Here’s another bit of Hawaii political/cultural history, found among my old files.
“In March of 1971 over a score of community, peace, student, military, low-income and other groups and individuals formed the Hawaii People’s Coalition for Peace and Justice–reflecting the joining of concerns for an end to the war, racism, exploitation, repression and poverty, and for a society based on human equality and respect for the earth.”
[Source: June 12, 1971 leaflet describing the coalition. Photo: Professor Walter Johnson at the beginning of a coalition-sponsored peace march from Ala Moana Park to city hall, April 1971. Photo by Ian Lind.]
Coalition Newsletters (1971-72):
You can download all the newsletters in one huge (39MB) file, or get the same newsletters in more manageable bites, with the individual files listed below.
Background on the HPCPJ, June 12, 1971
April 26, 1971 List of events includes a demonstration at the Miss Hawaii contest, an open meeting of the Honolulu Media Council, and a party for Del and Carol Rayson.
May 7, 1971 List of projects includes a new GI coffeehouse, picketing at Schofield, supporting residents of Kalama Valley, being evicted to make way for new development.
May 21, 1971News of GI protestors, Kalama Valley trials scheduled, organizing for Bastille Day (Free All Prisoners!)
June 3, 1971Two GIs face court martial for opposing war.
June 10, 1971Demanding reconsideration of the denial of discharge requests by two Schofield soldiers, DH Crater Festival, Action Calendar.
June 11, 1971An open letter from Micronesian students.
June 17, 1971Support urged for Sen. Mike Gravel’s announced filibuster against the war and the draft, reports on other projects
June 24, 1971Motion to protest Takabuki appointment as Bishop Estate trustee, research on local war contractors, Hiroshima memorial march planned, Kokua Hawaii concert planned, Hawaii Performing Artists for Peace & Justice.
July 1, 1971Public Hearing on Kalama Valley rezoning, Liberated Barracks meets at Waikiki Ministry, Hawaii Labor Committee for Peace, etc.
July 8, 1971Party disrupts local draft board. “Birthday cake was served, balloons were taped onto filing cabinets and a general spirit of joy pervaded. The atmosphere changed to humor and disbelief when two young women were busted in their game of hopscotch on the sidewalk in front of the building.”
July 15, 1971Two Coast Guard members took sanctuary in Our Lady of Peace Cathedral to protest complicity of Catholic Church and the Coast Guard in the Vietnam War.
July 22, 1971“Through the efforts of Meda and Ian Lind and the cooperation of the ACLU, Kahala Mall agreed to give space and time for an HPCPJ information table.” Much more discussed.
July 29, 1971Action Calendar details around the island protest march, Micronesian student arrested, development issues.
HPCPJ advertisement, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, August 1971
Hiroshima march around the island, July 31-August 6, 1971
August 12, 1971Report on the Hiroshima Memorial March. “The highlight of the seven day journey was on Thursday night when more than 15 members of the Kahaluu Youth Center (who had given us a hearty reception on Monday night in their own town) joined us to march in to Honolulu from Waipahu together on Friday. They led the way proudly carrying two large Hawaiian flags on long bamboo poles.”
Sept. 17, 1971Mistrial in case of protest at local offices of Honeywell Corp, then a manufacturer of anti-personnel bomblets.
Sept. 29, 1971Special action bulletin lists events.
Oct. 8, 1971“Santuary Declared” by four crew members of USS Cochrane to protest Amchitka nuclear test.
Oct. 11, 1971Harbor Project II protests stop in Hawaii by USS Constellation.
Oct. 31, 1971Coalition party announcement.
Dec. 24, 1971Christmas Eve at Schofield’s jungle training center, with script of catholic Action worship service.
Jan. 7, 1972 Report on Christmas Eve at Schofield.
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It’s Christmas time again. I plan to share with someone whose trial date I see mentioned. I’d only heard the stories; here it is in black and white (on blue). Thanks for sharing.
It all seems so innocent and far away.
Thank you, Ian. I was there. I see many familiar faces, but most of the names elude me. But here are a few: Florence and Bob Griffith, Rose Brennan, and Marty S.
Michael
And I see you mentioned as contact for the crater festival!
The Crater Festival! That would have been the time that the Peoples’ Coalition undertook to organize a fundraiser at the Crater Festival. The idea was to assemble Pizza at Mama Mia’s, transport them to PCFPJ’s stand in Diamond Head crater, and then to bake them there, so that we could sell slices of hot, freshly baked pizza at that remote location. I was appointed to be in charge of that initiative.
Your father made a huge pizza oven available to us, thanks to your networking. I met your father when we picked up the oven at his business place on South Beretania! We transported the oven to the crater, hooked it up to a large propane cylinder, and soon had a working pizza oven. (I recall picking up the propane cylinder at the gas company and transporting it to the crater, strapped into my little Triumph TR3 two-seater sports car.)
We did make some good money, but there was one serious flaw to our plan: because there was such a crush of people entering the crater during the festival, the truck transporting the pizza from Mama Mia’s experienced huge delays, therefore we had only a limited number of pizza to bake and sell. If we had had more pizza, we would have made a huge amount of money. A lot of credit is due the two brothers who operated Mama Mia’s and who came up with the idea of selling pizza in the crater.
This is an incredible, amazing, USEFUL historical resource. I am a PhD student working on the Amchitka tests, and to find these photos of the USN protesters is just incredible. Wow.
Actually, these protesters were from the U.S. Coast Guard.