Radical Hawaiians

I've reported previously on the attempts by some in Hawaii to give native Hawaiians the same kind of tribal rights normally associate with Indian tribes on the mainland. When I was over there in February I saw one little protest - some guy parked by the side of the road with signs calling for independence for Hawaii.

Some of the protesters have learned well from the Baathists and dead-enders in Iraq, as John Fund reports at Political Diary:

Some Native Hawaiians were upset when the U.S. Senate failed to pass a bill this summer that would have set up a separate race-based sovereign government for them. A minority believes the U.S. is illegally occupying Hawaii and demands outright independence. Activists took out their frustrations last weekend by disrupting a 47th anniversary celebration of Hawaiian statehood at Honolulu's Iolani Palace. Protestors waved the flag of Hawaii's deposed Queen Liliuokalani and hurled epithets through a bullhorn and electronic sound system. The fact that over 90% of Hawaiians voted for statehood back in 1959 was deemed irrelevant.

According to eyewitnesses, the first attendees to be targeted for abuse were the high-school band members who had been invited to perform. As the youngsters sat with their instruments, protesters came up and shouted and cursed in their faces, leading parents quickly to escort their children back to their buses, fearing violence. Emboldened by this success, the protestors then surrounded the other celebrants, who were led by state Sen. State Sen. Sam Slom, again cursing and yelling and telling them to leave and take their American flags with them because "Hawaii is not America." The state police never responded to an emergency call to remove the protestors who were illegally disrupting the statehood celebration.

"I was spat on, pushed around, flashed by someone who pulled his pants down in front of me and told it was terrific that Americans died in 9-11," reports Malia Zimmerman, editor of HawaiiReporter.com. "I think the rest of America would be shocked by what happened. This is proof we in Hawaii are not even free to celebrate statehood or the fact that we are part of America."

Verbally assaulting a high school band - that will win them friends and supporters. There are plenty of islands in the Hawaiian chain, including one that is restricted to Native Hawaiians only. How about moving all these radicals over there and let them declare their own little country? They would be free of outsiders, as they seem to want, and we would be free of them.