Saturday, January 17th, 2009 marked the 115th anniversary of the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy. I blog on occasion about the plight of the native Hawaiian. Previous entries include:
To mark the tumbling of the Hawaiian kingdom to a handful of Caucasian businessmen who were descendants of Christian missionaries, Hawaiians rallied together and marched down the streets of Waikiki. The march was also in protest of Hawai'i's Governors decision to sell ceded lands for profit. The ceded lands are the crown lands of the original monarchy. When America dethroned the Hawaiian kingdom, the land, according to U.S. Federal law was placed in the hands of the United States. When Hawai'i became a state, the U.S. transferred title to the State of Hawai'i. Kanaka Maoli, people whose ancestry lead back to the ORIGINAL settlers of this land, pre-dating western contact, have yet to be heard on OUR claim to the ceded lands.
The march was a great spectacle of Hawaiian unity for the tourist crowd to examine. I despise tourism!
For an overview of the overthrow, read this article.
The march had me nostalgic for things I have not experienced in this lifetime. Nostalgic for an easier life, void of heavy taxation (income, SSI, licensing, property, etc). Nostalgic for a life where all I have to worry about is feeding my family and providing shelter. Basic human needs!
Anyway, I was quite pleased to find out that my District Representative, Jessica Wooley, marched in the procession on Saturday. I had previously written my concerns to her regarding the plight of the host culture of Hawai'i and she replied with her view on the issue. I'm happy to say that it is in alignment with my own current beliefs.
It would appear that I am an Angry Hawaiian. I am! Is it hard to understand why I feel so strongly? I would like to see Hawaiians governing themselves, to split completely from State and Federal government. I would like to see those all of the lands of Hawai'i come back into our possession. Hawaiians would unite and form our own government and have full autonomy over our destiny. We would allow the U.S. government and its citizens to exist here and they would lease the lands that they are currently on. The highways would remain, maintained by the State and Federal goverment, and they would lease that from the Hawaiian goverment to generate revenue for the Hawaiian nation. There are just so many possibilities!
