Posted on: Monday, September 1, 2003

EDITORIAL
Migrant toil and sweat helped build Hawai'i

Traditionally in America, when one wave of immigrants prospers and moves up the socioeconomic ladder, another wave sweeps in and takes over the grunt work. And that cycle continues today.

And so it is on this Labor Day that we honor the contributions and sacrifices of immigrants. After all, nearly everyone in the Islands is either an immigrant or descended from immigrants to some degree.

And each wave of immigrants encountered miserable working conditions. Yet before one group could mobilize against exploitation, plantation owners would bring in another group, pitting ethnicities against one another.

But that dynamic began to change in 1909 when 7,000 Japanese plantation workers walked off the job, demanding higher wages. The Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association eventually decided to raise wages, and thus was born the labor movement in Hawai'i.

Today's Labor Day Immigrant Workers' Freedom March begins at 8 a.m. at Magic Island. Enjoy, and don't forget the hard-working immigrants who suffered to make a better life for us today.