Date: Mon, 14 Oct 96 10:51:14 HST
From: ramsey@math.hawaii.edu (Tom Ramsey)
Subject: LOCAL NEWS OCT. 14

		THE RELIGIOUS EXTREMISTS OPT FOR CONCON

	Carol Gabbard (some relation of Mike Gabbard of Alliance for
Traditional Marriage, Stop Promoting Homosexuality Now, etc.) had a letter
to editor in the SB.  She called for a "yes" vote on ConCon so that the
will of the people can be enacted into the Constitution---making gays and
lesbians permanent second-class citizens.

	Carol has great historical precedent.  Hitler began in just this
way to put a special fence around Jews; they weren't real people and had
to be classified separately.

	In our own history, black Americans were counted as 3/5 of a person
for the census (until after the Civil War?).  The 3/5 was a compromise
between Northerners (who didn't want to count slaves at all) and Southern
slave owners (who wanted to count them, and obtain the corresponding seats
in Congress, but of course only whites could vote to fill those seats).

	These two Gabbards fit a long historical tradition:  separation,
"special" treatment, and hate.

	Voting against ConCon is just plain a vote for preserving your own
status as a full-fledged citizen of the Republic.

	The Gabbards aren't unique in our own time.  Ask any Korean who
has ancestors who came to Japan three generations ago.  Still not "there"!

	In Indonesia, social security cards begin with a 1 if you are male,
2 if you are female, and 3 if you are Chinese.  When Sukarno was overthrown
in the late 60's, somewhere between 1 million and 3 million Chinese were
murdered in Indonesia.

	The League of Women Voters does incredibly careful, deliberate,
thoughtful, SLOW research on issues.  And they have come out against ConCon.
They estimate that it will cost $10,000,000 which the state can't afford
right now.  And a ConCon is premature for the evolving Hawaiian sovereignty
movement.  With over 40 groups in the sovereignty movement, and almost no
discussion of basic things like social security payments for elderly and
disabled Hawaiians, there is some distance to go before the movement can
coalesce on its own terms for what sovereignty will be.

	Dan Foley, attorney for h.e.r.m.p, believes that a "yes" vote on
ConCon will delay calling the sovereignty convention together.  Since the
state can't afford both of them, but a ConCon "yes" vote mandates a general
convention (not just of Hawaiians, and on any topic), a "yes" vote on ConCon
will preclude any convention of Hawaiians on sovereignty.

	In the present enflamed climate, with emotional issues such as same
gender marriage stirring up the religious extremists, many observers feel
that a ConCon now will create a new path for turning back progress on many
fronts:  the right to collective bargaining, civil rights, environmental
protection, native Hawaiian rights, .....  anything that might stand in the
way of turning Hawaii into a Disney-land-like theme park.

						Aloha!

						Tom Ramsey