Statehood Hawai’i reviews The Value of Hawai’i

Arnie Saiki of the Statehood Hawai’i blog has written a review of the new book The Value of Hawai’i.  The book is a collection of articles by scholars on various aspects of life in Hawai’i, including the military.  Saiki writes:

Tom Coffman opens this dialogue by addressing the value of statehood.  In this chapter, the image that Coffman describes as representing 50 years of statehood is of an injured Kekuni Blaisdell participating in the 50th anniversary statehood protest. Coffman remarks how over 50 years ago, Dr. Blaisdell was interviewed by Lawrence Fuchs for his book Hawaii Pono.  Coffman writes that when he discussed this interview with Kekuni, he remarked, “at the time of the interview I was still brainwashed by American propaganda.” Like bookends to the 50 years of statehood, Kekuni’s injuries were emblematic of the social, economic and political wounds statehood continues to inflict upon the people.

This metaphor is particularly resonant for me in that I was put in charge of caring for Kekuni while inside the Convention Center where the celebration was taking place. While there, I personally witnessed streams of Hawai’i’s professional elites come by and offer him acknowledgment and support.

Saiki then compares the discourse of the book with tbat of Hollywood’s narrative as embodied in the remake of Hawaii Five-O.

The title “The Value of Hawai’i” is charged with the unspoken questions: “to whom?” and “for what?”