Thursday, January 22, 2009

History Lesson : The Angry Hawaiian

The past couple of days have been an emotional journey.

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:

  • Stolen

  • Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act


  • 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!

    2 comments:

    'Anapesi Ka'ili said...

    I agree sister!!!

    loving your blogs!!!

    Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much said...

    You said it! Although I'm not Hawaiian, I've always respected their culture and ways. My children are Hawaiian and their future children will be. I feel the same way about the sale of ceded lands as well. Just on Tuesday, I was at Kamehameha School (Kapalama) getting my daughter tested for Kindergarten and I told Jared that I felt so close to the land or aina. I'm not sure why I was overcome with that feeling and I wouldn't know how to go about explaining it. I guess I can go about describing it like the same peaceful, calm feeling in the temple but not quite. Maybe a sense of belonging too. Anyway, at the briefing, we were told that out of the 1300 applicants, only 80 students would be accepted. Jared then wispered in my ear about how he thought it was so wrong that the school is being hit with lawsuits about it's Hawaiian ancestry policy. If Kamahameha schools did away with "Hawaiian prefrence first", how much harder would it be to get into the school if Hawaiians were competeing with non Hawaiians? I appreciate the legacy that Princess Bernice Pauahi Biship left for the kids. A school that rightfully was willed to the Hawaiian children should stay that way.

    And I apreciated the blog
    you wrote about the Native Hawaiian Reorganization Act. I wasn't too familiar with it but thanks for enlightening me on the subject. Something stood out to me as I read it though. . . the part about the 10 pillars of communism. Do we really live in a true democratic society? I don't even know were to begin my plight in answering this question. My answers might come out all jumbled and mixed up but I do feel that our country is heading down that path of communism.

    Just wanted to tell you that I love your blogs and I look foward to reading them. Keep them coming!