On June 8th, 2007, a motley group of native Hawaiian supremacists, radical sovereignty activists, Kamehameha Schools representatives and unfortunately indoctrinated students made a protest at the Interstate Building at 1314 South King Street. They were protesting the civil rights activism and educational activities of the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, making the bold and unfounded claim that, “The Grassroot Institute, both corporately and via its members and affiliates, is part of a reactionary movement to expropriate the collective inheritance of the indigneous peoples of Hawaii.”

They further went on to claim that the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii engaged in “the deplorable tradition of the jingoists”, while themselves stating with no hint of recognizing their own hyperbole that the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii “aims to dismantle women’s rights, minority rights, LGBT rights, ecological sustainability, international cooperation, and supports for working families.” It is surprising that they did not also blame the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii for global warming, hurricane Katrina, the war in Iraq, AIDS, cancer and the sexual abuse of parishioners by Catholic priests.

And why such venom for a local think tank? Their apparent trigger was the forwarding of a request for plaintiffs by David Rosen, who hopes to continue the civil rights struggle that was temporarily stalled by the large cash settlement presumably paid to John Doe by Kamehameha Schools to end the appeal to the Supreme Court regarding the racially discriminatory admissions policies of Kamehameha Schools.

“The People On The Sidewalk” stated that the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii has “misused the grand language of the U.S. civil rights movement to facilitate their goals.” Apparently, the grand language of the U.S. civil rights movement is not allowed to include the preservation of equal rights for all people, regardless of race or ancestry. These native Hawaiian victimhood industry specialists cannot see the plain racism they practice, and cannot perceive the evil and wrong they do to the memories of their kupuna and our collective heritage as Hawaiians of all races and backgrounds. The Kingdom of Hawaii was founded through the cooperation of Kamehameha the Great, and John Young of Britain. The first constitution of the Kingdom of Hawaii declared all people were “of one blood”. The Kingdom of Hawaii never had any special privileges associated with race. But somehow, the native Hawaiian victimhood industry is hell bent on undoing the civil rights embraced by our ancestors, by our kingdom, by our state and by our country.

There is no “collective inheritance” to people of any specific “race” anywhere on this planet – we are all humans, and dividing us by arbitrary lines is the bane of racism exposed. The Nazis did not have any collective racial claim to supremacy in Europe during WWII, the white South Africans did not have any collective racial claim to supremacy during the era of apartheid, and neither do people with the smallest fraction of ancestry traced back to pre-1778 immigrants to Hawaii have any just claim against their own peers, neighbors and cousins.

I have one question for “The People On The Sidewalk” – where would you send other people not of the proper race to go to collect their “collective inheritance”?

Some seem to prefer a Hawaii that harbors exclusive rights for people of the proper racial background – the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, on the other hand, believes in equality and aloha for all. Apparently, such dedication to civil rights is worthy of protest by the rich and powerful leaders of the native Hawaiian victimhood industry – Auwe!

(Jere Krischel is a Senior Fellow with the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, born and raised in Hawaii and currently living in California with his wife and two young children.)