The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1897-10-15
HAWAIIAN JURIES.

The royalist clique puts forward
the fear of the color line as being
apt to be drawn when annexation
comes, and forgets altogether that
not only has the color line been
drawn sharply on these Islands, but
that it is drawn even now. The
men who use the color line as an
argument against annexation do
not see that it can be used as an
argument for annexation, and that
with annexation every vestige of
the color line will be swept away.
Why should white man, when
he commits crime, be tried before
jury of white men, and no Hawaii
an be permitted to sit upon his case :?
This is rawing color line with
vengeance, and it is one of the lega
cies we have from the monarchy.
This draws distinction between
the white skin and the dark in a
most vital condition OF life. 1t
practically says to the Hawaiian
you are capable of judging any
crime committed among your own
people, but you are not capable of
judging crime committed by
foreigner. The foreigner is race
apart and must have his case con-
sidered by his own people. Such
distinction practically says that the
white man is superior to the
Hawaiian, that the two are not in
any sense on an equality, and that
the white foreigner has no conf
dence in the Hawaiian to accurately
judge of faults he may commit
With annexation this invidious
distinction, founded upon the idea
Of the inferiority of the Hawaiian
race, will be swept away along with
many old cobwebs that cling around
the state from the days of royalty
The Hawaiian will become a free
citizen of the Republic, with the
same rights and privileges as the
most able and the most honored in
the land. He will have the same
vote that the Senators or the Judges
or the millionaires have. and he will
have the right to sit on any jury in
any case. He will not be told upon
Hawaiian cases you are incapable
of giving judgment, and no mat
ter how well educated you may be,
no matter what position of wealth
you may have in the state, no matter,
how refined you may be, you are,
by your color, not permitted to
judge case OF assault or of larceny
or whatever it may be, that has
been committed by white man.
No such injustice can occur in the
United States and this invidious
distinction under the law will dis
appear very shortly after the Stars
and Stripes float over the Govern
ment Buildings. The fact is that
under the monarchy the color line
was sharply drawn, and that it is
the democratic ideas of the last
twenty-five years that have in a
great measure erased the distinction.
This was not to be wondered at, the
chief looked down upon the common
people, and chief taught the white
man to do likewise, it required the
ideas of the Republican to overcome
the naturally aristocratic views of
the chief. This appeared in many
ways, and as the lower classes of
Hawaiians became educated, and as
the Part Hawaiian to realize his
position, resentment was felt against
such color line laws. The royalists
have lately played upon this feel
ing striving to show that what is
resented comes from the influence
of the foreigner, oblivious of the
fact that it sprang from the chiefs,
and arguing that under the domi-
ance of the United States the line
would be more sharply drawn. But
the line will disappear, the United
States assures the Hawaiian, as it
assures to all who seek a home
under Its jurisdiction, political free
dom, judicial freedom, and reli-
gious freedom, the three essentials
which sum up the happiness of
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