Hawaii Passes Islam Day Resolution, Haters Call for Boycott
Travel Blog • Pam Mandel • 05.19.09 | 3:44 PM ET
High on the list of reasons I lost my heart so completely to Hawaii?
The diversity. You’ve got your Pinoys, your Japanese, your mainland surfers, your Native Hawaiians, your Portuguese and Spaniards, the descendants of European shippers and missionaries, a whole mess of “hapa” types who are half one thing, half something else, be it Scottish, Korean, Hawaiian, Jewish ... If you’re looking for a slice of world culture, you’re as likely to find it in Hawaii as anywhere. All those cultures make for a lively and appealing place.
But a few spoilsports are calling for a boycott of travel to the islands because the Hawaii state Legislature recently passed a resolution recognizing “Islam Day.”
From the Honolulu Star Bulletin:
Hawaii already designates April 8 as Buddha Day and March 21 as Baha’i New Year’s Day. Good Friday is even enshrined as an official state holiday, with public offices closed.
So state Rep. Lyla Berg thought that marking Sept. 24 as Islam Day would not be out of line in Hawaii, with its multicultural fabric. But her seemingly innocuous resolution has attracted worldwide attention—and a flurry of phone calls and e-mails, including threats to boycott Hawaii.
Also in the Star, news that Governor Lingle doesn’t support the resolution. “Gov. Linda Lingle told a radio interviewer that her office had received ‘a lot of angry calls from the mainland saying, ‘We’re not coming to a place that’s having an Islam Day.’”
‘Here we are, in a very difficult economy, and it was just unnecessary,’ said Lingle, who had no authority over the resolution. ‘It didn’t make any sense. You know it’s going to get this kind of attention.’”
The goals for the resolution are modest and laudable. From sponsor Lyla Berg: “I was hopeful we would have an opportunity to become more informed on what the religion is about and the people who are connected with it, so that we don’t make the broad generalizations that are happening now.” Based on the call for a boycott, one could conclude that the resolution is already failing—and that the need for a more informed public is still as vital as ever.
In an interesting twist, the ACLU objects to Islam Day—“As Daniel Gluck, Senior Staff Attorney for the ACLU of Hawaii explained, ‘This resolution sends the State down a dangerous path. The Legislature should not be picking and choosing among religions to honor, no matter how well-intentioned the action.’”
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Eva Holland 05.19.09 | 5:26 PM ET
Argh. This is so crazy. It’s one thing to object to ALL these religion-honoring days, but to flip out only over the one? I saw a comment on an LA Times blog claiming that “jihadists” had infiltrated the Hawaiian government to make this happen, and that it was all code for a celebration of 9/11, something to do with the Julian calendar and September 24 being September 11 under that system.
Because “jihadists” use the Orthodox Christian calendar? Right. Sigh. Next, someone is going to manage to tie Obama being a secret Muslim Hawaiian terrorist into all this.
Mark Montgomery 05.19.09 | 11:51 PM ET
There should be no “islam” day because Islam is an existential threat to the west and to Israel and the USA in particular. Keep the muslims out.
Terry Ward 05.20.09 | 8:02 AM ET
wow. just. wow.
Jennifer 05.20.09 | 8:13 AM ET
The proplem here is not so much the particular religion that this day singles out, but rather the slippery slope that we seem headed towards in this country because of ideas like this. As you pointed out, Hawaii (the entrire US really) is a melting pot of diversity so at what point do you draw the line? Should we honor all major religions/ethnic groups with a special day? Gee, there would sure be a lot of them! Next you will see groups wanting their religious holidays observed as official national holidays (this is not such a long shot - just wait). What’s wrong with that you say? Well, if we did that none of us would work anymore!! It may seem unfair to some that all major Christian holidays are observed and not necessarily all others, however, it is a historical fact that this country was founded in Christianity, and it is because of that fact that Christian religions/holidays are the majority and not necessarily because Christianity is better than other religions or more worthy!! Simple as that!!
Grizzly Bear Mom 05.20.09 | 8:58 AM ET
If you are opposed to Islam day you are a hater? Come off your high horse.
If tourists boycott your area because they don’t like your politics that is certainly their right. Just yesterday I blogged that we should only stay at hotels that faciliate recycling. I don’t hate norecyclers.
In the past Easter, Christmas, etc were Holy Days in certain cultures and people went to church instead of work. These became holidays in cultures based on the Judeo Christian culture. I would assume Bhudda’s birthday, Ramadan, etc are celebrated at least a holidays were culturally logical. Where I grew up there were lots of Jews so schools were closed the week before Christian holidays to faciliate Passover and Chunakah. However proclaiming a holiday for no valid reason is a waste of the tax payers/respresntatives salary and time, and an unnecesary governmental intrusion in people’s lives just like using state paid representatives time to declare the ruffled grouse the state bird of Pennsylvania. The government needs to leave us and our money alone, and spending their time producing meaningful results for the public or its our obligation to vote for someone else.
pam 05.20.09 | 11:39 AM ET
For the record, I’m with the ACLU on this—I don’t happen to think there should be a government endorsed “Islam Day” for exactly the reasons they present in the quote I used above. I do, however, think that calling of a boycott of travel to Hawaii is out of line. A well placed message to the Hawaii leg that states that “Islam Day is a waste of taxpayer money”, for example, is a more effective and targeted reaction than a tourism boycott.
Elizabeth Basa 05.20.09 | 3:21 PM ET
Mark M. Your type of thinking threatens the US, as it is in complete contradiction to our values—freedom, which includes freedom of religion. 25% of the planet are Muslim, you can’t label them as all one, judge them as all the same any more than you can say all Christians are the same. Personally, I believe in the golden rule philosophy.
Jennifer: The US was not founded to be a Christian nation like you said. It is so interesting, since even though nearly all if not all of the founding fathers were Christians, they did not set up our country that way on purpose. They easily could have, but did not. It is more American to recognize that we have a separation of religion and state, and no holiday should be given preferential treatment officially.
I agree that it is a slippery slope to give days out for each religious group. Why not instead promote mutual respect and understanding by hosting multi-cultural events, include it in school curriculums, and so forth.
Ahmed Issawi 05.20.09 | 3:50 PM ET
If we are worried about a slippery slope then why hasn’t the ACLU came in protest of Buddah day and Bah’ai day, when it comes to “Islam Day” we see these red flags and people saying well you can’t pick and choose religons to honor. I appreciate these selected days so we can learn about other faiths and understand that there are other faiths and othe cultures in this world
mohamed Shaltot 05.20.09 | 4:24 PM ET
Grizzly Bear Mom, why would declaring an “Islam Day” be a waste of tax dollars? My understanding is that this is just a declaration, not a holiday?!
speakonlythetruth 05.20.09 | 4:58 PM ET
Thank you Elizabeth Basa. Well said!
Generally speaking on a broader topic:
If all people (of the world) have the intellect that Elizabeth displays here, there wouldn’t be such agony in the world, i.e, there won’t be east vs. west, or right-wing vs. liberals, or extremist vs. moderates, Zionist vs. orthodox, Israel vs. Palestine, the oppressor vs. the oppressed, etc etc. If everyone would learn to tolerate each other’s beliefs and show mutual respect to each other, there won’t be such disasters in the world.
Remember “they” don’t hate us for our freedom, “they” just want the freedom that we have.