INDEPENDENCE RECOGNIZED AS LEGITIMATE
Savannah Morning News - December 17th, 2006
Thirty years ago Andy saw the future.
"Golf courses,'' he muttered into his beer. "From here all the way down to Makena...."
"True Hawai`i,'' he said. "It's dying."
Returning several times over the years to the island, I watched the old man's nightmare deepen.
Dirt roads were paved, then widened. Sleepy villages sprouted golf courses and Burger Kings.
This last time, shortly after landing at the airport at Kahului, I was stuck in a monstrous traffic jam, for several hours edging past new high-rises, waiting at new stoplights, creeping through Lahaina....
A Hawaiian sovereignty movement, seeking a measure of self-government, even independence, for the natives, is growing.
Head off the beaten track, away from the five-star hotels, and you'll hear Hawaiian spoken.
On front porches, you'll see the state flag hanging upside-down, the movement's symbol of defiance.
Hawai`i, the natives say, was stolen from them. They want it back.
You can't blame them....
