Aloha March
NATIVE HAWAIIANS MARCH FOR INDEPENDENCE IN SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA
Native Hawaiians and their supporters today staged the first Aloha March in California in the city of San Leandro.
The marchers went through a portion of downtown, carrying a banner and passing out leaflets to passersby about Hawaiian Independence.
"People came from as far away as Modesto to be in our Aloha March," stated Kai'opua Fyfe, Koani Foundation board member and one of the march co-ordinators. " We send out a big mahalo to everyone who came and brought their families as well as all of you who contacted us by email and phone from throughout California and Hawai'i to send your support."
The march garnered TV and newpaper coverage, both in the San Francisco bay area as well as in Hawai'i.
Future Aloha Marches are planned in 2004 and 2005 in cities throughout the United States culminating in a massive Aloha March in Washington, DC later in 2005 as called for by the late John "Butch" Kekahu III, Koani Founder. (To view a photo of today's march, click on the words "Aloha March" above the headline of this story.)
