OCCUPIERS PLAN PHONY STATEHOOD CELEBRATION
"WE WEREN'T ADOPTED - WE WERE KIDNAPPED," SAY HAWAIIANS
By Mark Niesse - Associated Press
HONOLULU – When the 50th state celebrates its 50th anniversary in two years, lawmakers hope the party doesn't get out of control.
The bill seeks to avoid confrontations between Hawaiian sovereignty advocates and statehood celebrants that could mar the festivities, which are expected to last throughout 2009 and culminate on Aug. 21 – exactly 50 years after Hawai`i became a state in 1959.
“To me, statehood is not a reason for celebration,” said David Keanu Sai, a University of Hawai`i political science lecturer who is preparing a dissertation on Hawaiian sovereignty. “We've been led to believe that we were adopted, and then we found out we were kidnapped.”
Last year, festivities at `Iolani Palace resulted in a shouting match between Native Hawaiians and American flag-waving statehood celebrants.
