America's history brought to life
By Dan Nakaso
Advertiser Staff Writer
Navy Lt. j.g. Ed Drish dressed up yesterday as Ben Franklin and baked under a warm Honolulu Sunday sun, in part, because he worries that too many Americans know too little about their country.
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"It's very important that we don't forget how our country was founded," Drish said just before the fourth annual re-enactment of the Boston Tea Party. "Not only these kids, but a lot of adults don't know their history."
Frank Condello, left, takes part in a re-enactment of the Boston Tea Party on board the Falls of Clyde. It was part of a program highlighting events that led up to the signing of the American Constitution.
The Boston Tea Party, that colonial act of royal defiance in 1773 in Boston Harbor, helped launch the American Revolution. But even many of the 40 actors yesterday were still learning the details of the time.
Later Drish stood amidships of the Falls of Clyde — the four-masted, square-rigger that sits at Pier 7 near Aloha Tower — and told the crowd as Ben Franklin that, "I agree to this Constitution with all its faults, indeed if they are such. You the people must learn to create the kind of laws that will make this country strong, just and happy. You have the power. Use it wisely."
The members of the various Masonic Lodges that come to the Falls of Clyde each year always advertise the event as a re-enactment of the Boston Tea Party, in which actors dump empty plywood boxes into Honolulu Harbor. (The boxes are promptly scooped up into nets so they don't drift away).
But it's really a rich overview of key American revolutionary events, from the Boston Tea Party to the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
There was cannon and gunfire yesterday. A nameless loyalist to King George pled for sympathy after he was tarred and feathered by a colonial mob. And British soldiers hanged Nathan Hale after he was caught spying on British troops in 1776.
"I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country," Bruce Bonnell, as Hale, said before a black hood was pulled over his head.
From John Hancock's call for an end to "taxation without representation" to Patrick Henry's "Give me liberty or give me death" to Thomas Paine's "These are the times that try men's souls," yesterday's snippets of history tried to reflect the concerns and courage of the American colony's intellectuals, activists, loyalists, under-appreciated women, slaves and freedmen.
Ernest Snead, an Air Force Airman 1st Class, agreed to portray Lambert Latham, a slave and volunteer soldier who killed the British soldier who murdered Latham's commander. Then British soldiers bayoneted Latham 33 times.
"Despite my valiant act and brutal death," Snead — as Latham — told the crowd, "my only recognition is at the bottom of a Boston monument that insultingly misstates my nickname, 'Lambo,' as 'Sambo.' "
The role helped inspire Snead's curiosity.
"I did more research," Snead said, "because it intrigued me to learn the role that African Americans played during the Revolutionary War."
That's part of the reason why the Freemasons in America have dedicated the month of September to honor the Constitution, said George Theofanis, who organizes the event each year, and portrayed Sam Adams.
"It's all about education," Theofanis said. "American history is important. Especially with everything that's going on now."
Reach Dan Nakaso at dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8085.
