HAWAII’S 60TH ANNIVERSARY: On this day in 1959, President Dwight David Eisenhower signed the bill making Hawaii our 50th State (effective August 21). At the time, Hawaii’s exemplary record on matters of race and racial integration was considered to be part of the reason for bringing it into the Union.
That was then and this is now. In this Era of Identity Politics, the focus has been on creating a semi-sovereign tribal status for Hawaii’s “Native Hawaiian” population in order to preserve various affirmative action-style benefits. If such a proposal were to pass and all those claiming descent from pre-Western contact Hawaiians were to join, it would be by far the largest tribe in America. Read about those efforts and why such a status would be contrary to law here.