Hawaiians honor US President Grover Cleveland

[Guest guest]

>Hawaii Nation Info <info (AT) hawaii-nation (DOT) org>

>hawaii-nation

>[hawaii-nation] 112 years later, Hawaiians honor Grover Cleveland

>Thu, 27 Apr 2006 13:08:39 -1000

>

>

>

>

>http://www.nj.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/news-3/1145854295279560.xml&coll=1

>

>New Jersey Star-Ledger

>Monday, April 24, 2006

>

>

>

>112 years later, an aloha at a friend's birthplace

>

>Hawaiians honor Grover Cleveland with Jersey visit

>

>BY MOLLY BLOOM

>Star-Ledger Staff

>

>They traveled 5,000 miles -- from Hawaii to New

>Jersey -- to pay tribute to an unlikely hero:

>Grover Cleveland.

>

>Yesterday morning, the Rev. Kaleo Patterson and

>three other native Hawaiians visited the Caldwell

>church where the former president's father was

>pastor in the mid-19th century.

>

>They wanted to honor the memory of President

>Cleveland, whom they credit with defending their

>rights and national sovereignty in the 1890s when

>sugar plantation owners overthrew their queen.

>

>In the afternoon, they were in Princeton to meet

>with religious leaders and placed a lei on

>Cleveland's grave.

>

>Cleveland, the 22nd and 24th president of the

>United States is perhaps best known as the only

>president born in New Jersey. He has become an

>unlikely rallying point for activists like

>Patterson who are working to raise support for

>efforts to reduce poverty and crime among

>Hawaiian natives. They also want to be granted

>some form of self-government.

>

>"Cleveland's going to be a tough sell, but we're

>banking on him," said Patterson, a United Church

>of Christ minister and president of the

>Honolulu-based Pacific Justice and Reconciliation

>Center.

>

>Their journey to New Jersey is among the events

>that Patterson and other island groups have

>organized that will lead to an April 30 national

>day of prayer for Hawaiian natives. "We need to

>acknowledge that there was a wrong and we have to

>work this out," Patterson said yesterday.

>

>That wrong dates to January 1893, when American

>businessmen dethroned the Hawaiian queen

>Liliuokalani with the help of the Marines. The

>businessmen declared the islands a republic and

>requested annexation to the United States.

>

>Cleveland investigated the situation and refused,

>saying the queen should be restored to power. He

>proclaimed April 30, 1894, a national day of

>prayer and repentance over the U.S. role in

>overthrowing the Hawaiian monarchy.

>

>It wasn't until 1898, when Cleveland was out of

>office, that Hawaii became part of the U.S. It

>became a state in 1959.

>

>"He was the people's president," Patterson said

>of Cleveland. "He was before his time."

>

>Cleveland is the only U.S. president to have two

>terms that weren't in a row -- in 1885-89 and

>1893-97 -- and his face graced the $1,000 bills

>that used to circulate. He actually won the

>popular vote in his bid for a second consecutive

>term, but the Electoral College awarded the

>office to Benjamin Harrison, whom Cleveland

>defeated in his third run. His presidency was

>dominated by such issues as tariffs on imported

>goods and preserving a gold standard backing U.S.

>currency.

>

>Patterson and his colleagues hope raising

>Cleveland's admittedly limited profile will draw

>attention to the negative impact of colonization

>on Hawaii, he said.

>

>Colonization stripped native Hawaiians of their

>rights to land and dismantled much of their

>language and culture. It led to sharp inequities

>in education, life expectancy, income and other

>social measures between the Hawaiians and

>transplanted Americans, Patterson said.

>

>Righting those wrongs "will take a lot of

>education," Patterson said. He hopes to establish

>a Hawaiian research center at Cleveland's

>birthplace, the pastor's residence of the First

>Presbyterian Church at Caldwell.

>

>Patterson and other Hawaiian leaders are also

>urging religious leaders to pray "for justice and

>mercy, for healing and hope, and for true

>reconciliation" on April 30, 2006, the 112th

>anniversary of Cleveland's call for national

>prayer.

>

>Yesterday, Ha'aheo Guanson, executive director of

>the Pacific Justice and Reconciliation Center,

>who traveled to New Jersey with Patterson, stood

>in the Caldwell church's foyer twisting fragrant

>maile leaves with orchids to form a royal lei.

>

>Wearing a turquoise Hawaiian pareo, or wrap, over

>her black suit and a floral wreath on her head,

>Guanson draped the lei across the church's

>communion table, intertwining it with strings of

>tiny pearl-like shells.

>

>The Caldwell congregation was happy to welcome

>the Hawaiian visitors to Sunday services, but

>some members were a little confused about their

>visitors' mission.

>

>"Grover Cleveland and Hawaii," mused church

>member Carol Otterbein of West Caldwell. "I don't

>get how they're connected."

>

>Guanson smiled and gave her a brief Hawaiian history lesson.

>

>"Grover Cleveland is very big in Hawaii," she assured Otterbein.

>

>The Associated Press contributed to this report.

>

>© 2006 The Star Ledger

>

>

>

>

><<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<>>>

> Note: the content of forwarded messages reflects the opinion of

> the authors, not necessarily that of the list maintainers.

> _______________

> This list is provided as a free service. Donations may be made to:

> Aloha First, PO Box 701, Waimanalo, Hawaii 96795

> _______________

> Hawai`i - Independent & Sovereign

> info (AT) hawaii-nation (DOT) org http://hawaii-nation.org

> _______________

> "The cause of Hawaii and independence is larger and dearer than

> the life of any man connected with it. Love of country is deep-

> seated in the breast of every Hawaiian, whatever his station."

> - Queen Lili`uokalani

> _______________

> Post message: hawaii-nation

> Subscribe: hawaii-nation-

> Un: hawaii-nation

> List owner: hawaii-nation-owner

><<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<>>

>

>

>