Hawaii was cast as Threat to U.S.

In 1957, I was 9 years old. I lived in Michigan and started reading our local newspaper, the Lansing State Journal.

Someone (or perhaps some group) bought a full-page ad opposing Hawai'i statehood.

Political correctness didn't exist then and the ad cast racial aspersions on Hawai'i residents. I don't remember the details, but as a child I found the ad frightening. It implied that Hawai'i statehood would destroy the United States.

I took the article to my father (who in those days knew everything — I wasn't a teenager yet) and told him how scared I was. He gave me advice which I now think of as common sense, but in those days was evidence of his vast wisdom. He said, "Don't believe everything you read!"

We discussed the ad in detail, and he countered the specious arguments, half-truths and racist assertions. He assured me the U.S. would survive and thrive, whether Hawai'i became a state or not.

We had no idea that I would happily relocate to Hawai'i in 1973 and love my new home.

I now realize that my father was a wise man. He read a newspaper every day, and I follow his example. But I do not believe everything I read.

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