Civil rights groups agree Bill 59 is unconstitutional and seems designed to push poverty out of view, making it easier to ignore people in dire need.

On a Saturday afternoon in June, I helped load up a van with canned goods, bread, rice, tortillas, and other shelf-stable foods to be delivered to our Hawaiʻi island immigrant neighbors. Many of them have been afraid to leave their homes because of President Donald Trump’s authoritarian raids and inhumane deportations.

This was why, at that afternoon’s “No Kings” protest, where thousands of people lined Hilo’s Kamehameha Avenue, we’d decided to hold a food drive for Aloha Latinos, a group assisting immigrants. It’s also why I carried a sign emblazoned in block print, “ALOHA = RESISTANCE.” Sometimes showing love for our neighbors means stand

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