They traveled 5,000 miles -- from Hawaii to New Jersey -- to pay tribute to an unlikely hero: Grover Cleveland.

Yesterday morning, the Rev. Kaleo Patterson and three other native Hawaiians visited the Caldwell church where the former president's father was pastor in the mid-19th century.

They wanted to honor the memory of President Cleveland, whom they credit with defending their rights and national sovereignty in the 1890s when sugar plantation owners overthrew their queen.
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Their journey to New Jersey is among the events that Patterson and other island groups have organized that will lead to an April 30 national day of prayer for Hawaiian natives. "We need to acknowledge that there was a wrong and we have to work this out," Patterson said yesterday.

That wrong dates to January 1893, when American businessmen dethroned the Hawaiian queen Liliuokalani with the help of the Marines. The businessmen declared the islands a republic and requested annexation to the United States.

Cleveland investigated the situation and refused, saying the queen should be restored to power. He proclaimed April 30, 1894, a national day of prayer and repentance over the U.S. role in overthrowing the Hawaiian monarchy.