi2/hawaiiansovereignty/antiamerican4thjuly2002.html
Ka La Ho'iho'i Ea: Sovereignty Restoration Day
https://www.angelfire.com/hi2/hawaiiansovereignty/kalahoihoiea.html
The Akaka Bill And Secession: The Hawaiian Government Reorganization bill (Akaka bill) is seen by its supporters as a step toward total independence for all of Hawai'i
https://www.angelfire.com/hi2/hawaiiansovereignty/AkakaSecession.html
** Here are three letters to editor published by the Honolulu Advertiser on July 4, 2005 **
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2005/Jul/04/op/op10pletters.html
(1)
General Lafayette, the favor's returned
Having been a World War II combat paratrooper (D-Day, Holland and Belgium Bulge), I really discovered the true value and meaning of freedom only when I was 53 years old.
In 1977, I returned to Normandy to once again rewalk those fields, farms, forests and villages that I had known so many years before under such different conditions. All paratroopers seek to locate the spot at which they landed. I had found my apple orchard there the year prior.
The Norman French have two major loves: their homes and their freedom. The French farmer at my landing orchard so valued his freedom (after four long years of German occupation and suppression) that he, in 1977, quite unknown to me, had placed a plaque in my honor at the entrance to the orchard; he also had the adjacent road renamed Rue Zane Schlemmer, and further had named his many-year collection of gathered World War II artifacts Musée Zane Schlemmer.
All this because, on June 6, 1944, a young American paratroop sergeant had dropped from a plane to give back to them the same things that their French General Lafayette had helped our American Revolutionary Army obtain so many, many decades prior — liberty and freedom!
D. Zane Schlemmer
Kane'ohe
----------------
(2)
The ultimate sacrifice in service to country
During a recent vacation, we attended a polo match in Waimanalo on June 19, which was Father's Day. We were warmly received by an officer of the club, Allen Hoe.
Mr. Hoe asked about our stay, and I indicated that I was a United States Air Force officer. He thanked me for my service.
During the polo match, I noticed on a polo club newsletter that 1st Lt. Nainoa K. Hoe was killed in action in Iraq on Jan. 22, 2005, and realized that this was Mr. Hoe's son. Mr. Hoe just moments earlier had been thanking me for my service.
As part of my Air Force duties, I have the honor and privilege to participate in the process at Dover AFB that returns service members who have been killed in the line of duty to their families. I understand the ultimate sacrifice that 1st Lt. Hoe has made. My family honors his service and mourns his loss. The life of 1st Lt. Hoe honors his family, his native Hawai'i and all who wear the uniform of the United States of America.
Mr. Hoe, thank you for the service and sacrifice given by your family.
Lt. Col. Robert Abbott
Owings Mills, Md.
---------------
(3)
Hawai'i: freedom from unlawful rule
In the words of the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776, and from the pen of Hawai'i's last ruling monarch, Queen Li-li'uokalani in 1893, while imprisoned in 'Iolani Palace by American soldiers and businessmen (taken from the book "Hawai'i's Story," Mutual Publishing, 1990), let us ponder America's freedom and independence, in contrast to Hawai'i's unsuccessful quest for a similar goal: freedom from unlawful rule.
Excerpts from the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776:
"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. ...
"But when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."
Excerpts from "Hawai'i's Story" (pages 373-374):
"Oh, honest Americans, as Christians hear me for my down-trodden people! Their form of government is as dear to them as yours is precious to you. Quite as warmly as you love your country, so they love theirs. ... It is for them that I would give the last drop of my blood; it is for them that I would spend, nay, am spending, everything belonging to me. Will it be in vain? It is for the American people and their representatives in Congress to answer these questions. As they deal with me and my people, kindly, generously, and justly, so may the Great Ruler of all nations deal with the grand and glorious nation of the United Stated of America." — Queen Li-li'uokalani, 1893
Shana Logan
Ka'a'awa
-------------------
(4)
http://www.kauaiworld.com/articles/2005/07/03/opinion/edit01.txt
The Garden Island News (Kaua'i, Hawai'i)
July 3, 2005
Editorial
• The Fourth of July and Hawai‘i
Americans going on in the brought Fourth of July celebrating to Hawai'i long before the Hawaiian Islands became a territory or state. A traveler in the mid-1800s observed fireworks and other celebrating Niumalu-Nawiliwili area.
This tradition lives on today on Kaua'i with the Kaua'i Hospice "Concert in the Sky" set for tomorrow afternoon and evening. The event is a major fund-raiser for this charitable group, and sure to draw thousands of local residents and visitors.
Another Fourth of July celebration is the annual event along the banks of the Kalihiwai River. This down-home North Shore celebration recalls simpler times on Kaua'i with its massive pot luck, hot dogs and low-key fire-works.
Tomorrow night, fireworks will be in the hand of children as well as adults, on beaches, in backyards and along roads. Hopefully the recent rains will put the damper on any potential brush fires or house fires caused by fireworks.
Another July celebration that is being revived is what was well known in 19th century Hawai‘i as Restoration Day. This occurred on July 31, 1843, when Admiral Thomas of the English Navy restored sovereignty to the Hawaiian Kingdom following the headstrong actions of an English naval officer who raised the British flag in Honolulu.
Ka Hae Hawai'i, or the flag of the Hawaiian Kingdom that still serves as our state flag today, was raised as British cannons fired in honor. King Kamehameha III declared a 10-day holiday for his kingdom. He moved from what is today known as Thomas Square in Honolulu to the rock-walled Kawaiahao Church. During the church service, the king took the pulpit and declared "Ua mau ke ea o ka 'aina i ka pono," or "The Life of the Land is Preserved in Righteousness," our state motto today.
Later that year, Hawai'i's sovereignty was confirmed through diplomatic pacts with Great Britain, France and the United States. The king then declared Nov. 28 as Hawai'i's own "Independence Day."
These traditions of freedom, old and new, underlie the freedoms we enjoy today as citizens of the State of Hawai'i and of the United States.
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