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The State of Aloha

Admissions Day is a strange holiday. Most folks -- if they remember it at all -- seldom celebrate the day we became the 50th state. Statehood's story is usually told from an outsider's point of view. While territorial delegates, that is, nonvoting members of Congress, and governors from both parties during the first half of the 20th century advocated for statehood and equal rights with the rest of the Mainland, it never happened. The problem came from racist Southerners controlling the Senate. Mississippi's infamous James O. Eastland -- infamous for his unapologetic defense of the American apartheid in the Deep South -- argued that the addition of Hawai'i senators meant "two votes for socialized medicines, two votes for government ownership of industry, two votes against all racial segregation and two votes against the South on all social matters." Gradually, a pro-statehood coalition of lawmakers overtook the Southern blockade. Much of it had to do with the Cold War. Statehood made good press on the world's stage for President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Europe was divided between the Soviet Union and its satellite countries in the East and Western allies benefitting from the Marshall Plan. Asian nations felt pressure from radical movements within generally funded and supported by Communist China. The 1950s also witnessed a proliferation of independence movements in the former European colonies. When Hawai'i entered the Union, France was mired in a savage and terrible war with Algeria, a colony it held since the 1830s. Statehood came just three years after the British led a failed attempt to take back the Suez Canal from Egyptian nationalists. The Suez Crisis represented the setting sun of the British Empire. Statehood has been interpreted as an attempt for the United States to address its own colonial past. The U.S. was eager to distance itself from its imperialist forays from the 19th century. (But not so eager to change things for Guam and Puerto Rico.) Statehood for a place without a white majority allowed Eisenhower to declare it "a successful laboratory in human brotherhood" and hoped Hawai'i "would be a shining example of the American way to the entire Earth." It combated the stinging accusation by Communists that the U.S. is another imperialist power that is more interested in exploitation than freedom. That's the outsider's version. But statehood meant something else within the islands. It marked the return of democracy for local people. For six decades the territorial governor and Supreme Court justices were appointed by the president. The Legislature's powers were also circumscribed by Congress. Statehood changed that. We could now directly elect the governor, draft our own constitution and pass laws without federal oversight. Not since the days of the monarchy -- a constitutional monarchy akin to the British system -- could Native Hawaiians directly participate in government. For many of the Asian Americans it was the first time the franchise was so wide open in the islands. And what did Hawai'i do with this newly granted democratic process and power? Just what Senator Eastland feared. Hawai'i sent to Congress liberals advancing the agenda that ended Eastland's Southern way of life. (For the most part we still do.) A local boy even made it to the White House. Everyone here knows Barack Obama was born and raised in Honolulu. His parents met at the University of Hawai'i soon after statehood. He, like the state itself, recently celebrated his 60th birthday. In Hawai'i itself the first generation of our state's leaders readily exercised its revived democratic power. The 1960s and '70s saw the formation of a very strong and centralized government. We redrafted our constitution several times to grant the right to form unions, an express right to privacy and a special place for Native Hawaiians and the environment. The State of Hawai'i passed progressive legislation for health care, unemployment benefits and land use planning. But statehood brought its challenges, too. The influx of people from the Mainland has never really slowed down. The recent census numbers only confirm that. All the while, the cost of living is pushing locals to cheaper places to live on the Mainland. Open space is a scarce commodity. The 1960s and '70s saw a dramatic increase in development on Oahu. Sprawl, resorts and traffic came to Maui and other Neighbor Islands in 1980s and '90s. Resentment against tourists, its industry and overdevelopment is palpable and real these days. After 62 years of statehood, we find ourselves frustrated with the invasion of newcomers, the enduring presence of the U.S. military and corporate interests controlling our land, economy and politics. It's easy to despair and give in to the sense of helplessness for Hawai'i Nei. All the more reason to celebrate Admissions Day. It's good to remember democracy's joyful return and the hope that our island state instilled in 1959. * Ben Lowenthal is a trial and appellate lawyer, currently with the Office of the Public Defender, who grew up on Maui. His email is 808stateofaloha@gmail.com.

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