Dennis "Bumpy" Kanahele's Nation of Hawai'i organization is sponsoring a constitutional convention scheduled for early September with the goal of setting up a Hawaiian government that will negotiate with the United States "to end our status as a colonial possession."

In a press release issued yesterday, Kanahele urged people from around the world to contribute money to help pay for the cost of the convention, as well as elections to the Hawaiian government entity that would be formed at the convention.

The convention is tentatively slated to take place Sept. 2-3, although a location has not yet been announced, the release said.

"We will adopt a new Constitution to replace our original Constitution which was in place in 1893 when the United States armed forces invaded our country and overthrew our democratic government."

Kanahele noted that, "The constitutional convention will set the date of the vote by Native Hawaiians to approve the new constitution and for the simultaneous general elections to elect a legislature and a president and vice president."