2. 24 InsideOutHawaii.com | MARCH+APRIL 2016
(previousspread)©afp/gettyimages;(thispage)DickDeMarsico,NewYorkWorld-TelegramandtheSunNewspaper
PhotographCollection,LibraryofCongressarchive;(opposite)courtesyofpualaniakaka
It was an encouraging message and
one in sharp contrast to the previous
four-week turmoil that Dr. King Jr.
and fellow protesters endured while
attempting to march 54 miles from
Selma to Montgomery, Ala. Despite
the years of persecutions, lynchings and
social injustice, nonviolent demonstrators
persevered, representing a symbol of
hope and peace in the face of fear and
ignorance. Their courage would finally
spark the nation’s attention to civil rights.
While many states throughout the
country shared the same ideals as the
Freedom Marchers, there was one state in
particular that Dr. King Jr. truly admired.
This place, which he once declared as an
“inspiration and a noble example of racial
harmony,” is none other than Hawai‘i.
Despite the ugliness of hecklers in
attendance that momentous day, there
was a symbol of love and beauty that
stood out even among the thousands
of peaceful protesters. On that day —
befitting of the third and what would
be the final and successful attempt of
the Selma march — lovely strings of the
fragrant plumeria lei donned around the
necks of civil rights leaders, including
John Lewis, James Farmer and Dr. King
Jr. It was a message of support on behalf
of the people of Hawai‘i, made possible by
Dr. King’s friend, Rev. Abraham Akaka.
“I’m so grateful Daddy kept record
of everything,” laughs Pualani Akaka,
daughter of the late Rev. Abraham
Akaka, as she read through copies of
her father’s old appointment books. In
September 1959, after Dr. King’s initial
visit to O‘ahu to celebrate and welcome
the islands into statehood, civil rights
activists, Rev. Akaka, Senators Daniel
Inouye and Charles Campbell and
President of the Honolulu Council of
Churches’ Rev. Lawrence Jones would
form a lasting relationship with Dr. King.
On Sept. 15, 1959 at 8 a.m., Abraham
Akaka noted in his book to meet Dr.
King for his service at the YMCA. Five
years later on Feb. 19, 1964, he wrote
a memo to bring an extra pair of black
socks and gown for Dr. King and meet
him at Kawaiaha‘o Church.
Tucked behind the March 19,
1965 section within Abraham Akaka’s
appointment book — two days before
the March 21, 1965 Selma march —
Akaka and her sister discovered a hand-
written note by her father, assumed to
On March 21, 1965, on the footsteps of Selma, Alabama’s Brown
Chapel, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. turned to the thousands of
protesters and spectators and said: “… Walk together, children, don’t
you get weary, and it will lead us to the Promised Land. And Alabama
will be a new Alabama, and America will be a new America.”
(Previous spread)
Freedom
Marchers proudly
wear plumeria lei
prior to their final
march attempt.
(This spread from
left) Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr.
gives a sermon;
Pualani Akaka
helps her father,
Rev. Abraham
Akaka give out
lei in 1996.

3. (previousspread)©afp/gettyimages;(thispage)DickDeMarsico,NewYorkWorld-TelegramandtheSunNewspaper
PhotographCollection,LibraryofCongressarchive;(opposite)courtesyofpualaniakaka

4. 26 InsideOutHawaii.com | MARCH+APRIL 2016
carolm.highsmith,libraryofconcressarchive
have been retyped — as he did with
all his hand-written notes — and sent
along with Sen. Charles Campbell who
delivered the boxes of lei to Dr. King Jr.
and his supporters in Selma. This is what
was so poetically written:
Dear Brother Martin Luther King –
As you “bring good news to the
meek, bind up those that are bruised,
release to captives” our Prayer and Aloha
reach out to enfold you.
These flower lei were made by
mothers of the Kawaiaha‘o Church — for
you and our brothers in the cause of our
Lord Jesus whose commandment
you obey:
“Feed my lambs”
Tend my sheep
Feed my sheep”
History will honor this hour because
His chosen servant was faithful and a great
nation responded to that faithfulness.
Aloha, A. A
“Daddy knew exactly what he was
writing,” Akaka says. “And he wanted to
let him and everyone else know that we,
people of Hawai‘i, were behind him.”
Rev. Akaka’s ideals, along with
countless other families, helped spawn the
Civil Rights Movement here in Hawai‘i.
Dr. King took notice of Hawai‘i’s unique
ability to live harmoniously among each
other, which is why he looked to the aloha
state for support and guidance.
“[Racial equality] was as familiar
as breathing in and out,” says Akaka, in
reference to what her life was like as a
teenager during the height of the Civil
Rights Movement in Hawai‘i. “I knew
no other life. That this is the way it’s
supposed to be.”
In 2011 Akaka visited the National
Civil Rights Museum and the Lorraine
Motel — where Dr. King Jr. had been
assasinated. The motel was under
renovation at the time but workers
allowed her through to place a plumeria
lei across Dr. King’s final resting spot.
Last year, she visited Chicago for the 50th
anniversary of the Selma march. With
plumeria lei in hand once again, she was
thrilled to be in the company of “great
leaders” who were continuing
Dr. King’s legacy of advocating equal
rights. When asked if she believes that
the legacy of peace will continue to
thrive throughout Hawai‘i, she recalls her
parents’ teachings.
“[They] would discuss and ask us
if this is fair,” she says. “[We would ask]
what we could do to bring people closer
to that power of love that binds one to
the other. That’s what people of Hawai‘i
can and will do to make this world a
better place.”✽
The National
Civil Rights
Museum is built
around the
former Lorraine
Motel (pictured
above), where
Dr. King was
assasinated on
April 4, 1968.