What a bunch of crap you recently spewed forth in your diatribe against Hawaiian nationalist, painting us as anti-Americans and wanting to “rid the state of nationalities not ethnically Hawaiian.”
See “Happy Birthday, Hawaii – Some of Us Still Remember”
I am neither anti-American nor pro-American. I am a supporter of human rights and fundamental freedoms, in line with the basic principles of where you have chosen to repose your citizenship and loyalty, the United States of America. Those basic principles are that of the right of all people to choose for themselves how they unfold into their future, known as the right of self-determination. Leaders of your United States of America failed, at crucial points of history, to abide by those basic principles, 1893 and 1959. Yet, you call us anti-Americans for wanting the U.S.A. to abide by those principles. I don’t understand.
No, I take that back. I do understand. You are not an American citizen who believes in American principles. You are an American citizen who believes instead, in American interests. A huh!!!
Well, sometimes bluntness is the best way to say it, so I will. Wise up, sister. Start off by defining clearly what is the American you so dearly love and want to protect? So far, all you’ve shown is not love and protection of its lofty principles, but its selfish interest, not the rule of international law, but the rule of exemption of the United States to international laws, many of which were founded upon American principles.
And please don’t try that racist attack against those who promote an independent Hawaii. I have advocated and worked with a multitude of those supporting independence. By and large, the majority recognize the dignity of people of all ethnicities to basic human rights, including that right encapsulated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights at Article 15, that everyone has a right to a nationality, and that no government has the right to arbitrarily deny a person his citizenship. I have marched side by side among people of many races and many nationalities, in support of Hawaiian independence. You have never been one of them.
A most eloquent person once shared the following part of a letter he wrote to his grandchildren while he sat with us at the Wai`anae District Court. He told these children, “I am not a Hawaiian nor would I change my American citizenship for a Hawaiian citizenship. All I want is to have my country do what is right, to recognize the right of the Hawaiian people to have their own country. As a citizen, it is my responsibility to try to bring my country in line with that ideal.” Mr. Stewart Michem has passed away since that event in 1982. He was a true American citizen who I loved, not hated. He was an American who still believed in the grand principles of America. There are many more such American citizens, believing that the principles of America are worth fighting for. We, Hawaiian nationalist and those American patriots are really on the same side, fighting for the triump of American principles over American interests.
You see, Malia Zimmerman, those principles are largely principles of right, justice, and fair play shared by many of us, Americans, Hawaiians, and otherwise.
I will not take any more time detailing for you the step by step process in which the United States of America violated those general principles, or even the specific rule of law under which it was obligated. I think, at this point, it would just be a waste of time. If you like, you can hear it on my radio show, 7:00 p.m. tonight, Saturday, 1080 AM. You’re free to call in.
”’Poka Laenui can be reached via email at”’ mailto:plaenui@pixi.com