Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 10, Number 2, 1 February 1993 — Letters to the Editor [ARTICLE]

Letters to the Editor

To the Editor: It was with great sadness that I read an article titled "Queen Lili'uokalani" in the (January) Aloha Airlines magazine while inflight from Maui to Honolulu. I have known, somewhere in the recesses of my mind, that the white culture mistreated the native Hawaiians in the process of taking control of the Hawaiian islands. However, I had never taken the time to understand the extend of this mistreatment. It is, of course, reminiscent of the treatment of Native Americans and Hispanics by white Europeans of the day. It is unconscionable, and I as a white woman of European ancestry, am appalled and saddened.

Please accept my sincerest apology to all the native Hawaiian people. I cannot change what happened 100 years ago. If I could, I would. However, I ean do something now about the rights due native Hawaiians. I am writing a letter to President Bill Clinton, urging him to take action on those items

enumerated in (your advertisement) "A Nation Betrayed." I will also send copies of that letter to my senators and representatives in Congress. Justice is long overdue in this matter. I am committed to doing my part to see that these wrongs are righted. Betty Bender Snohomish, Washington