It was interesting to read Wayne and Arlene Conte's Aug. 26 letter admonishing The Advertiser for its "shameful" lack of coverage of statehood day.

Interesting, because what they should really find "shameful" is the illegal and immoral process through which the Kingdom of Hawai'i became an American "state."

America had stationed so many troops in Hawai'i that, by 1959, the United States felt confident enough to allow a plebiscite to decide the fate of the Hawaiian Islands. This vote was illegal under international law because:

• There was no option for independence on the ballot.


• America allowed her occupying force to vote in the plebiscite.

Imagine if the United States called for a statehood vote today, in Iraq, and let all of the American soldiers who are stationed there vote. That is what happened to the Kingdom of Hawai'i.

As much as Americans' sense of self-righteousness would like them to believe that the "state" of Hawai'i is a product of liberty and democracy, nothing could be further from the truth.

The "state" of Hawai'i is a product of America's long and ugly history of conquest and Manifest Destiny.

Shameful indeed.

Joseph Kaleo'onalani Aikala
Wai'anae