Hawaii Statehood Passes 1959
March 11, 2010 > MAUI TODAY No Comments |
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HAWAIIAN WORD OF THE DAY — Paiha’akei’ili: Racism PIDGIN WORD OF THE DAY— Tasol: Justice HAWAIIAN PROVERB OF THE DAY — “The spirit has flown away.” HAOLE SAYING OF THE DAY — “The inseparable twin of racial injustice is economic injustice.” – Martin Luther King, Jr
March 11th, 1959: The U.S. Senate votes 76-15 granting statehood for Hawaii. The following week, March 18, President Dwight Eisenhower signs the bill into law.
One interesting perspective on this is the 15 negative votes for Hawaiian statehood. Just about every one of them came from senators from southern states. Why? Well, no surprise there, the Southerners were racists. Several complained that a significant portion of the territory’s population was of “mixed race” and an awful lot of people’s skin was dark. The horrors!
Furthermore, the racists feared that the state would put into the senate two pro-civil rights senators, which might give civil rights legislation (which was perennially popping up in the Congress those days) the crucial extra votes it needed to pass.
Thus the link was simple: give Hawaii statehood, and the next thing you know, the darkies in Alabama will finally be able to vote. Funny thing, they were right to fear. Hawaii Senators Hiram Fong and Daniel Inouye voted for passage of the 1964 Civil Rights act. It’s also interesting to note some of those who voted against statehood, and later, civil rights: Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, Robert Byrd of West Virginia, J. William Fulbright of Arkansas, Sam Irvin of North Carolina, and Albert Gore Sr. of Tennessee.
