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Only half of ethnic Hawaiians signed petition against annexation
January 18, 2013 | 06:47 AM

The article says "The petitions collected 40,000 signatures of Hawaiians opposed to the Annexation." But that's false.

Here’s the truth: The 1897 petition opposing annexation had 21,269 signatures. But there were about 39,542 Hawaiians then. Even if all signatures were those of Hawaiians, that’s only 54 percent who signed it, despite strong pressure. But non-Hawaiians signed it too. Hawaii had 120,265 people. Thus, only 18% signed. Only adult men could vote, so there’s no relationship between petition signatures and eligible voters.

Some Hawaiians today are proud to find ancestors who signed the petition. But they should also be proud of ancestors who refused to sign it. On average, half of all your ethnic Hawaiian ancestors refused to sign it. Look them all up! The petition with all 21,269 is on the internet, so you can easily look for each and every one of your ancestors who lived in Hawaii at that time to see whether their signatures are on the petition.

Ken Conklin
Kaneohe