By ANU MANCHIKANTI
Scripps Howard News Service

WASHINGTON _ Native Hawaiians will be saying more than "aloha" when they march into the nation's capital this weekend.

They'll be talking about the U.S. invasion of the islands and overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy in 1893. And they're not happy about it.

That action, said Butch Kekahu, founder of the Aloha March, ultimately caused the downfall of an entire culture. "We're still hurting after 105 years," he said.

Planned activities for this weekend include a 24-hour prayer vigil and the march itself, from the Capitol Building to the White House.

The march will mark the 100th anniversary of the 1898 annexation of the Hawaiian Islands by the U.S. Hawaii became a U.S. territory in 1900.

For the marchers, it also will signify a turning point in the Hawaiian sovereignty movement as they seek to make their campaign an issue of national interest.

Native Hawaiians are defined as the descendants of the aborigines of the Hawaiian Kingdom and represent 18 to 20 percent of the total population of Hawaii, Kekahu said.

"We want to bring before America the plight of Native Hawaiians," said Riley Cardwell, media coordinator for the Aloha March.

Cardwell said indigenous people in Hawaii have little access to health care or education, are burdened by low economic status and have the highest rate of strokes, cancer, heart disease and diabetes in the state.

Francis Boyle, a professor of international law at the University of Illinois, said the 1898 annexation was illegal because Congress failed to ratify two treaties of annexation, as required by the Constitution.

Hawaii became the 50th state of the union in 1959. Even then, independence was not an option, Kekahu said, because voters were given only two choices - to become a state or remain a territory.

Kekahu said President Clinton and Congress inadvertently sparked the independence movement in 1993 when they issued a formal apology to Hawaii for overthrowing the kingdom and depriving citizens the right of self-determination in the 1959 special vote.

"He (Clinton) just opened up the door when he signed the apology bill," said Kekahu. The apology states that the Native Hawaiians had a "sophisticated language, culture and religion" before the arrival of the Europeans, and economic and social changes have been "devastating to the health and well-being of the Hawaiian people."

"The Hawaiian Kingdom was never validly annexed and therefore, they want their kingdom back," said Boyle. "We (the U.S.) stole their kingdom."

Kekahu said other organizations in Hawaii support the sovereignty movement but disagree on whether to seek full independence or a lesser form of autonomy.

"It's time to put back our culture, our language, our people," Kekahu said. "Every nationality in this world has a home to go to except the Hawaiians."

(Anu Manchikanti is a reporter for Scripps Howard News Service)

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