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[[Category:United States federal civil rights legislation]] |
[[Category:United States federal civil rights legislation]] |
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[[Category:United States federal territory and statehood legislation]] |
[[Category:United States federal territory and statehood legislation]] |
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On the morning of August 19, 2006, state Representative Barbara Marumoto, dressed as the Statue of Liberty, and state Senator Sam Slom, waving a large American flag, led a group of around fifty people to celebrate the admission of Hawai‘i as the 50th state at ‘Iolani Palace—the site where statehood was declared nearly forty-seven years earlier. This group’s state-sponsored commemoration, however, was blocked by Hawaiian grassroots activists, also estimated at around fifty, who were angered at Marumoto and Slom’s decision to hold the celebration on palace grounds, the site where the U.S. supported overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom had also taken place 113 years earlier. Carrying Hawaiian nationalist flags and signs that read “Kanaka Maoli Independence” protestors argued that ‘Iolani Palace “is a sacred spot, which is the seat of our government” and demanded that the statehood celebration take place next door at the state capitol. The two groups clashed when the statehood celebrators continued with their program and began to sing the “Star Spangled Banner,” without accompaniment from the Kalani high school band that decided to leave the event and not get involved. The Hawaiian group countered by using a public address system to interrupt the U.S. national anthem. Verbal arguments and near-physical confrontations followed and continued for over an hour until the statehood group, tired and frustrated, decided to disperse. The Hawaiian activists formed a circle and prayed. |
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The Admission Act, formally An Act to Provide for the Admission of the State of Hawaii into the Union (Public Law 86-3) is the statute enacted by the United States Congress and signed by President of the United States Dwight EisenhoweronMarch 18, 1959 that dissolved the Territory of Hawaii and established the State of Hawaii. Hawaii became the fiftieth state of the Union. Because the document extended all the rights afforded to American citizens to a territory that had a non-white majority, the Admission Act is considered the first civil rights legislation passed by the post-World War II Congress.[citation needed]
The acceptance of statehood for Hawaii was not without its share of controversy. Various bills of admission were stalled in Congressional hearings since the early 1900s because of the racial prejudices of many members of the United States House of Representatives and United States Senate. There was a fear of establishing a state that was governed by an ethnic minority, namely the large Asian American population. Lawmakers questioned the American patriotism of Hawaii residents. Upon the election of John A. Burns from the Hawaii Democratic Party as delegate of the Territory of Hawaii to Congress, southern leaders charged that Burns' election was evidence of Hawaii as a haven for communism.
Burns was involved in vigorous lobbying of his colleagues persuading them that the race-based objections were unfair and charges that Communist Party sympathizers controlled Hawaii were blatant lies. Burns worked especially hard with the southerners, led by Lyndon Johnson, who blocked the various Hawaii statehood bills. Upon leaving her seat as delegate from Hawaii, Elizabeth P. Farrington said, "Of course, Lyndon Johnson was no friend of statehood." She cited Johnson's fear that Hawaii would send representatives and senators to Congress who would oppose segregation. Farrington added, "There were 22 times when he voted against us. He did everything he could, because he was representing the Southern racial opposition."
Statehood was supported by members of the Hawaii Republican Party, controlled by powerful sugarcane plantation owners like the Big Five. The 1934 Jones-Costigan Act, which was a part of the New Deal agricultural policies, placed Hawai‘i sugar interests at odds with federal legislation. Thus, by 1935, the Republican controlled Territorial legislature established the Hawaii Equal Rights Commission as a means to challenge any federal discrimination against Hawaii but to also initiate discussions about Hawaii statehood. Other businessmen like construction tycoon Walter F. Dillingham tried to influence Congressmen and visiting Senators that Hawaii didn't need representation in Congress. Some businessmen like Walter Dillingham were able to make profit off of the territorial governmental structure through federal contracts. The Big Five and people like Dillingham was that the labor unions would be substantially strengthened, diminishing control over what types of benefits they would choose to give or withhold from their employees.[citation needed]
It has been claimed that native Hawaiians had very little power in the vote for statehood. However, the vote showed approval rates of at least 93% by voters on all major islands (see adjacent figure for details). Of the approximately 140,000 votes cast, less than 8000 rejected the Admission Act of 1959.
