An important fact about Hawaii

[Stuart G]

Fact A..***Hawaii was admitted as the 50th state on August 21, 1959

Yes..it is lots of islands
Yes..it is about 2500 miles West, South West, of Los Angeles
Yes..It is different than other states
Yes..I've been told it is one of the most beautiful places on earth (I have never been there)
Yes..the geography is different than other states
Yes..the history of Hawaii is different than other states.

But wait....look at Fact A..*** again....

......Fact A..***Hawaii was admitted as the 50th state on August 21, 1959

No matter what we may think, or recall from the "old days"...this place Hawaii, is as much a part of the United States of America as Texas or New York..(take your pick, city or state) or Florida, or Alabama or the rest of the United States of America..........

Additional thought and apology....This is not meant to be mean, sarcastic, rude or ridiculous in any way. I am speaking for me. Sometimes I think this place is so far away that it isn't part of the USA. I am sorry if this was taken as satire or mean..It is sometimes a thought that Hawaii is so far away that it a different country..It is not, it is us/and we.

[rickford66]

1. Yes, but New Mexico is a different story.

[hlthe2b]

4. I'll never forget that during the Atlanta Olympics, NM callers for tickets were sent to

the INTERNATIONAL phone lines.... Oh, brother.

But, to the OP, is this really something you think DUers don't know? (I'm guessing you are just being rhetorical)

[rickford66]

13. I heard a lot of NM mail gets sent South.

I used to live in Moscow PA and people occasionally received mail late with Russian post marks.

[dubyadiprecession]

2. Its too bad about the cat 5 typhoon..

Heading towards them. I wish them luck.

[WillowTree]

3. Did someone say it isn't "as much a part of the [US].......as the rest of the [US]"?

[Stuart G]

6. NO. someone did NOT say that. If that is implied I am sorry..

I guess it is my thoughts from time to time as an .....older member of DU.. goes back to when Hawaii was a territory. sorry

[Cartoonist]

5. Free Hawaii

Hawaii was a sovereign country. We just moved in and took over. Kinda like what China did to Tibet.

[Stuart G]

8. Yes...let the people of Hawaii vote again..but here is the results of the last vote......

... Hawaii—a U.S. territory since 1898—became the 50th state in August, 1959, following a referendum in Hawaii in which more than 93% of the voters approved the proposition that the territory should be admitted as a state...That is a vey high percentage. More than 9 out of 10..............

More information on vote...On June 27, 1959 the people of Hawaii approved the Statehood bill 132,773 to 7,971 votes.

[JayhawkSD]

9. Hawaii applied for statehood.

Statehood cannot be imposed. The people of the territory must vote to apply to become a state, and make an application to Congress backed by backed that vote to become a state. Hawaii is a state because it wanted to be one.

The Tibet allegory is particularly inept, because Tibet is not a state within China, and its people do not have equal rights as Chinese people. Tibetans cannot, in fact, travel to China.

[brush]

7. Hawaii's monarchy was overthrown by American planters in the 1890s...

...aided by American gunboats (The king mysteriously and suddenly died in San Francisco where he was being treated for an illness, and the Queen was then imprisoned. Not a good chapter in this nation's history)

Stephen Kinzer's book outlines it.

"Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change From Hawaii to Iraq"

Native Hawaiians still have resentment about their paradise lost.

[JayhawkSD]

10. Just as Native Americans in the western states do.

Do you want 330 million people to go back to living in the original 13 colonies, or perhaps return to England?

[brush]

11. Who the hell said anything about that? How America acquired Hawaii is not well known.

There's way more to it than the beautiful, island paradise of an American state.

[Chipper Chat]

12. Lots of things "Mainlanders" do not understand

About native culture. For one there is a lot of sacred ground that visitors knowingly or unknowingly disrespect. Any sarcasm or mocking of "the gods" is upsetting. This still causes resentment toward haoles and other visitors.