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===Alice Kamokila Campbell=== |
===Alice Kamokila Campbell=== |
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On the 53rd anniversary of the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom, 1946 January 17th, Territorial Senator Alice Kamokila Campbell, one of the few voices that opposed statehood for Hawaii, offered her testimony offered to the joint-congressional committee sent to investigate and report on statehood. Kamokila Campbell testified at Iolani Palace in front of a small crowd of 600 to frequent applause. There she stated.<blockquote> |
On the 53rd anniversary of the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom, 1946 January 17th, Territorial Senator Alice Kamokila Campbell, one of the few voices that opposed statehood for Hawaii, offered her testimony offered to the joint-congressional committee sent to investigate and report on statehood. Kamokila Campbell testified at Iolani Palace in front of a small crowd of 600 to frequent applause. There she stated.<blockquote> |
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I do not feel...we should forfeit the traditional rights and privileges of the natives of our islands for a mere thimbleful of votes in Congress, that we, the lovers of Hawaii from long association with it should sacrifice our birthright for the greed of alien desires to remain on our shores, that we should satisfy the thirst for power and control of some inflated industrialists and politicians who hide under the guise of friends of Hawaii, yet still keeping an eagle eye on the financial and political pressure button of subjugation over the people in general of these islands. |
I do not feel...we should forfeit the traditional rights and privileges of the natives of our islands for a mere thimbleful of votes in Congress, that we, the lovers of Hawaii from long association with it should sacrifice our birthright for the greed of alien desires to remain on our shores, that we should satisfy the thirst for power and control of some inflated industrialists and politicians who hide under the guise of friends of Hawaii, yet still keeping an eagle eye on the financial and political pressure button of subjugation over the people in general of these islands.<ref>John S. Whitehead, "The Anti-Statehood Movement and the Legacy of Alice Kamokila Campbell" in The Hawaiian Journal of History, vol. 27 (1993) - Article on one of the few voices opposing statehood for Hawaii in 1959, that of a prominent public and cultural figure, a descendant of Hawaiian royalty and an heir of the James Campbell Estate. </ref> |
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</blockquote><ref>John S. Whitehead, "The Anti-Statehood Movement and the Legacy of Alice Kamokila Campbell" in The Hawaiian Journal of History, vol. 27 (1993) - Article on one of the few voices opposing statehood for Hawaii in 1959, that of a prominent public and cultural figure, a descendant of Hawaiian royalty and an heir of the James Campbell Estate. </ref> |
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In 1947 Kamokila Campbell opened the Anti-Statehood Clearing House, where she sent “anti-statehood information, reports and arguments to congress.”<ref>September 18, 1947, Honolulu Star-Bulletin</ref> |
In 1947 Kamokila Campbell opened the Anti-Statehood Clearing House, where she sent “anti-statehood information, reports and arguments to congress.”<ref>September 18, 1947, Honolulu Star-Bulletin</ref> |
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The Admission Act, formally An Act to Provide for the Admission of the State of Hawaii into the Union (Pub. L.Tooltip Public Law (United States) 86–3, enacted 1959-03-18) is a statute enacted by the United States Congress and signed into law by President Dwight D. Eisenhower which dissolved the Territory of Hawaii and established the State of Hawaii as the 50th state to be admitted into the Union. Hawaii remains the most recent state to join the United States.
Since Hawaii was a Territory of the United States in 1945, the United Nations in 1946 listed Hawaii as a non-self-Governing territory under the administration of the United States (Resolution 55(I) of 1946-12-14). Also listed as non-self-governing territories under the jurisdiction of the United States were Alaska Territory, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
In 1946, Hawai‘i was placed on the United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories. This meant that the United States as the colonial power occupying Hawai‘i had a "sacred trust obligation" to the Hawaiian people to discuss three possible options for the future of decolonizing Hawaii: 1) become fully incorporated into the United States as a state. 2) Compact of Free Association (something like Puerto Rico). 3) Independence.
America transmitted annual reports on Hawaii to the United Nations Secretary General from 1946 until September 1959. By a letter of September 17, 1959, the United States notified the U.N. Secretary General that Hawaii had become a State of the Union in August 1959 and that the United States would thereafter cease to transmit information to the United Nations.
The acceptance of statehood for Hawaii was not without its share of controversy. Some Native Hawaiians in Hawaii protested against statehood. Also, 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. John A. Burns, in 1959, would reflect on the obstacles against the statehood campaign and place more emphasis on the resistance to statehood in the islands, rather than in Washington itself.
The reasons why Hawaii did not achieve statehood, say, ten years ago--and one could without much exaggeration say sixty years ago--lie not in the Congress but in Hawaii. The most effective opposition to statehood has always originated in Hawaii itself. For the most part it has remained under cover and has marched under other banners. Such opposition could not afford to disclose itself, since it was so decidedly against the interests and desires of Hawaii's people generally.
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."
On the 53rd anniversary of the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom, 1946 January 17th, Territorial Senator Alice Kamokila Campbell, one of the few voices that opposed statehood for Hawaii, offered her testimony offered to the joint-congressional committee sent to investigate and report on statehood. Kamokila Campbell testified at Iolani Palace in front of a small crowd of 600 to frequent applause. There she stated.
I do not feel...we should forfeit the traditional rights and privileges of the natives of our islands for a mere thimbleful of votes in Congress, that we, the lovers of Hawaii from long association with it should sacrifice our birthright for the greed of alien desires to remain on our shores, that we should satisfy the thirst for power and control of some inflated industrialists and politicians who hide under the guise of friends of Hawaii, yet still keeping an eagle eye on the financial and political pressure button of subjugation over the people in general of these islands.[2]
In 1947 Kamokila Campbell opened the Anti-Statehood Clearing House, where she sent “anti-statehood information, reports and arguments to congress.”[3]
On March 29, 1949, Kamokila Campbell successfully sued the Hawaii Statehood Commission, to stop them from spending public money to lobby for statehood, invalidating a single section of the Act which created the Hawaii Statehood Commission.[4]
It does not necessarily follow that the invalidity of paragraph 10 of section 2 of the Act vitiates the entire Act. It contains a severability clause. The invalidity of a portion of the law does not necessarily render the remainder void.
This holding is clearly in accord with the doctrine of partial invalidity as adhered to in this jurisdiction. What remains is "* * * complete in itself and capable of being executed in accordance with the apparent legislative intent * * *" wholly independent of that which is rejected.[5]
Statehood was initiated 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, reduced the amount of sugar that could be exported to the U.S. continent tariff free. 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. The sugar industry as a whole, however, was still ambivalent about statehood as the growing Japanese community suggested the possibility that the Japanese might control elected offices, especially if the power of such offices were increased by statehood.
Out of a total population of 600,000 in the islands and 155,000 registered voters, 140,000 votes were cast. A mixed vote in the population of anyone who resided in Hawaii for over a year, 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.
