Letter: Hawaii is a state, even if not on the ‘mainland’

The article on noncitizenship of people born in American Samoa (“Land of noncitizens,” Star-Advertiser, Nov. 28) should have been annotated by your newspaper staff to correct an error, an error worthy of inclusion in Bob Sigall’s columns on ignorance about Hawaii.

The article said that American Samoans can become citizens “after moving to the mainland.” I immediately looked to the byline to find out what kind of journalist would characterize all U.S. states as “the mainland.” Yup, a “mainland” publication, The New York Times.

Too bad your editors didn’t catch that and add a correction that, yes indeed, American Samoans can apply for citizenship from right here in these beautiful islands “out in the middle of the ocean.”

Deborah Day Emerson

Makakilo

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