Hawaii's war memorials offer a way to learn history and honor the nation's heroes

National Cemetery of the Pacific

In just five days America will commemorate December 7, that date that President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared a "date that will live in infamy," the bombing of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese, the catalyst for America entering World War II.  In Hawaii the war memorials continue to offer a way to learn history and honor the nation's heroes.

A visit to Pearl Harbor is a must for all visitors to Hawaii, but along with that one must visit the National Cemetery of the Pacific and Fort DeRussy to round out a way to experience beauty mixed with honor and the appreciation of America's history during critical times and the sacrifices great men made.

The older folks of Hawaii still talk about what they were doing when Pearl Harbor was hit unexpectedly by Japanese planes carrying bombs that destroyed virtually the entire U.S. fleet at the time. One of these folks is Constance Yeung who carried her baby in her arms, screaming as she saw the sky light up in the distance, as if the mountains had caught fire. She was standing near the edge of the ocean, between Waikiki and the downtown area, waiting for her friend to pick her up to arrange their trip back to California, as they had just traveled to Hawaii so Yeung could show off her new baby. But the friend never came, and Yeung was to spend many months in the islands in the chaos yet to come.

I learned Yeung's story as one learns from passers by over 28 years I lived in Hawaii. The story of Pearl Harbor has those many personal sides, but so do the other historic sites associated with World War II. One of these sites is Fort DeRussy, part of the Waikiki area tourists wander through but often don't understand how significant a place it has become.

This grand expanse of lawn, monuments, flowers and foliage extends from Kalakaua to the edge of the ocean, hotels looming on all sides. The visitor strolls down walkways in the sunshine, almost always present as Waikiki is the sunny part of the islands. But one must linger for those special moments, because here are memorialized those men who made the ultimate sacrifice.

I knew some of those men of the units still living, members of the 442nd and 100th Japanese military units, as a sub-contractor counselor for the Veterans Administration in Hawaii. These were men of Japanese ancestry who volunteered to fight the Japanese. They were often second generation people, some with families placed in internment camps by a nation fearful that the island Japanese were spies. Some were, but many were loyal American citizens. These sons of America with skin the butter color distinguishing them as different, stood up bravely and said, "I will go" to what for them could often mean terrible cruelty and death. For if caught by a member of the Axis powers, that included Germany, Italy and Japan, they would be tortured badly, having turned against one of their own kind during war. They became the most decorated of all military units during World War II.

Bronze plaques now placed near the Kalakaua side of Fort DeRussy speak a few words about these brave men, but words are never enough for men whose deeds were as great as these men did six decades ago. Men are dead or dying, old men, a few still walking among the citizens of Hawaii, modestly never revealing their sacrifices. The visitor thinks of those sacrifices as a walk is taken from the busy Kalakaua down the pathways, winding their way to the beach side hotels, like the Outrigger Reef. One wonders what those survivors among those men memorialized here think too when they walk these winding paths.

The National Cemetery of the Pacific stands like a citadel upon the mountain, Punchbowl and Tantalus there where lovers park and runners climb the hills. It poses on that mountain, majestically surveying everything, like a grandfather looking over a family dutifully. It is here men and women of the Pacific are buried. These people also include those who have sacrificed in war and other ways, like Ellison Onizuka Azuna, one of the astronauts of the Challenger that exploded killing everyone more than 25 years ago.

A visit to Hawaii is not complete for anyone who wants to understand the meaning of what these islands bring to all Americans, mainlander and local alike. The islands are a paradise for sure, but they also represent that far-off place where the history of America was changed and like happened with the bombing of the World Trade Towers will never be the same again. The beauty, history, majesty and memory of Hawaii mingle together at a cemetery high upon a hill, in ships that lay buried by the sea, and the shining walkways of a park that allows one to consider the sacrifices made by those who gave it all.

Numbers of poor increase while no Eleanor Roosevelt or Michael Harrington speaks for them

Eleanor Roosevelt, former First Lady and wife of President Franklin D. Roosevelt

"There are a lot of poor people in Waianae," a journalist commented to a friend, who responded, "They probably like it that way.  They seem to be happy enough." The notion of the poor as choosing their condition has continued as a barrier against improving their situation.  What is the present status and who are the spokespeople for the poor in America?

The 'Other America' of the poor is the tragedy today with no Eleanor Roosevelt of the Depression nor Michael Harrington of the 1960's speaking for them.

Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, took special interest in the plight of the poor.  In fact she was known for the projects she created to enhance the lot of some of the nation's poorest people during the Great Depression of the 1930's.  She became their advocate, to the President and to the country. Hers was the voice that made a difference, as national projects were developed to provide employment and housing for families.

But today, despite the fact many women have arisen to participate in the politics of the United Nations, no one has used his or her Congressional position to speak specifically for the nation's poor.  Nor does Hillary Clinton's voice echo across the land as Eleanor Roosevelt's once did.

While the problems are diverse, and international issues often dominate the discourse in today's world, the fact is that internationally in the 1930's there were conflicts during the Depression, as Fascism and Nazism grew until they became the terrorist threats of the pre-World War II period.  Yet the poor remained Eleanor Roosevelt's concern. Indeed that concern remained with her throughout her public life.  Who takes the place of such a person, who was willing to face ridicule and rejection while putting the needs of poor first rather than political concerns?

In the 1960's, a young man named Michael Harrington spoke for the poor by penning a book entitled The Other America.  The book was mandatory reading for many political science students at the college and universities of the United States.  Michael Harrington said it was time to help the hidden in our midst, the poor, now with us in large numbers again.

The fact that Harrington,  was personally a socialist was not underlined in the offering of his text for information. He was viewed as a man with a conscience who wrote how many poor people were being ignored; and American needed to pay attention.

In 2014 the problems facing the poor seem only to be getting worse, as the middle class in America is shrinking and the gap between rich and poor increases.

America has a major problem of poverty once again, but this time it is not that dirty little secret that Harrington uncovered that politicians and liberal minds maintained was something they had not seen or understood before. That secret of the 1960's, of severe poverty, is now on downtown streets, clearly visible. In the 1960's the poor were described by Harrington as those who worked in the back kitchens, on the roads, in the bathrooms and the elderly who lived with little and needed much. Now the poor sit out in the open on benches, where men who worked regular jobs sit aimlessly, unemployed, waiting to be called for employment they can't seem to find, unless it is that occasional part-time service job that barely sustains a single individual let alone an entire family.

Why aren't people talking more about what can be done about something that's growing and deeply felt by millions of people?

 Just who are poor these days, what might be their future and what can be done to help them are the needed issues that need to be examined by folks visible and daring enough to make a difference, an Eleanor Roosevelt or a Michael Harrington, the kind who are willing to take risks of being unpopular or different in a world where too many people are worried about reputations or personal concerns.

Leo Hindery, an occasional writer for the Huffington Post, wrote a few years ago, detailing the plight of America's contemporary poor.   Hindery put up a microscope of his own to look at the problems facing the United States in the midst of the recession and how the problems particularly impact the poor.

In conversations with two of his friends, civil rights activist David Mixner and former U.S. Senator Don Riegle (D-MI), Hindery pointed out their observations are few folks are giving any real attention to who is really poor now and that too many government officials are missing the important concerns about the backyards of America, where people are hurting the most.

While Hindery agreed with Michelle Obama's interest in raising the nutritional standards for America's children, he points out how the plight of the poor is going unnoticed.

Where is Franklin D. Roosevelt among the new politicians in Congress? Where is the solution for the millions of people who don't have an "economic bill of rights" similar to that of the former President in 1944 and with the same intentions. Who now speaks for the poor, in the voice of an author like Harrington or a President like FDR and especially his wife, Eleanor? Hindery asked that question as Harrington asked it in the 1960's when Lyndon Johnson and Hubert Humphrey stepped forward and answered the call to help the poor.

Michael Harrington was credited with opening up America's eyes to the plight of the poor in the 1960's. His book, widely read by college students of the time, was part of the impetus for poverty programs under Lyndon Johnson,, that were shelved as the country became increasingly embroiled in war. Besides Harrington, a socialist, was discredited by those who equated his views with communism, although he protested, as did others, that his view was not totalitarian but compassionate towards the poor.

Peter Manicas, a professor from the University of Hawaii, pointed out in his assessment of Harrington:"Harrington was correct that no socialist revolution was on the agenda in the US. And he was not alone in suffering from the deep difficulty of reconciling a radical vision with the means available in American electoral politics. But it was not just socialism and the war on poverty that took a beating in the 70s and 80s. So did liberalism and perhaps also democracy."

Peter Dreier agrees with these precepts, finding America stuck on a solution to help the nation's poor.  He states that even though the poor are not as numerous as in the time of Harrington, the problems run deep and in need of resolution.  15% of the country are considered to be among the worst off, with his posing the question about whether or not America is ready for a new war on poverty of the kind Lyndon Johnson once espoused and Michael Harrington cared about.  Dreir observes that the war on poverty in the past did not fail, for had it failed the nation would have twice the numbers of poor that it has today.  Nevertheless the problems remain grave.

Hindery, FDR,Dreier and Harrington all acknowledged how poverty drags down those affected and the whole of the fabric of a culture as well. The world has lived with poverty throughout its history, but in the present world that poverty is complicated by complex disasters as well. Who speaks for these people today?