2013 Commemorative Book

Dr. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. COALITION-HAWAI’I

Hawaii Celebrates 25th annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday

Holiday Souvenir Booklet January 21, 2013

http://mlk-hawaii.com

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Coalition – Hawai`i 2013 Officers: Patricia Anthony ...... President Lee Gordon ...... Vice President Juliet Begley ...... Secretary William Rushing ...... Treasure

Co-Sponsor: City & County of Honolulu

Event Chairs: Candlelight Bell Ringing Ceremony: Marsha Joyner & Rev. Charlene Zuill Parade Chairs: William Rushing & Pat Anthony Unity Rally: Jewell McDonald Vendors: Juliet Begley Webmaster: Lee Gordon

Coalition Support Groups: African American Association Hawaii Government Employees Association Hawaii National Guard Hawaii State AFL-CIO Hawaiian National Communications Corporation Headquarters US Pacific Command ‘Olelo: The Corporation for Community Television Kappa Alpha Phi Fraternity State of Hawai`i United Nations Association of Hawaii – Hawaii Division United States Military University of Hawaii Professional Assembly

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Coalition – Hawai`i 2013

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Holiday Calendar ...... 4

Nagasaki Peace Bell ...... 5 Bell Ringing Ceremony

January 1, 1863 ...... 7

One Hundred Years of Struggle ...... 8

March on Washington ...... 10

Equality Hawaii ...... 14

To Dream the Impossible Dream ...... 15

Grand Marshal ...... 19

Importance of the Holiday ...... 21

Senator Daniel K. Inouye ...... 23

Mahalo...... 24

The 25th Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Calendar

Friday January 18, 2013- Noon The Queen & Dr. King Concert with The Royal Hawaiian Band I’olani Palace Grounds

Sunday, January 20, 2013 Annual Bell Ringing Ceremony 5:30 p.m. Nagasaki Peace Bell Honolulu Hale Civic Grounds Lauhala & Beretania Streets

Monday, January 21, 2013 The Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Parade and Unity Rally The parade begins 9am at Magic Island and ends at Kapiolani Park – the Unity Rally follows.

NAGASAKI PEACE BELL – HONOLULU

The Annual Bell Ringing Ceremony Sunday January 20, 2013 – 5:30 pm Please join us!

"We are deeply moved and very much gratified that the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Holiday Coalition has chosen to hold its annual bell-ringing ceremonies at the

Nagasaki Peace Bell to honor the birthday of the American Nobel Peace prize

awardee." said Katsuichi Fukahori, leader of the Nagasaki Bell Presentation

Committee delegation and an atomic-bomb survivor.

The Nagasaki Peace Bell is a gift to the people of the City and County of Honolulu from the survivors of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki and their supporters. Recognizing that true steps to peace must begin with acknowledgment of harmful actions in the past, the survivors in Nagasaki wished to make a gesture of reconciliation to the people of the city of Honolulu, which sustained a military attack by their country on December 7, 1941.

Working through the organizing efforts of the Congress Against Atomic- and Hydrogen-Bomb Committee of

Nagasaki and the Nagasaki Prefecture Hibakusha Membership Association, these victims began a lengthy process of raising funds and negotiating with the mayor and the city council-of Honolulu for acceptance and placement of the peace bell monument at a location acceptable and appropriate for the general public.

Through mutual efforts the groups in both cities saw the success of the project in the dedication ceremony which took place on December 7, 1990 on the grounds near the city hall, Honolulu Hale, when the peace bell was rung for the first time to the great satisfaction of the delegation of sixty or more of the Nagasaki

Hibakusha in attendance.

Since that date the bell has been sounded on August 9 of the year and on the day observing the birthday of the American peacemaker and promoter of non-violence, Martin Luther King, Jr. Additionally, it has become the site of observances of important occasions in the continuing struggle to end the production and use of

5 nuclear weapons.

There are two other peace bell monuments of the same design, which were given to the city of Leningrad

(now once more St. Petersburg), Russia and to a city in Manchuria, which felt the brunt of the Japanese military action. In 1996 the Nagasaki Hibakusha reaffirmed their commitment to the spirit of the bells by sending each of the three cities a gift of $10,000 for the maintenance of the monuments.

At the base of the monument a plaque is inscribed with the following message:

Nagasaki, the city devastated by the bitter tragedy of a nuclear bomb, dedicates this Nagasaki bell as a symbol of the rebirth of Nagasaki and the desire of its citizens for peace in the future through sincere reconciliation and reflection on the folly of war.

TWICE A YEAR EVERY YEAR SINCE DECEMBER 7, 1991 we have had a Bell Ringing Ceremony to commemorate the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday and the August 9th commemoration of the Bombing of Nagasaki

The Rev. Dr. Walter Brownridge Dean of the Cathedral of St. Andrew will be the honored guest at the Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Bell Ring Ceremony

The Rev. Dr. Walter Brownridge Dean of the Cathedral of St. Andrew, Honolulu Fr. Brownridge served the Episcopal Church and broader Anglican Communion in a variety of ministry settings. He has served congregations in Ohio, Delaware, New York City and South Africa. Fr. Brownridge has experience in liturgy, pastoral care, HIV & AIDS ministry and racial reconciliation.

In service at the National level of the Episcopal Church, Fr. Brownridge is a member of the Standing Commission on Constitution and Canons.

The Rev. Dr. Walter Brownridge has been married since 1982 to his wife, Christina Nader- Brownridge. They are the parents of two sons, Alec Thurgood (born in 1990, currently a student at Brown University) and Martin Desmond (born in 1995, currently a student at St. Andrew's - Sewanee School).

150TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION

On December 31, 1862, our Nation marked the end of another year of civil war. At Shiloh and Seven Pines, Harpers Ferry and Antietam, brother had fought against brother. Sister had fought against sister. Blood and bitterness had deepened the divide that separated North from South, eroding the bonds of affection that once united 34 States under a single flag. Slavery still suspended the possibility of an America where life and liberty were the birthright of all, not the province of some.

Yet, even in those dark days, light persisted. Hope endured. As the weariness of an old year gave way to the promise of a new one, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation -- courageously declaring that on January 1, 1863, "all persons held as slaves" in rebellious areas "shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free." He opened the Union Army and Navy to African Americans, giving new strength to liberty's cause. And with that document, President Lincoln lent new moral force to the war by making it a fight not just to preserve, but also to empower. He sought to reunite our people not only in government, but also in freedom that knew no bounds of color or creed. Every battle became a battle for liberty itself. Every struggle became a struggle for equality.

Our 16th President also understood that while each of us is entitled to our individual rights and responsibilities, there are certain things we cannot accomplish on our own. Only a Union could serve the hopes of every citizen, knocking down the barriers to opportunity and giving each of us the chance to pursue our highest aspirations. He knew that in these United States, no dream could ever be beyond our reach when we affirm that individual liberty is served, not negated, by seeking the common good.

It is that spirit that made emancipation possible and codified it in our Constitution. It is that belief in what we can do together that moved millions to march for justice in the years that followed. And today, it is a legacy we choose not only to remember, but also to make our own. Let us begin this new year by renewing our bonds to one another and reinvesting in the work that lies ahead, confident that we can keep driving freedom's progress in our time.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim January 1, 2013, as the 150th Anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. I call upon all Americans to observe this day with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities that celebrate the Emancipation Proclamation and reaffirm the timeless principles it upheld.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this thirty-first day of December, in the year of our Lord two thousand twelve, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty- seventh.

January 1, 1863 The 150th Commemoration of The Emancipation Proclamation

In 2013 the country will commemorate two events that changed the course of the nation — the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation and the 1963 March on Washington. Standing as milestone moments in the grand sweep of American history, these achievements were the culmination of decades of struggles by individuals — both famous and unknown — who believed in the American promise that this nation was dedicated to the proposition that "all men are created equal." Separated by 100 years, they are linked together in a larger story of freedom and the American experience.

50th Anniversary of March on Washington 1963

One Hundred Fifty Years of Struggle 1863-2013 “We have to stay in movement mode."

Ben Jealous is a serious organizer with a long list of accomplishments, and a longer list of things to get done, as the president and CEO of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People., he notes, 2013:  is a year of significant anniversaries, among them  the 150th anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation,  the 50th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington, as well as  the 50th anniversaries of the assassination of Medgar Evers and  The Birmingham, Ala., church bombing that killed four young African- American girls.  Assassination of President Kennedy 11-22-1963  President Obama’s 2013 Inauguration will occur on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.  Jealous told said on election night, as Mitt Romney was about to give his concession speech, “We have to stay in movement mode."

One Hundred Fifty Years of Struggle 1863-2013

Supreme Court Judge President Kennedy 1963 Thurgood Marshall 1963

President Lincoln 1863

Rev. Jesse Jackson 1983 Medgar Evers -1963

NAACP President Roy Wilkins 1963

Martin Luther King, Jr. 1963 President Obama -2013 11

March on Washington

August 28, 2013 will be the 50th commemoration of the March on Washington.

The Library of Congress identifies the men in the forefront of this photograph as Joseph L. Rauh, Jr., Washington lawyer and civil rights activist; Whitney M. Young, Jr., executive director of the National Urban League (NUL); Roy Wilkins of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP); A. Philip Randolph, founder and head of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters; and Walter Reuther, president of the United Automobile Workers Union of America (UAW).

First, let me say, you must look at the organization done by the unions. Namely A. Phillip Randolph and the Brotherhood of Pullman Porters, James Farmer, "CORE", John Lewis, SNCC, Roy Wilkins, NAACP, Whitney Young, National Urban League. Which I am sure you will do. That is where it starts.

Next: The reason for the march, the premise on which it was built was of course was the 100th commemoration of the Emancipation Proclamation. Which, Dr. King and all of the other speakers refer to. If you will read Dr. King's speech, it begins “Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to

12 end the long night of captivity. But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free.

“One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land.” So we have come here today to dramatize an appalling condition. . ." He continues "It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment . . ."

This is exactly what the western media has done. They zeroed in on four words of an 18 minute speech "I have a dream" which everyone in the word knows and turned our warrior into a dreamer. Now Dr. King has become a myth.

And what about all of the other people who were speakers that day? Dr. King was the 16th speaker of the day. Have all of the others faded into the backroads of Americana? Do we ever mention the foundation of the march, Rev. Walter Fauntroy, coordinator, Joseph Beavers, E Charles Brown, Julius Hobson, Edward A. Hailes, Sterling Tucker. Where did they go?

Do I sound upset? I am! As Past President of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. - Coalition- Hawai`i, I speak to audiences at every level, radio, television, legislators, teachers, children of every age, education, racial background and ethnic mix, all of which know "I have a dream" and nothing else. No one ever asks me if the “check, which came back marked insufficient funds” has been paid? No one ever asks me if we are still on that lonely Island? Or what does it mean to be the veteran of creative suffering? Absolutely not one person; not one person, has ever asked me about the "Demands of the March on Washington" as read by Byard Rustin and presented to President Kennedy; or "The Pledge" as read by A. Phillip Randolph and everyone in attendance vowed to live by. Does anyone still have a copy of the pledge? No, they are lost in "I have a dream".

Aloha pumehana Marsha Joyner

Sam Cooke

A Change Is Gonna Come

“Many artists are called ‘legends,’ but Sam Cooke truly earned this title” –

Josh Tyrangiel/ Alan Light, Time Magazine

A major incident came on October 8, 1963, when Cooke and his band tried to register at a "whites only" motel in Shreveport, Louisiana and were summarily arrested for disturbing the peace. The incident was represented in the weary tone and lyrics of the piece, especially the final verse: There have been times that I thought I couldn't last for long/but now I think I'm able to carry on/It's been a long time coming, but I know a change is gonna come.

Though only a moderate success sales-wise, "A Change Is Gonna Come" became an anthem for the American Civil Rights Movement, and is widely considered Cooke's best composition. Over the years, the song has garnered significant praise and, in 2005, was voted number 12 by representatives of the music industry and press in Rolling Stone magazine's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, and voted number 3 in the webzine Pitchfork Media's The 200 Greatest Songs of the 60s. The song is also among three hundred songs deemed the most important ever recorded by National Public Radio (NPR) and was recently selected by the Library of Congress as one of twenty-five selected recordings to the National Recording Registry as of March 2007. The song is currently ranked as the 95th greatest song of all time, as well as the seventh best song of 1965, by Acclaimed Music.

Equally Speaking is Equality Hawaii Foundation's weekly talk story television show co- produced with Olelo Community Media dedicated to the people, places and things affecting Hawaii's LGBT community and their families.

Guests on the show have included LGBTQ activists and allies as well as leaders in social justice, faith, business and culture, locally and nationally.

Juliet Begley & Marsha Joyner talked with host Josh Fost about the importance of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Byard Rustin in the Civil Rights Movement.

Master strategist Bayard Rustin was Martin Luther King Jr.’s organizer for the 1963 March on Washington. He introduced Martin Luther King, Jr. to the Gandhi theory of Non-violence, but because he was gay, he has been hidden from history.

Despite these achievements, Rustin was silenced, threatened, arrested, beaten, imprisoned, and ﬁred from important leadership positions, largely because he was an openly gay man in a ﬁercely homophobic era.

Bayard Rustin (March 17, 1912 – August 24, 1987) * Civil Rights and Activism Leader * Practiced Nonviolence (Member of Fellowship for Reconciliation) * Organized the 1963 March on Washington (the LARGEST nonviolent protest in the United States) * Strategist and Adviser to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. * Worked to strengthen labor unions and promote equal working environments * Rustin was arrested more times for being homosexual than for participating in civil rights protests as a man of color (in the 1960s, homosexuality was still criminalized

Equally Speaking airs on Olelo 54 on Oahu every Sunday at 7 p.m. and every Monday at 4 p.m. The show also airs on Kauai's Ho Ike 54, Maui's Akaku 52 and Hawaii Island's Na Leo 54. Check local listings for details.

To dream the impossible dream

To fight the unbeatable foe To bear with unbearable sorrow To run where the brave dare not go

To right the unrightable wrong To love pure and chaste from afar To try when your arms are too weary To reach the unreachable star

This is my quest To follow that star No matter how hopeless No matter how far

To fight for the right Without question or pause

To be willing to march into Hell For a heavenly cause

And I know if I'll only be true To this glorious quest That my heart will lie peaceful and calm When I'm laid to my rest

And the world will be better for this That one woman, scorned and covered with scars Still strove with his last ounce of courage To reach the unreachable star

Do you know these women?

1. Born in New York circa 1797, Sojourner Truth was the self-given name, from 1843 onward, of Isabella Baumfree, an African-American abolitionist and women's rights activist. Truth was born into slavery in Swartekill, New York, but escaped with her infant daughter to freedom in 1826. Her best-known speech on racial inequalities, "Ain't I a Woman?", was delivered extemporaneously in 1851 at the Ohio Women's Rights Convention.. http://www.biography.com/people/sojourner-truth-9511284

2. Harriet Tubman is perhaps the most well-known of all the Underground Railroad's "conductors." During a ten- year span she made 19 trips into the South and escorted over 300 slaves to freedom. And, as she once proudly pointed out to Frederick Douglass, in all of her journeys she "never lost a single passenger."

Tubman was born a slave in Maryland's Dorchester County around 1820. At age five or six, she began to work as a house servant. Seven years later she was sent to work in the fields. While she was still in her early teens, she suffered an injury that would follow her for the rest of her life. Always ready to stand up for someone else, Tubman blocked a doorway to protect another field hand from an angry overseer. The overseer picked up and threw a two-pound weight at the field hand. It fell short, striking Tubman on the head. She never fully recovered from the blow, which subjected her to spells in which she would fall into a deep sleep. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p1535.html

3. Phillis Wheatley (May 8, 1753 – December 5, 1784) was the first African-American poet and first African-American woman to publish a book.[1] Born in Senegambia, she was sold into slavery at the age of 7 or 8 and transported to North America. She was purchased by the Wheatley family of Boston, who taught her to read and write, and encouraged her poetry when they saw her talent.

The publication of her Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral (1773) brought her fame, both in England, and the Thirteen Colonies; figures such as George Washington praised her work. During Wheatley's visit to England with her master's son, the African-American poet Jupiter Hammon praised her work in his own poem. Wheatley was emancipated after the death of her master John Wheatley.[2] She married soon after; she and her husband lost two children as infants. After her husband was imprisoned for debt in 1784, Wheatley fell into poverty and died of illness, quickly followed by the death of her surviving infant son.

4. Ida Bell Wells-Barnett (July 16, 1862 – March 25, 1931) was an African-American journalist, newspaper editor and, with her husband, newspaper owner Ferdinand L. Barnett, an early leader in the civil rights movement. She documented lynching in the United States, showing how it was often a way to control or punish blacks who competed with whites. She was active in the women's rights and the women's suffrage movement, establishing several notable women's organizations. Wells was a skilled and persuasive rhetorician, and traveled internationally on lecture tours.

5. Marian Anderson (February 27, 1897 – April 8, 1993)[1] was an African-American contralto and one of the most celebrated singers of the twentieth century. Music critic Alan Blyth said "Her voice was a rich, vibrant contralto of intrinsic beauty."[2] Most of her singing career was spent performing in concert and recital in major music venues and with famous orchestras throughout the United States and Europe between 1925 and 1965. Although offered roles with many important European opera companies, Anderson declined, as she had no training in acting. She preferred to perform in concert and recital only. She did, however, perform opera arias within her concerts and recitals. She made many recordings that reflected her broad performance repertoire of everything from concert literature to lieder to opera to traditional American songs and spirituals.[2]

6. Fannie Lou Hamer (born Fannie Lou Townsend; October 6, 1917 – March 14, 1977) was an American voting rights activist and civil rights leader. She was instrumental in organizing Mississippi Freedom Summer for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and later became the Vice- Chair of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, attending the 1964 Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey, in that capacity. Her plain-spoken manner and fervent belief in the Biblical righteousness of her cause gained her a reputation as an electrifying speaker and constant activist of civil rights.

"We didn't come all the way up here to compromise for no more than we’d gotten here. We didn't come all this way for no two seats when all of us is tired” Fannie Lou Hamer http://www.amazon.com/This-Little-Light-Mine-Twentieth/dp/0813191823

7. The Four Little Girls in the Church Bombing in Birmingham

http://youtu.be/OzA7AifBTpQ

The Sept. 15, 1963, bombing at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, was one of the most abhorrent crimes of the civil rights movement. Four young girls attending Sunday school—Denise McNair, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Addie Mae Collins, aged 11 to 14—were killed when a bomb exploded at the church. Twenty others were injured. The church was a center for civil rights meetings, and just a few days earlier, courts had ordered the desegregation of Birmingham's schools.

Read more: Birmingham Church Bombing - Civil Rights Cases — Infoplease.com http://www.infoplease.com/spot/bhmjustice3.html#ixzz2GIBODVpK

Bobby Frank Cherry, a demolitions expert, and three other white supremacists—Robert Chambliss, Thomas Blanton, and Herman Cash—were under investigation within days of the bombing. But two years later, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover declined to pursue the case, saying the chances for conviction were "remote." In 1968, federal authorities shut down the investigation.

In the 1970s, after a U.S. Justice Department investigation revealed that former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover had blocked evidence, Jefferson County, Ala., prosecutors reopened the case. More than a decade-and-a-half after the crime, the ringleader, Robert Chambliss, was convicted of one count of murder in the death of Carol McNair in 1977. He died in prison in 1985 without ever publicly admitting a role in the bombing. By this time, it was too late to try suspect Herman Cash, who had died in 1994.

The remaining two suspects in the case, Thomas Blanton and Bobby Frank Cherry, were finally indicted in 2000—more than two decades after Chambliss's conviction—when an FBI agent in Birmingham obtained more than 9,000 FBI documents and surveillance tapes that had been kept from the original prosecutors. Blanton was convicted of murder in 2001 and sentenced to life in prison. In Cherry's trial, several of his relatives came forward to testify against him. Cherry had bragged to a number of them over the years about the bombing. In 2002, he was convicted of four counts of murder and sentenced to life in prison, where he died in 2004. One of the prosecutors in the case, Robert Posey, said Cherry "has worn this crime like a badge of honor."

Read more: Birmingham Church Bombing - Civil Rights Cases — Infoplease.com http://www.infoplease.com/spot/bhmjustice3.html#ixzz2GIBl2mHy

On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, a 42-year-old African American woman who worked as a seamstress, boarded this Montgomery City bus to go home from work. On this bus on that day, Rosa Parks initiated a new era in the American quest for freedom and equality. She sat near the middle of the bus, just behind the 10 seats reserved for whites. Soon all of the seats in the bus were filled. When a white man entered the bus, the driver (following the standard practice of segregation) insisted that all four blacks sitting just behind the white section give up their seats so that the man could sit there. Mrs. Parks, who was an active member of the local NAACP, quietly refused to give up her seat.

Her action was spontaneous and not pre-meditated, although her previous civil rights involvement and strong sense of justice were obvious influences. "When I made that decision," she said later, “I knew that I had the strength of my ancestors with me.” She was arrested and convicted of violating the laws of segregation, known as “Jim Crow laws.” Mrs. Parks appealed her conviction and thus formally challenged the legality of segregation. http://www.thehenryford.org/exhibits/rosaparks/story.asp 21

Grand Marshal 25th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Parade

From Dorie Miller TO: Rear Admiral Fernandez L. "Frank" Ponds, Commander, Navy Region Hawaii Commander, Naval Surface Group Middle Pacific, a native of Alabama; the U.S. Navy has come a long way.

World War II Messman Attendant Second Class Doris Miller’s acts of valor at Pearl Harbor on the opening day of the War made him a hero of epic proportions. Miller, knowing of the racial limitations, joined the Navy on September 16, 1939, saying "it beats sitting around Waco working as a bus boy, going nowhere."

When Dorie Miller served in World War II minority sailors, non-white sailors were stripped of their dignity, their "somebodyness". Regardless of their education they were expected to be messmen, stewards and cabin boys, not trained for combat. They did not even wear the traditional anchor on their uniforms. Secretary of the Navy (Colonel) Frank Knox, (former publisher of the Chicago Daily News and the 1936 G.O.P. vice-presidential nominee) wrote "the policy of not enlisting men of the colored races for any branch of the naval service but the messmen branch was adopted to meet the best interests of general ship efficiency."

Today, there are 78,000 enlisted African-American men and women and an additional 3,000 African- American officers serving in the Navy. Presently, there are 17 active duty Admirals including one African-American woman Vice Admiral Michelle Howard.

Admiral Ponds, the Grand Marshal of the 25th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Parade commands one of the largest orginizations in the U.S. Navy.

Rear Admiral Ponds earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Alabama in 1982 and received his commission from Officer Candidate School in June 1983.

Ponds commanded Amphibious Squadron Eight from November 2007 to May 2009 as Kearsarge Expeditionary Strike Group commander operating in four numbered Fleet Areas of Operation in support of Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom, Counter Piracy Operations, and Operation Sea Angel II (Bangladesh Humanitarian Assistance/Disaster Relief). He also served as Mission Commander for Operation Continuing Promise (2008) and Haiti HA/DR Operation 2008.

Ponds commanded USS Fife (DD 991) from October 2001 to February 2003. Additional sea billets include: damage control assistant and assistant first lieutenant in USS Mauna Kea (AE 22); boilers material officer in USS Midway (CV 41); engineering officer in USS Berkeley (DDG 15); flag secretary for Commander Amphibious Group One (CTF 76); and executive officer, USS Paul F. Foster (DD 964).

His shore assignments include inspector for Pacific Fleet’s Propulsion Examination Board; inspector in the Office of the Navy Inspector General; Assessment Division/Capability Analysis Group team lead for Deputy Chief of Naval Operations (N81/N00X), Resources, Requirements and Assessment; senior naval advisor in the Bureau of Political Military Affairs, Department of State, senior fellow on the 2010 Chief of Naval Operations Strategic Studies Group and OPNAV N3N5.

Admiral Ponds holds a Master of Science degree in Information Systems Technology from George Washington University, a Master of Science degree in Military Studies from the Marine Corps Command and Staff College, and a Master of Science degree in National Security Strategy from the National War College, National Defense University.

The military history of African Americans spans from the arrival of the first black slaves during the colonial history of the United States to the present day. There has been no war fought by or within the United States in which African Americans did not participate, including the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Mexican-American War, the Civil War, the Spanish American War, the World Wars, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as other minor conflicts.

In 1944, the Golden Thirteen became the Navy's first African American commissioned officers. Samuel L. Gravely, Jr. became a commissioned officer the same year; he would later be the first African American to command a US warship, and the first to be an admiral.

The integration commanded by Truman's 1948 Executive Order extended to schools and neighborhoods as well as military units. Fifteen years after the Executive Order, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara issued Department of Defense Directive 5120.36. "Every military commander", the Directive mandates, "has the responsibility to oppose discriminatory practices affecting his men and their dependents and to foster equal opportunity for them, not only in areas under his immediate control, but also in nearby communities where they may gather in off- duty hours." While the directive was issued in 1963, it was not until 1967 that the first non-military establishment was declared off-limits. In 1970 the requirement that commanding officers first obtain permission from the Secretary of Defense was lifted, and areas were allowed to be declared housing areas off limits to military personnel by their commanding officer.

Midshipman Jamie Miles was the first African-American woman, and among the first group of women, to graduate from the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland in 1980.

Lillian Elaine Fishburne (born March 25, 1949) was the first African-American female to hold the rank of Rear Admiral in the United States Navy. She was appointed to the rank of Rear Admiral (Lower Half) by President of the United States Bill Clinton and was officially promoted on February 1, 1998. RDML Fishburne retired from the Navy in February 2001.

IMPORTANCE OF THE HOLIDAY

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is a United States federal holiday marking the birthday of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It is observed on the third Monday of January each year, which is around the time of King's birthday, January 15. The floating holiday is similar to holidays set under the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, though the act predated the establishment of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day by 15 years.

King was the chief spokesman for nonviolent activism in the civil rights movement, which successfully protested racial discrimination in federal and state law. The campaign for a federal holiday in King's honor began soon after his assassination in 1968. Ronald Reagan signed the holiday into law in 1983, and it was first observed on January 20, 1986. At first, some states resisted observing the holiday as such, giving it alternative names or combining it with other holidays. It was officially observed in all 50 states for the first time in 2000.

After King's death, United States Representative John Conyers (a Democrat from Michigan) and (a United States Senator Edward Brooke Republican from Massachusetts) introduced a bill in Congress to make King's birthday a national holiday. The bill first came to a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1979. However, it fell five votes short of the number needed for passage.

Two of the main arguments mentioned by opponents were that a paid holiday for federal employees would be too expensive and that a holiday to honor a private citizen would be contrary to longstanding tradition (King had never held public office)

Only two other persons have national holidays in the United States honoring them: George Washington, the first President of the United States, and Christopher Columbus, whose voyages led to general European awareness of the American continents.

Soon after, the King Center turned to support from the corporate community and the general public. The success of this strategy was cemented when musician Stevie Wonder released the single "Happy Birthday" to popularize the campaign in 1980 and hosted the Rally for Peace Press Conference in 1981. Six million signatures were collected for a petition to Congress to pass the law, termed by a 2006 article in The Nation as "the largest petition in favor of an issue in U.S. history”

At the White House Rose Garden on November 2, 1983, President Ronald Reagan signed a bill, proposed by Representative Katie Hall of Indiana, creating a federal holiday to honor King. It was observed for the first time on January 20, 1986.

The bill established the Martin Luther King, Jr. Federal Holiday Commission to oversee observance of the holiday, and Coretta Scott King, Martin Luther King Jr.'s wife, was made a member of this commission for life by President George H. W. Bush in May 1989.

President Ronald Reagan signs legislation to create a federal holiday honoring Martin Luther King, Jr. in the Rose Garden of the White House on November 2, 1983. (by National Archives)

Coretta Scott King sat in Gov. John Waihee's chair to deliver a speech after the signing of the bill that created a Martin Luther King Jr. state holiday in Hawai'i. ADVERTISER LIBRARY PHOTO | June 7, 1988

Coretta Scott King first came to Honolulu in June 1987 in an effort to establish Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a state holiday.

Hawai'i was then one of seven states that had not declared it a state holiday, following the establishment of the federal holiday in 1983.

Hawai'i, among the last three states to mark the holiday in honor of the fallen hero.

Senator Daniel K. Inouye

Everyone has a Senator Dan story since he has been a public fixture in Hawaii since 1959. I’m no exception. One day in the early 70’s Senator Dan took me by the arm and placed his hand on mine “I’m your blood brother” he said smiling broadly. “Blood brother” I thought. Wandering how “a local Japanese” could be a blood brother. “Well”, he said in that deep baritone voice, “when I was in Italy during the war (WWII) my arm being blown off, I needed blood. The white soldiers refused to give any blood. There were two African- American soldiers who gave me enough blood to save my life. So you see I’m your blood brother.” He told that story several times to many people.

During World War II, the Senator was a member of “The 442 Regimental Combat Team” which, consisted almost entirely of local Japanese- Americans. In April 1945, just before the ending of WWII, Inouye lost an arm in Italy, earning a number of military honors, including the Medal of Honor.

However, in 1996, a study determined that Asian Americans were discriminated against in the awarding of medals during World War II; consequently, 22 men had their medals upgraded to the Medal of Honor. In June, 2000 Senator Inouye was one of the Asian Americans who was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Clinton for WWII service.

Inouye was a champion of civil rights and civil liberties who recognized that his own political successes required him to champion the rights of others. He did so when it mattered most. Inouye was the last sitting senator to have participated in the great debates over segregation he was on the right side of those debates.

The last sitting senator who joined the epic struggles to pass the Civil Rights Act 1964 and the Voting Rights Act, 1965 he led the fight for the Americans with Disabilities Act and was a key sponsor of the constitutional amendment to extend voting rights to 18-to-20-year-olds. Inouye battled for reparations for Japanese- Americans were confined to internment camps.

Inouye was one of the handful of senators who rejected the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act in the 1990s and he emerged as one of the earliest and most determined backers of marriage equality in the Senate, asking: “How can we call ourselves the land of the free, if we do not permit people who love one another to get married?”

As Senator Mazie Hirono said “There are three economic engines in Hawaii. One is Tourism, two is the Military and three is Dan Inouye”. We will miss “Senator Char Su” a little something he called himself.

Aloha Senator MarshaRose 26

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January of 2013 will mark the 25th anniversary of the Dr. Martin Luther King Holiday in Hawaii and the Celebration has grown dramatically through the years. The holiday was officially proclaimed by the state legislature to be “the 3rd Monday of January”. Governor John Waihee proclaimed the first Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Day on January 16, 1989.

The Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Coalition of Hawaii was incorporated in 1995 by a group of dedicated African-American residents of Honolulu. The coalition is a non-profit organization which performs many community service events that carry on Dr. King’s principles of peace for all mankind.

In 1998, Mayor Jeremy Harris and The City & County of Honolulu became the Co-Sponsor of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday. Since then, the Coalition has coordinated the holiday and other community events and has grown larger every year.