Some 200 chanting protestors marched outside the Chicago headquarters Monday of Aloha Poke, a restaurant chain that has tried to stop other poke restaurants from using the words aloha and poke in their names.
The Star Advertiser reports the demonstrators chanted Ku’e Aloha Poke which translates to resist Aloha Poke.
The chain believes use of those words is a violation of its trademark, but as AsAmNews first reported last month, many Native Hawaiians are accusing Aloha Poke of baring “our own people from using a word in our language that has deep cultural meaning and symbolism.”
The company told the Chicago Tribune it has no intention to stop anyone from using the word aloha and applauded “the passionate defense of the Hawaiian culture.”
The Aloha Center Chicago, the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement,ʻIlioʻulaokalani Coalition, and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs organized Monday’s protest.
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