After reading the story about cane burn protesters and supporters (The Maui News, Sept. 30), what struck me was the woman who was reportedly called a haole, usually preceded by an expletive, and had rocks thrown at her.
Of course the ILWU rep denied it. What else would he say?
The pro-burners work for the real haoles, the descendants of the missionary families that, if anybody did, stole their land. If you need to call people names and throw rocks, turn around and look at your employers.
Here's some Hawaiian history with haoles: Hawaiians never had a wheel. Ironically, probably the first wheels they saw were attached to cannons belonging to haoles King Kamehameha hired to help him unite the Hawaiian Islands into one nation. Like it or not, never would have happened without those haoles. On the other hand, Hawaiians butchered and ate haole Captain Cook in a dispute over metal they wanted from his ship. There is no metal in Hawaii.
See those "Practice Aloha" bumper stickers? Some preach aloha but have zero respect for freedom of speech and zero tolerance for other cultures.
Respect the aina? Pollute the soil with chemicals and PVC and then set it all on fire? The Hawaiian equivalent of coal mining. Cane burning never was and never will be part of Hawaiian culture, any more than cockfighting, Spam musubi or Heineken.
The takeaway is this: Bad move on the Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar guys' part for counterprotesting. They should've stayed home.
Kenny Hultquist
Lahaina
