Kenneth R. Conklin

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Conklin at Valley of the Temples cemetery, Temple Valley, Kane'ohe, Hawaii

Kenneth R. Conklin, Ph.D., is a retired schoolteacher who moved to Hawaiʻi from Boston in 1992 and currently lives in Kāneʻohe. He is an opponent of the Hawaiian sovereignty movement, accusing those within it of preaching racism and apartheid, and has also sought to overturn existing laws and practices whereby preference is given to persons of Native Hawaiian ancestry.

Conklin has compiled or written a considerable number of documents and essays regarding Hawaiian Sovereignty, covering Hawaiian politicians, Hawaiian Sovereignty activists, and Hawaiian Sovereignty opposition. He has described himself as having a deep respect for Hawaiian culture and spirituality, but not for what he considers race-based politics.

In 2000, after being barred from applying for nomination papers in June because he was not of Hawaiian ancestry, Conklin was one of 13 plaintiffs in a lawsuit Arakaki v. State of Hawaiʻi challenging the requirement that candidates for election to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs board of trustees be Hawaiian. The suit, argued by attorneys H. William Burgess and co-counsel Patrick W. Hanifin (deceased), claimed the restriction violated the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, the Fifteenth Amendment, and the Voting Rights Act. In August, U.S. District Judge Helen Gillmor issued a judgment allowing non-Hawaiians to run for OHA trustee. Conklin then ran unsuccessfully for OHA trustee in November 2000, placing 4th out of 20 candidates for one "at large" seat. (The winner, Haunani Apoliona, took 58,264 votes or 15.7%, and Conklin took 18,115 votes or 4.9% - there were also 117,597 blank votes or 31.7%)

2000 Election Results - Hawaiʻi

In 2003, Conklin helped start Aloha For All, a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation founded by Burgess and former Honolulu Advertiser publisher Thurston Twigg-Smith with the mission of opposing race based programs and benefits in Hawaiʻi. Kenneth Conklin participates regularly in "Aloha for All" activities, and has written many articles on their behalf, such as this statement of Basic Principles.