(c) Copyright 2021
Kenneth R. Conklin, Ph.D.
All rights reserved
INDEX OF NEWS REPORTS AND COMMENTARIES FROM MAY 1 through August 31, 2021
May 7, 2021: Brown University student-run magazine for political journalism publishes interview with an obscure ethnic Hawaiian independence activist/scholar who deplores the Biden administration's likely push for federal recognition for a Hawaiian tribe, and who supports Hawaiian independence as the solution for U.S. imperialist settler colonial capitalism.
May 15: Twice-monthly Ke Aupuni update by Leon Siu, who styles himself as Foreign Minister of the continuing sovereign Kingdom of Hawaii. Touts Star-Advertiser major article saying U.S. owes Hawaiians millions of $ of land; decries bill awaiting Gov signature to allow 100-year leases of ceded lands.
May 17: Blockbuster article in National Geographic spews anti-America anti-White propaganda about Hawaii's history, and ongoing oppression of ethnic minorities, in order to create public support for creating federally recognized Hawaiian tribe and giving huge reparations.
May 29, 2021:
(a) Kenneth Conklin, Executive Director of Center for Hawaiian Sovereignty Studies, message to Governor Ige urging him NOT to veto HB499 allowing commercial leases on public lands to be extended to 99 years, despite Hawaiian sovereignty activists pressuring him to veto it;
(b) Leon Siu, self-styled Foreign Minister of the Hawaiian kingdom, twice-monthly Ke Aupuni update says many topics reported in media show rising awareness of the injustice of America's occupation of Hawaii: especially the publicity about proposal to remove name and statue of McKinley from that high school, and (manufactured) controversy over whether Hawaiian surfers at upcoming Olympics will be allowed to wear Hawaiian flags instead of U.S. flags.
June 27, 2021: Leon Siu, self-styled Foreign Minister of the Hawaiian kingdom, Ke Aupuni update trashes July 4; and McKinley High School name and statue.
July 1, 2021: OHA Trustee Keli'i Akina column in OHA monthly newspaper proposes to create a private trust to be owned exclusively by ethnic Hawaiians and that all Native Hawaiian assets currently held by State of Hawaii should be transferred to that trust in order to empower Native Hawaiians to have exclusive control over their own assets. Ken Conklin's comment.
July 4 American Independence Day holiday:
(a) Leon Siu commentary in Honolulu Star-Advertiser laments July 4 history of U.S. control over Hawaii & urges removal of McKinley name and statue from high school. Ken Conklin's online comment.
(b) Honolulu Star-Advertiser, and all major newspapers on all Hawaiian islands, mourns death of anti-U.S. Hawaiian activist Haunani-Kay Trask; newspapers do not publish any content on this holiday to celebrate this holiday.
July 10: Leon Siu, twice-monthly Ke Aupuni Update, again urges removal of McKinley name and statue from McKinley High School; and also about how Hawaii schools allegedly brainwashed kids during the years after annexation to denationalize them from Hawaiian national identity.
July 20: Peter Apo "How To Build A Virtual Hawaiian Nation.
There is a vast network of outstanding Hawaiian organizations. What's missing is leadership." Comment by Ken Conklin
July 24: Leon Siu Aupuni update re tourist invasion; and renewing call to sign petitions to remove McKinley name and status from high school; and to allow Hawaii athletes to compete in Olympics under Hawaiian flag instead of USA flag. And, as always: Send Money!
July 29: Carissa Moore: Surfing Olympic Gold Medalist, Proud American, Native Hawaiian. Ken Conklin Facebook page displays photos of Olympic gold medalist Carissa Moore, a Native Hawaiian, joyfully displaying the U.S. flag as a shawl over her shoulders during triumphal return to the beach after competition, and on bottom of her surfboard, and as the entirety of her facemask during nationally televised interview with NBC reporter Lester Holt -- despite widespread publication of AP and NBCNews articles claiming Native Hawaiian athletes want to reject the U.S. flag and display only the Hawaiian flag as an assertion of continuing existence of an independent natsion of Hawaii.
August 1, 2021:
(1) TV news report about July 31 secessionist celebration of July 31 Hawaiian Kingdom holiday "Ka La Ho'iho'i Ea" [Sovereignty Restoration Day: 1843 Britain returned sovereignty to Hawaii King Kamehameha III after a rogue British warship captain had seized control a few months previously to foreclose on unpaid debts]
(2) and (3)
The Office of Hawaiian Affairs is an agency of the state government, spending government money, which publishes a monthly newspaper with circulation of 70,000 copies. 60,000 are mailed each month at no subscription cost to anyone requesting them, and 10,000 are given away through libraries, street newsracks, etc. Recently OHA has become more aggressive in supporting the secession of Hawaii from the USA on the theory that the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy, annexation of Hawaii, and Statehood, were all illegal under international law and therefore Hawaii rightfully remains an independent nation. Below, in the section for August, are full text of two articles published in the OHA monthly newspaper for August:
(2) "Let’s Celebrate on Admission Day!" by a professor at a branch of the state university (salary and facilities paid for with tax dollars);
(3) "Seeking Redress for War Crimes Committed Against the Hawaiian Kingdom" -- an official resolution adopted by the Association of Hawaiian Evangelical Churches (AHEC) of the Hawaiʻi Conference United Church of Christ (UCC), to be forwarded to the worldwide UCC with a recommendation that they should adopt it.
Friday Aug 6 & Monday Aug 9: Honolulu Star-Advertiser publishes editor's puff-piece interview with head of Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement, portraying CNHA as a lovely benevolent provider of help to small businesses seeking publicity and marketing for their products, and describing the CEO as a very nice single father. Then newspaper publishes news report about CNHA CEO meeting President Biden as part of a small group of tribal leaders seeking federal help to raise visibility and assistance for economic development. Nobody mentions the 20-year history of CNHA as a consortium of wealthy, powerful race-based institutions created to push the Akaka bill to create a Hawaiian tribe, get federal recognition for it, and divide the lands and people of Hawaii along racial lines. These two articles together seem intended to soften up public opinion ahead of an expected onslaught of propaganda for Native Hawaiian "nationhood" and racial entitlement programs.
Aug 13-14: Honolulu TV station and online video news blog report that the Chairperson of the House committee that has control over legislation for Indian tribes came to Hilo at the invitation of Hawaii Rep Kai Kahele to celebrate the centennial of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act (and presumably also to discuss racial entitlement programs and federal recognition for a Hawaiian tribe; and Hawaii Rep. Ed Case also attended.
Aug 16: Leon Siu twice-monthly Aupuni update: Gleefully notes that there is no celebration of 123rd anniversary of Hawaii's annexation to USA; repeats his usual request for donations.
Aug 17: Honolulu Star-Advertiser reports that Robin Danner, chairwoman of the Sovereign Council of Hawaiian Homestead Associations, will move from Kauai to the nation’s capital next month to reopen the advocacy group’s office. This marks the first time in the organization’s 34-year history that it will have full-time representation on the Hill. Conklin online comment notes history of Danner with Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement and chief pusher of Akaka bill.
Aug 25: David Keanu Sai, a leader of the independence movement, trashes several leaders of the tribalists who seek federal recognition of a Hawaiian tribe, regarding their incorrect descriptions of the history of the Mahele (creation of fee-simple private land ownership) which wrongly portrayed native Hawaiians as victims of colonial oppression and exploitation.
August 28, 2021:
(1) Leon Siu twice-monthly Aupuni update: Says Lili'uokalani never surrendered, she only temporarily yielded; says 1993 apolofy is a law, not merely a resolution or bill; says stop referring to continental U.S. as "mainland". Also appeals again for McKinley name & statue to be removed from the school.
(2) NBC News report: Covid spike reignites sovereignty debate among Native Hawaiians
“There’s a huge split between those who literally want to have a Native governing entity with limited autonomy ... and those who want the U.S. out of Hawaii,” one scholar said.
END OF INDEX
==================
FULL TEXT OF ITEMS LISTED IN THE INDEX, FROM MAY 1 through August 31, 2021
https://brownpoliticalreview.org/2021/05/sovereignty-in-motion-bpr-interviews-uahikea-maile/
Brown Political Review [Self description: Brown University’s entirely student-written and student-run, nonpartisan magazine for political journalism. Founded in 2012]
Sovereignty in Motion – BPR Interviews: Uahikea Maile
NEIL SEHGAL | MAY 7, 2021
Uahikea Maile is a Kanaka Maoli scholar and activist from Maunawili, O‘ahu. Maile’s research focuses on Hawaiian sovereignty, Indigenous critical theory, settler colonialism, and decolonization. His work has appeared in The Guardian, Journal of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association, and Abolition Journal. Maile’s forthcoming book Nā Makana Ea: Settler Colonial Capitalism and the Gifts of Sovereignty in Hawaiʻi examines Native Hawaiian activism and the development of settler colonial capitalism. Maile is also one of the coauthors behind The Red Nation’s recently released The Red Deal: Indigenous Action to Save Our Earth, a practical toolkit and visionary platform for climate justice and decolonial struggle. Maile is an Assistant Professor of Indigenous Politics in the Department of Political Science at the University of Toronto.
Neil Sehgal: The Biden administration has made initial moves towards granting federal recognition to a Native Hawaiian government, similar to the recognition that many American Indian tribes currently receive. Yet almost 95% of Native Hawaiians, including you, are against recognition. Why?
Uahikea Maile: At a basic level, federal recognition, as it is defined by US federal Indian policy, is premised around a core tenet — the special trust responsibility of the US Federal Government towards Native American peoples and their nations. This trust relationship hinges on a specific principle: to reinvest in providing territory, land, and resources for Indigenous peoples in the United States who had previously been dispossessed. If that’s the initial principle for the special trust responsibility, then federal recognition for Native Hawaiians, one would assume, would be about providing land back. This is a safe assumption. However, the current offer of federal recognition, which is laid out in the federal regulations on formal acknowledgement, offers no land for a reorganized Native Hawaiian government.
That is why an overwhelming majority of Kanaka Maoli, the Indigenous people of Hawai‘i, and I are against federal recognition. The current offer masquerades behind ideas of self-determination, self-governance, and inherent sovereignty. At the same time, it minimizes the fact that under the current offer a federally recognized Native Hawaiian government would not receive a land base, would not have territorial jurisdiction in Hawai‘i, and would not be able to have lands taken into trust by the Department of the Interior. This trust responsibility, which is the pivoting point for this relationship between the Federal Government and Indigenous peoples, would not even be accessible. The ruse of federal recognition is a way to resolve the problem of how the US Federal Government has incorporated the Hawaiian Islands, but is yet to fully incorporate Native Hawaiians.
NS: Advocates for federal acknowledgment argue that recognition would bring about several tangible benefits. For example, institutions that benefit Native Hawaiians like the Office of Hawaiian Affairs would be protected from an increasingly conservative Supreme Court. Native Hawaiians would also no longer miss out on certain federal funds that tribal entities qualify for. What do you say to such proponents?
UM: We cannot not desire protections. We cannot not desire entitlements that we have been authorized to receive by the federal government and state government. It is sensible to understand arguments for federal recognition in the sense that they are arguments to protect our people, our community, and our scarce entitlements that are a product of colonialism. The issue is that it is a small piece of the pie, and I’m not interested in just one piece. I’m interested in the whole pie. That pie is our lands, our resources, our own government and self-governance mechanisms — not those small pieces that are gifted by our colonial government.
What I would say back to proponents of federal recognition is to look at the fine print of the current offer. Look at how there’s no land back, no land base, no territorial jurisdiction, and no ability to take land into trust. Weigh the potential protective measures that would be afforded through a re-establishing of a government to government relationship with the US against these facts.
According to the federal regulations for formal acknowledgment, if a federal government like the Biden administration were to recognize a Native Hawaiian political entity that applied for federal recognition, it would potentially be interpreted in such a way that the federal government and the state of Hawai‘i could finally achieve a wholesale acquiescence by the Native Hawaiian people to cede territorial jurisdiction over Hawai‘i. If federal recognition is argued to be a protective measure for language revitalization, for federal monies, for programs and services, for education, and for health, we have to also consider our relationship to Hawai‘i itself and the land, territory, and resources that have sustained our people for generations. That needs to be a part of the conversation when considering how federal recognition offers a level of protection from incursion.
NS: It’s clear that staunch opposition to federal recognition exists. Is the Biden administration simply unaware of this opposition? Or are they aware but simply have insidious aspirations?
UM: I don’t have a crystal ball or a direct line to Joe Biden, but the past two decades have witnessed US senators from Hawai‘i like former Senator Daniel Inouye and former Native Hawaiian Senator Daniel Akaka pushing Congress to pass a bill that would federally recognize a Native Hawaiian governing entity. There has previously been what is known as the Akaka Bill, put forth by former Senator Akaka, which would have reestablished a government to government relationship between the US and the Native Hawaiian community. That bill never got out of Congress.
It’s important to note that Hawaiian politicians are elected by all residents of the state of Hawai‘i, not just Native Hawaiians. That’s an important disparity that’s necessary to highlight because it impacts the way our senators and congresspeople bring issues related to Native Hawaiians to the US Congress. So although Daniel Akaka was a Native Hawaiian senator advocating for Native Hawaiians in Congress, he was flanked by non-Native Senator Daniel Inouye. Today, we see recently elected Native Hawaiian congressman Kai Kahele and non-Native Senator Brian Schatz also pairing up in this advocacy for federal recognition. Interestingly enough, only after being elected did Kahele publicly approve of federal recognition. And Schatz, who trained under Akaka and Inouye, is currently considering the right time to bring a bill back into Congress like the Akaka Bill.
So there’s a fundamental misunderstanding of self-determination in that process. Native Hawaiians should get to decide whether or not we are federally recognized, not Brian Schatz. But these are liberal Democratic politicians, Native Hawaiian or not, who see the importance of protecting Native Hawaiian entitlements, protecting our community, etc. They have a lot of good intentions, but the impact is still problematic and objectionable.
On the flip side, one reason why this hasn’t received approval by the executive branch is because conservative Republican politicians, especially in Congress, have decried for decades that Native Hawaiians are not Indians. This is a discourse that came into play as recently as Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing in 2018, when Hawai‘i Senator Mazie Hirono brought an op-ed into the hearings that Brett Kavanaugh had written, literally titled “Are Hawaiians Indians?” It goes through a very ahistorical understanding of Hawaiian history and governance, and describes the legal responsibility of the Federal Government to engage in a relationship with Native American peoples as Indian tribes. Kavanaugh essentially argues that Native Hawaiians do not constitute the same political status that would allow them to be recognized for tribal governance and sovereignty.
Although it is an imperialist story of racism that Kavanaugh produces, it tells us how the question of whether or not Native Hawaiians are Indians works. On one hand, Democrats like Schatz, Kahele, Akaka, and Inouye are suggesting that Native Hawaiians should be afforded a level of tribal self-governance in accordance with federal Indian law and policy. This is clear and well-intentioned. Republicans, on the other hand, attempt to cordon off and contain tribal sovereignty as it’s instituted by the US Federal Government, and argue that Native Hawaiians don’t qualify. And this rests on an age-old form of colonial racism that, at the end of the day, seeks to eliminate the “Indian problem.” To start to bring Indigenous peoples into the fold of tribal sovereignty is scary and anxiety-producing for conservative politicians because it is an assault on settler state power and sovereignty.
NS: You mentioned that Kahele came out for federal recognition only after being elected. What explains his shift?
UM: There is an intense realigning in the Biden administration, which is appealing for someone like Congressman Kahele. There is an opening in the Congressional Native American Caucus in the House with Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland’s seat as co-chair being vacated. I’ve heard Kahele has been courted by Haaland herself to take over that co-chair position. These political forces can transform one’s political agenda. I do believe that Kahele is a Native Hawaiian politician who wants the best for his people. We see that and we feel that, but at the end of the day, when you’re sitting in your office in Washington, away from your people, it’s a bit difficult to hear the overwhelming majority of folks on the ground saying “no” to the ruse of federal recognition.
NS: In the short term, what are the key obstacles to decolonization and sovereignty?
UM: Rather than the Hawaiian Kingdom’s government, having a new Native Hawaiian governing entity be federally recognized by the US could damage our ability to bring claims in international courts, as those claims could be adjudicated on the basis that a Native Hawaiian political entity has ceded authority to the US. This would be the first time in the history of the US-Hawai‘i relationship that anything could be interpreted this way. In fact, in Bill Clinton’s 1993 Apology Resolution, the US not only apologized for its illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom’s government, but also acknowledged that the Native Hawaiian people have never relinquished our sovereignty over our national lands.
Now, I’m not one for accepting apologies at face value, but I am one for paying attention to legal rhetoric. If we know that the Native Hawaiian people have never relinquished sovereignty over their national lands, and it’s enshrined in the US political order, then having a new Native Hawaiian government recognized by the US could be the final nail in the coffin for Hawaiian sovereignty.
While it’s a main obstacle, it is not the most pressing material obstacle that our people face at the moment. There are other obstacles like housing, poverty, and overdevelopment that are everyday forms of slow violence. And while federal recognition is slowly unfolding, these forms of slow violence taking place on the ground in Hawai‘i are visceral, painful, and death-dealing. Two of the richest men in the world, Larry Ellison and Mark Zuckerberg, own an inordinate amount of private property in Hawai‘i. Zuckerberg has used state legal mechanisms to traffic in the dispossession of private land through a quiet title process which has been incredibly toxic to the local community.
We’re also dealing with the overdevelopment of public land with the construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) observatory on Mauna Kea, our sacred mountain. The TMT has not been built despite the fact that it is now a $2.4 billion project. Native Hawaiians have stopped the construction, and we have been criminalized, detained, and arrested. In July 2019, 33 of our kūpuna, our elders, were carried into police vans because they were exercising their territorial jurisdiction over the land at Mauna Kea. Some of them were 90-year-old wahine (women) in wheelchairs, and they are still facing charges for obstruction. This history of Native Hawaiian counter-dispossession is incredibly robust and rich. It was not the Office of Hawaiian Affairs or any Hawaiian political organization, but we as a community that came together to assert our territorial jurisdiction and to stop this project. This is a form of decolonization and part of an active movement of counter-dispossession that is over 130 years in the making in our tradition as an Indigenous people.
NS: Are you optimistic that full decolonization and true sovereignty could be achieved in your lifetime?
UM: The question itself betrays the reality, which is that sovereignty is already in motion, exercised, and practiced by our people. There are a few different Hawaiian sovereignty groups, such as the Acting Government of the Hawaiian Kingdom, Ka Lāhui Hawaiʻi, Lawful Hawaiian Government, and Nation of Hawai‘i,. These are all collectives of Native Hawaiians that aren’t asking for federal recognition or some quasi-form of sovereignty to be bestowed on them. They are not simply waiting for some future court to reinvest sovereignty. They are practicing it on the ʻĀina, on the land. These are groups that are doing so unapologetically, knowing that our history is not just in the past.
As a personal example, I am Kanaka Maoli, a Hawaiian national, who lives in Canada and has taken up a post at the University of Toronto. In that sense, it is even more obvious to me how politicized my being here is, as well as how politicized my engagement is with other Indigenous peoples and nations in what is now called Canada. Canada actually confederated as a nation after the Hawaiian Kingdom was internationally recognized as an independent nation state by Britain and France in 1843. Canada’s government has invested $300 million into the TMT observatory project. When I engage with TMT administrators and Canadian astronomers, and with the National Research Council of Canada at the federal level, I’m engaging them as a Kanaka Maoli who is also representing our Hawaiian polityin a nationalist sense, because the land in Mauna Kea that Canada has invested $300 million in is unceded Hawaiian national land. When I present cases for divestment, which are cases for decolonization in Hawai‘i, these are discussions that are international forums of diplomacy and negotiation. These are discussions that take place between the federal officials of the Canadian settler state and me, not as a US citizen, not as a Canadian citizen, but as a Hawaiian, and that is sovereignty. These are forms of sovereignty that are not idealistic, but are everyday, dynamic, and embodied. I’m optimistic in the sense that this is an ongoing practice, to live and to engage in politics as a sovereign people.
NS: Due to COVID-19, Hawai‘i is facing the largest economic recession in its history. With the end of the pandemic in sight, are you optimistic that Hawai‘i will be able to reorient its economy and shift away from real estate and tourism?
UM: I believe that people in Hawai‘i are taking the COVID-19 pandemic seriously for transforming the economy in Hawai‘i. Every day, Native Hawaiians are working on restoring streams, restoring taro patches, and restoring their farms and agricultural land. Every single day, Native Hawaiians are reclaiming and reoccupying their lands. The lands that were previously authorized for their family members by the Hawaiian Kingdom’s government. During the pandemic, I have seen my friends and family doing the work to take our relationship with the ‘Āina of Hawai‘i seriously. I have also seen non-Native Hawaiians and Native Hawaiians building amazing coalitions in response to the compounding issues of policing in Hawai‘i, the toxic relationship that the state has with US militarization, and global tourism.
But I do not see the same with the state of Hawai‘i. The economy of the state of Hawai‘i is not diversified at all — it is fundamentally animated through the US military and through tourism. Military and tourist spending are the main sources of expenditure in the state. Without diversifying the state’s economy, the state and thus its residents, Native Hawaiians and non-Native Hawaiians alike, are at the will of the US military and of tourism. When the pandemic hit and the state of Hawai‘i closed for tourism, we saw bays, reefs, mountains, and hills flourish again in the places that tourists have destroyed. Since the state reopened the economy for tourism in October, there have been a million travelers to Hawai‘i— that’s not even matched the numbers from former years.
There’s a reckoning in place for the state of Hawai‘i. We saw that take place in how it managed CARES Act money and how poorly the Department of Health managed to track coronavirus cases in the state. We saw them blame local residents and turn a blind eye to tourists, so much so that there were tourists with coronavirus arriving in Hawai‘i and trying to go on vacation. I’m not hopeful about the state of Hawaii’s ability to transform its economy because that economy is exactly what authorizes the state of Hawai‘i to exist in the first place, military and tourism. But I’m incredibly heartened to see that there are people in Hawai‘i doing the hard work of transforming economic relations on smaller levels than the state’s political economy.
NS: Pacific Islanders have been in the news a lot lately as a group, not for reasons like being disproportionately affected by COVID or any of these forms of slow violence that you mentioned, but because the recent spike in anti-Asian violence has led to discourses like Stop AAPI Hate. What do you think of this grouping, this political coalition of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI)?
UM: I think two things about it. On one hand, the category itself is a kind of smashing together and homogenizing of very distinct peoples, communities, and cultures under one rubric: Asian American and Pacific Islander. There are significant consequences for Kanaka Maoli in our claims to Indigenous and national forms of sovereignty in Hawai‘i that are stripped away and rendered illegible in this monolithic category that is “Asian American Pacific Islander.” That’s a criticism that I have and share with many other Kanaka Maoli researchers and scholars of that category. I have to shout out my friend and colleague Lisa Kahaleole Hall, a professor at the University of Victoria, for writing some beautiful research that has helped inform my thoughts on the AAPI category.
On the other hand, there is a very significant form of coalitional relationality that the category can produce by aligning Asian, Asian American, Pacific, and Indigenous Oceanic peoples. It does not inherently produce it and is still a highly objectionable category, but it can. US immigration policy stands on a history of anti-Asian exclusionary tactics and we are currently seeing an intensification of xenophobia, Sinophobia, and racism through the neo-conservative discourses of the COVID-19 pandemic championed by former President Donald Trump. This is a historical pattern and we are seeing an intensification of it in this particular moment. I want to make clear, however, that this is not an exceptional moment, but simply a different moment for this pattern.
In Hawai‘i, this isn’t different. Recently, a 16-year-old Chuukese boy, Iremamber Sykap, was shot and killed by Honolulu police. There were suggestions of armed robbery, a stolen car, and a police chase. He had no weapons, but the police shot him multiple times. It’s a case of police brutality, and a case of violence against Asian American Pacific Islander people. In Hawai‘i, there is a significant problem in how Micronesian people are treated in racially discriminatory terms and viewed as highly disposable. The local community is in pain, grieving, and providing assistance to the Sykap family. But the community is also working hard to use this moment to transform the way we relate to, protect, and prop up racialized people in Hawai‘i like Iremamber Sykap, who did not have to be murdered by police for simply stealing a car. I hope those three police officers think a lot about their actions. I hope that the state of Hawai‘i produces a comprehensive investigation. I hope that this doesn’t serve as support for racist misunderstandings of Micronesian people. And I hope that it serves as a lesson to remember our collective shared humanity as Pacific Island, Asian, and Asian American peoples.
*This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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** Ken Conklin's attempted online comment "awaiting moderation".
I am pleased to see another ethnic Hawaiian standing in opposition to creating a phony Hawaiian tribe and giving it federal recognition. However, his reason for opposing tribalism is that he favors secession of Hawaii, to re-establish Hawaii as an independent nation. Nearly all ethnic Hawaiians who oppose tribalism for that reason demand Hawaiian racial supremacy in an independent nation of Hawaii, on a theory of "indigenous rights" under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples -- despite the fact that ethnic Hawaiians are not an indigenous people and despite the fact that the actual independent Kingdom of Hawaii was multiracial with equal voting rights and property rights for all native-born or naturalized subjects of the Kingdom regardless of race. I have studied this issue and written extensively about it for 3 decades. Please see my website
"Hawaiian Sovereignty: Thinking Carefully About It"
http://tinyurl.com/6gkzk
and book
"Hawaiian Apartheid: Racial Separatism and Ethnic Nationalism in the Aloha State"
http://tinyurl.com/2a9fqa
A twisted version of a beautiful creation legend is widely taught at all levels of schooling and provides a theological basis for Hawaiian religious fascism. See
https://tinyurl.com/tt9cp6c4
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http://freehawaii.blogspot.com/2021/05/ke-aupuni-update-may-2021-keeping-in.html
Free Hawaii blog Saturday May 15, 2021
KE AUPUNI UPDATE - MAY 2021
Keeping in touch and updated on activities regarding the restoration of Ke Aupuni o Hawai`i, the Hawaiian Kingdom. Ua Mau Ke Ea O Ka `Aina I Ka Pono.
Do Hawaiian Lands Matter?
On Friday, May 7, 2021, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser published a front-page-headline story, a major exposé titled: Promised Land: The U.S. owes Hawaiians millions of dollars worth of land. Congress helped make sure the debt wasn’t paid. (Read story HERE)
https://www.staradvertiser.com/2021/05/07/news/promised-land-the-u-s-owes-hawaiians-millions-of-dollars-worth-of-land-congress-helped-make-sure-the-debt-wasnt-paid/
The story continued on the inside on two full pages. It is a serious indictment of the U.S. Federal and State of Hawaii agencies and officials who systematically and deliberately ripped-off Hawaiians’ lands over the past 100 years!
Besides the “Promised Land” article was another article, “The Private Deals” (read HERE)
https://www.staradvertiser.com/2021/05/07/news/the-private-deals-how-the-deals-approved-by-congress-bypassed-thousands-of-hawaiians-waiting-for-homes/
revealing some of the recent underhanded, back door deals made concerning prime lands the U.S. was supposed to return to Hawaiian land trusts, but were instead sold to private developers and non-profits in collusion with Hawaii’s U.S. senators and representatives.
At last, the evidence of the depth and scope of blatant 100-year-long rip-offs are finally being made public by the “mainstream” press.
Last year, on June 30, 2020 the State of Hawaii Supreme Court ruled in Kalima v. State of Hawaii that Hawaiians are entitled to compensation for being denied homestead lands due to the State’s Department of Hawaiian Home Lands’ gross incompetence and negligence. Over 2,700 Hawaiians who had been injured by the State’s malfeasance were plaintiffs in the lawsuit. In the 21 years it took to get a ruling, over 400 of the plaintiffs died! The State is being ordered to pay many millions of dollars to the injured parties. But with the State’s appalling way of handling Hawaiian lands, Hawaiians will still have to fight to ever see that money.
You would think State leaders would be trying to reform their policies toward Hawaiians, but, despite these recent revelations, they’re doubling down. The recent legislative session indicates that State leaders have no intention of stopping the pillaging and plundering of Hawaiian lands and assets. The most egregious act before they adjourned, the Hawaii State Legislature, against strenuous objections of a broad spectrum of the community (not just Hawaiians), passed House Bill 499 to allow the State to lease Hawaiian lands to commercial developers and other outside interests for 99 years!
And these are just some of the most glaring violations! What we don’t see is the constant, every-day, grinding abuses that Hawaiians endure living under this foreign occupation which was set up from the start to perpetually defraud Hawaiians of our land, our lives and political power. Obviously, the State of Hawaii and the U.S. have no plans to make things right. That is why we need a Free Hawaii today.
The U.S. presence in the Hawaiian Islands is neither legitimate or immutable.
The more we stand as a nation; the more we assert the Hawaiian Kingdom is alive and kicking; the more we expose U.S. claims as false; the sooner we will be a Free Hawaii.-
Please join the ku’e action to rename McKinley High School and to remove the offensive statue by signing this online petition.
Ua Ola ke Ea – Sovereignty Lives
A Year to Celebrate the Hawaiian Kingdom – Past, Present and Future
Still in the process of ramping up…
If you are (or if you know of someone who is) interested in helping facilitate any aspect of “Ua Ola ke Ea,” please contact:
info@HawaiianKingdom.net
The campaign to Free Hawaii continues to gain momentum ...
Your kōkua, large or small, is vital to this effort...
To contribute, go to:
https://GoFundMe.com/FreeHawaii
To contribute in other ways (airline miles, travel vouchers, clerical help, etc...) email us at
info@HawaiianKingdom.net
Also... Check out the great FREE HAWAII products you can purchase HERE
http://www.robkajiwara.com/store/c8/Support_Human_Rights.html
All proceeds go to help the cause. Mahalo Nui Loa!
Malama Pono,
Leon Siu
Hawaiian National
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This ain't your parents' "National Geographic" anymore. In bygone decades this magazine published many wonderful articles about the indigenous people living in faraway places like the Amazon river basin or Africa, with beautiful photos showing their lifestyles, religious ceremonies, etc. But in recent years NG has become politically active with harsh articles portraying America and especially White men as having a history and current status as colonial oppressors of poor, downtrodden racial and ethnic minorities. The following article is significant for this webpage because it comes at a time when there are many such articles in newspapers and magazines of national circulation similar to this one, and there seems to be a concerted media propaganda campaign to "soften up" the people of America to think of ethnic Hawaiians as an indigenous, tribal group entitled to federal recognition, huge swaths of land, and Billions of dollars in reparations. This very lengthy article has a large number of photos whose extended captions probably total more words than the article's main text. To see any photos, and all the text, copy/paste the URL into your browser. Below are enough excerpts to provide the sour taste and vicious anti-American, anti-White hatred in the article. Note that the editors explicitly confess that this article is one in a series which is "part of our ongoing project focused on dismantling the myth of Hawai‘i as a post-racial paradise." Wow! Fasten your seat-belt for a rough ride of pure hate-filled propaganda!
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/hawaii-not-multicultural-paradise-some-say-it-is
National Geographic May 17, 2021
History & Culture Commentary
Hawai'i is not the multicultural paradise some say it is
The islands still struggle with the legacy of colonialism and the divisions intentionally sown between ethnic groups.
** Excerpts of text and photo captions, intermingled in the order they occur in the article.
“Here, racism has demeaned and denigrated such beauty [traditional Micronesian skirt showing high status] to a point where people think we wear them because we’re poor, we’re dirty, all of the negative things racism has come to equate with being Micronesian."
Hawai‘i’s racial make-up does not stem from a desire to unify races. Instead, it comes from concerted Western efforts to eradicate Native Hawaiian culture and create division among sugar plantation workers. The reverberations are still felt among residents today, including by the people featured in these portraits. Photographed in spaces linked to discrimination against their respective cultures and in places where they find healing from those traumas, they are part of our ongoing project focused on dismantling the myth of Hawai‘i as a post-racial paradise.
The racial conflict began when Captain James Cook and his men came ashore in the Hawaiian islands in 1778. An estimated 683,000 Native Hawaiians were living in a culturally rich, self-sustaining society and thriving in the ahupuaʻa system—a model for equitably distributing land, resources, and work. The Europeans brought diseases, Western ways of thinking, and labor-intensive sugar plantations, leading to a cascade of traumatic events—including a sharp decline in population, the 1893 illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom, and what many consider to be an ongoing occupation.
(Find out how white planters usurped Hawai‘i’s last queen.) [Link provided to previous Nat Geog article]
When Native Hawaiians protested inhumane conditions, owners sought out other ethnic groups for cheap labor on the plantations. Beginning in the 19th century, contract laborers from China, Japan, Okinawa, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Korea, Cape Verde, and the Philippines were lured to the islands with the promise of a paradisiacal lifestyle. Instead, the work was inescapably grueling—especially under the Masters and Servants Act of 1850, which confined laborers to the plantations. “The [Hawaiian] monarchy tried to mitigate against the abuses through personal pressure on the plantation owners,” says cultural historian Adam Keawe Manalo-Camp, but King Kalākaua had been forced to sign the Bayonet Constitution, which greatly limited the monarchy’s power.
Beyond using tactics to increase productivity and profit, plantation owners also made calculated efforts to minimize workers’ power and labor strikes. They segregated ethnic groups, paying them varying wages to incite tension and awarding those with a closer proximity to whiteness with higher pay and positions. Some planters even tried to revive Southern-style cotton plantations on Oʻahu. Laborers were whipped, stripped of their names, and only referred to by their “bango” identification tags. “Much like slave patrols in the South, police officers hunted plantation workers who tried to escape the islands and their indentured servitude, overstayed their contracts, or became unruly according to plantation standards,” ...
In 1893, after Queen Liliʻiuokalani proposed a new constitution that would restore power to the monarchy, American sugar planters and the U.S. military overthrew the Hawaiian Kingdom. In 1895, an unsuccessful attempt by Hawaiian royalists to restore Queen Liliʻuokalani's power resulted in her being imprisoned in her former palace. Three years after the overthrow, “a law went into place banning the use of ‘Ōlelo Hawaiʻi [Hawaiian language] in the schools,” ... Many kūpuna, or elders, were punished for speaking in their native tongue, resulting in a severe loss of language until the Hawaiian Renaissance. “You cannot tell me that imposing a foreign identity, language, and religion on a people is not traumatic.”
** Ken Conklin's note re assertion that Hawaiian language was banned: See 2 webpages:
Was Hawaiian Language Illegal? Did the Evil Haoles Suppress Hawaiian Language As A Way of Oppressing Kanaka Maoli and Destroying Their Culture?
https://tinyurl.com/7uf7s98k
and
Holding the State of Hawaii Department of Education accountable for propagating the lie that Hawaiian language was banned.
https://tinyurl.com/y6phnzeh
The university ... has been criticized for funding the Thirty Meter Telescope on Mauna a Wākea and taking away various Asian and Pacific Islander language programs and classes. Last month, UH students hurled anti-Black sentiments against Morehouse College students.
Although modern scholars such as Jonathan Okamura ascribe early intermarriage rates to a sex imbalance among the populations rather than any special tolerance, politicians touted Hawai‘i as a society of “colonial progress” where Asians and Native Hawaiians could culturally assimilate and become “model minorities,” an argument that eventually led to Hawai‘i’s statehood (many Native Hawaiians and non-Hawaiian locals alike often refer to the islands as a “fake state” given the lawless process involved). The concept of a racial utopia was being weaponized to undermine Black struggles on the continent and demonize people of color on the islands for “disrupting racial harmony,” especially in the cases of Myles Fukunaga, who was hanged for murder in 1928, and Joseph Kahahawai, who was falsely accused of rape and murdered in 1931. Nevertheless, by the 1950s and 60s, the tourism industry was selling the “Aloha Spirit,” Native Hawaiian culture, and racial harmony as commodities that visitors could purchase with a plane ticket.
The ethnic hierarchies created during the plantation era still exist today. There continues to be persistent mistreatment of Native Hawaiian, Filipino, Samoan, Micronesian, Black, and Tongan communities, especially within the education, economic, and justice systems. Native Hawaiians have among the highest poverty rates on the islands and make up some 20 percent of Hawaiʻi’s houseless population. Samoans, Tongans, and Filipinos struggle with low per capita incomes, while more than half of Hawai‘i’s Marshallese population are impoverished. Black residents do slightly better financially but account for nearly a third of the state’s reports of race-related employment discrimination. Meanwhile, Japanese residents earn the highest per capita income at $32,129, followed by white residents at $31,621. Both groups dominate the racial make-up of Hawai‘i’s current government.
Deanna Espinas sits atop a bed at Hawaiʻi’s Plantation Village in Waipahu, which is furnished by donations from former plantation workers and their families. While Espinas, the president of the museum’s board, has no direct familial ties to the plantation era, she has a deep interest in the experiences of Filipino sugar plantation laborers (Sakadas) who came to Hawaiʻi. They were subjected to intense discrimination and paid the lowest wages at 77 cents a day. Filipino laborers began organizing strikes against the horrors of the plantation in the 1920s, which led to the Hanapēpē Massacre on Kauaʻi, where 16 Filipino men were killed by police officers while fighting for labor rights. “[They] worked under extremely difficult conditions but were determined to work hard and save money so they could go home to the Philippines,” ...
We [article authors] are two non-Hawaiian women of color raised in Hawai‘i; these issues go beyond just being stories for us: They are our own lived experiences and the experiences of those we hold dear. The ethnic divisions erected by the planters more than a century ago are real but they can be overcome with resilience, education, and solidarity. We see hope in movements from the Hawaiian Renaissance in the 1970s to Protect Mauna Kea now, and organizations such the Pōpolo Project, We Are Oceania, and many others that reclaim their cultures through community-building.
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Kenneth Conklin, Executive Director of Center for Hawaiian Sovereignty Studies, message to Governor Ige urging him NOT to veto HB499 allowing commercial leases on public lands to be extended to 99 years, despite Hawaiian sovereignty activists pressuring him to veto it.
Background about the bill, and full text of Conklin's message to Governor Ige are on Facebook at
https://www.facebook.com/kenneth.conklin.10/posts/2279242528877364
and on a blog at
https://historymystery.kenconklin.org/2021/05/30/ethnic-hawaiians-as-a-racial-group-do-not-own-our-public-lands-extending-long-term-leases-is-ok/
Ethnic Hawaiians as a racial group do NOT own our public lands. Extending long-term leases is OK
HB499 HD2 SD2 CD1 is a bill passed by both chambers of the Hawaii legislature after many committee hearings and amendments, and was sent to the Governor on April 28, 2021.
RELATING TO LEASE EXTENSIONS ON PUBLIC LAND.
Report Title: Public Lands; Lease Extension; Development Agreement
Description: Authorizes the board of land and natural resources to extend certain leases of public lands for commercial, industrial, resort, mixed-use, or government use upon approval of a proposed development agreement to make substantial improvements to the existing improvements. (CD1)
The bill is controversial, as can be seen by the numerous NAY votes in both chambers. Full text of the final bill, and all versions of the bill as amended along the way, and the committee reports and list of who voted which way in each committee, and files of all the testimony from each hearing, can be found at
https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/measure_indiv.aspx?billtype=HB&billnumber=499&year=2021
Hawaiian sovereignty activists staged protest rallies and launched a letter-writing campaign asking Governor Ige to veto the bill. The activists assert that Hawaii’s public lands, ceded to the U.S. at annexation in 1898 and returned to Hawaii at Statehood in 1959, are stolen crown and government lands from the Kingdom of Hawaii which, they say, rightfully belong to Native Hawaiians; and extending commercial leases to as long as 99 years unjustly delays the return of those lands to the Native Hawaiians. The Governor has until June 21 to notify the legislature if he is considering a veto of this bill; otherwise the bill will become law whether or not he signs it. If he notifies the legislature that he is considering a veto, then he has until July 6 to actually veto it or sign it or else it will become law without his signature. If he vetoes the bill, the record of NAY votes in the legislature indicates it is unlikely that the legislature could muster enough votes for the super-majority needed to override a veto.
On May 29 Kenneth Conklin, Executive Director of the Center for Hawaiian Sovereignty Studies, sent Governor Ige a message urging him not to veto HB499, and to either sign the bill or let it become law without his signature. Dr. Conklin argued that the public lands never belonged to Native Hawaiians as a group. He provided a summary of the history related to those lands, including a 20-year-long litigation record ending with a 2009 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court which ruled unanimously, 9-0, that the public lands belong to the State of Hawaii in fee simple absolute, can be sold without needing permission from Native Hawaiians, and that the 1993 apology resolution is merely a resolution of sentiment with no legal force or effect regarding the public lands. Dr. Conklin’s message can be seen here.
To: David Ige, Governor, State of Hawaii
Re: Please do NOT veto HB499 RELATING TO LEASE EXTENSIONS ON PUBLIC LAND
Date: May 29, 2021
Aloha Governor Ige,
Please do NOT veto HB499. Please either sign it or allow it to become law without your signature.
In recent weeks the usual loudmouthed Hawaiian sovereignty activists have held rallies and engaged in a letter writing campaign trying to persuade you to veto HB499. They FALSLY say that Native Hawaiians are the rightful owners of Hawaii’s ceded lands, and that those lands should be “returned” to Native Hawaiians, and that lengthening the term of commercial leases delays or blocks the eventual “return” of these lands to “the rightful owners.” The Honolulu newspaper has repeatedly published lengthy propaganda articles in collaboration with the outside pressure group “Pro Publica” asserting falsehoods about the history of land ownership in Hawaii.
Native Hawaiians as a group never owned the public lands, nor any portion of them. At first Kamehameha The Great personally owned all the lands in Hawaii by right of conquest. The King owned the land, not native Hawaiians as a group. In 1848 his son Kamehameha3, having inherited the land, began the Mahele process dividing the land into 3 categories: Crown lands which he kept as his personal property; Government lands owned by the government for public purposes on behalf of all the people of Hawaii regardless of race; private lands given in fee simple to individual chiefs with carve-outs for individual commoners for small parcels where they lived or farmed.
Native Hawaiians as a group had no group-ownership of any Crown land, Government land, or private land. King Lota Kamehameha5 mortgaged his Crown Lands to pay gambling debts, and by 1865 the lender was threatening to foreclose for non-payment of principal or interest. The Kingdom legislature therefore passed a law taking ownership of the Crown lands, in return for issuing government bonds to pay off the mortgage; and the King happily signed. Revenue from the Crown lands was given to the King for his expenses in maintaining a lifestyle befitting his role as head-of-state; but otherwise the Crown lands were indistinguishable from the Government lands and the merger was known from then until now as Hawaii’s “public lands.” They belonged collectively to all Hawaii’s people of all races, with no racial set-asides for “Native Hawaiians.”
In 1893 the monarchy was overthrown, and replaced by the Republic of Hawaii in 1894 — the new government took control of the public lands from the former government, as happens after any revolution or election. 1897 the Republic of Hawaii offered a Treaty of Annexation which the U.S. Congress and President agreed to in 1898. As terms of the Treaty specified, Hawaii’s public lands were ceded to the U.S. in return for the U.S. accepting responsibility to pay off the accumulated national debt from the Kingdom and Republic (the monetary value of that debt payoff was larger than the market value of all the public land). The U.S. did not simply “take” the land; it was held in trust for all the people of Hawaii regardless of race, with revenue to be used “for education and other public purposes.” The ceded lands were returned to Hawaii under terms of the Statehood Act of 1959, except for national parks and military bases, with revenue to be used for any one of more of five purposes; and for the first 20 years of Statehood virtually all the ceded land revenue was used for Hawaii’s public schools (including UH) serving all Hawaii’s children regardless of race. Native Hawaiians as a group never owned the public lands, nor any portion of them.
OHA, and a few other groups or individuals, have repeatedly sued the State of Hawaii demanding revenue from the ceded lands, or demanding that the State be prohibited from selling any parcel of ceded lands without permission from Native Hawaiians. Probably the most significant contested case over the ceded lands ran through state agency and court proceedings beginning in 1990, and ended with a U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2009. It concerned the State’s wish to transfer land at Leialii and Laiopua from the State Department of Land and Natural Resources to the State Housing and Community Development Corporation, to develop low-income housing.
When the State of Hawaii tried to sell a parcel of ceded lands there, OHA filed a lawsuit to stop that particular sale and to prohibit the state from any further sales.
On December 5, 2002 Hawaii circuit court judge Sabrina McKenna ruled against OHA, concluding that the State of Hawaii has a right to sell ceded lands.
OHA appealed Judge McKenna’s decision. On January 31, 2008 the Hawaii Supreme Court ruled 5-0 that Judge McKenna was mistaken. The Hawaii Supreme Court ruled that the State of Hawaii is permanently prohibited from selling any ceded lands until such time as a settlement has been reached regarding the claims of Native Hawaiians. That decision was based on the 1993 U.S. apology resolution in which the U.S. “confessed” to helping overthrow the monarchy in 1893, and the U.S. acknowledged that Native Hawaiians have never relinquished their claims to Hawaii lands.
The State of Hawaii filed a petition for certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court asking it to review and overturn the state Supreme Court decision. Twenty-nine other states shortly thereafter filed an amicus brief supporting Hawaii’s petition for certiorari. On October 1, 2008 the U.S. Supreme Court granted the petition for certiorari. On February 25, 2009 the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments, and on March 31, 2009 ruled unanimously, 9-0, to overturn the Hawaii Supreme Court.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the State of Hawaii owns the ceded lands in fee simple absolute, has the right to sell those lands without needing permission from Native Hawaiians, and that the 1993 U.S. apology resolution is merely a resolution of sentiment which has no legal force or effect on who owns the ceded lands or what procedures must be followed when selling them.
A very large webpage provides links to legal briefs and memos, transcripts of oral arguments and decisions, full text of numerous news reports and commentaries, tracking this case from beginning to end. See
https://bigfiles90.angelfire.com/CededNoSell.html
It is quite ludicrous to hear ethnic Hawaiian activists complaining about extending some leases of public land to a term of 99 years, when DHHL leases are routinely granted for 99 years and are expected to be easily renewed for another 99 years. Indeed, there are some homestead leases whose term is 999 years! (yes, that’s nine hundred ninety-nine years!) Allowing 99-year leases (and especially 999 year leases) exclusively to people who have Hawaiian native blood while denying such leases to people lacking the magic blood would be an example of systemic racism, and would be clearly contrary to the 14th Amendment Equal Protection Clause.
Governor Ige, please do NOT veto HB499. Please sign it, or allow it to become law without your signature.
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http://freehawaii.blogspot.com/2021/05/ke-aupuni-update-may-2021-keeping-in_29.html
Free Hawaii blog May 29, 2021
KE AUPUNI UPDATE - MAY 2021
Keeping in touch and updated on activities regarding the restoration of Ke Aupuni o Hawai`i, the Hawaiian Kingdom
.
Ua Mau Ke Ea O Ka `Aina I Ka Pono.
The Underlying Issue...
Have you noticed the shift in the press? Both local and international?
Many issues cropping up in the news, from the Thirty Meter Telescope monstrosity, to criminal malfeasance in the handling of Hawaiian trust lands; to HB 499’s proposed long-term of leases of Hawaiian lands to developers and other commercial interests; to trying to change the offensive name of the McKinley High School; to surfing in the Olympics… are pointing to (or at least hinting at) the underlying cause of the problems: the United States’ false claim to the Hawaiian Islands!
Our kuʻe over the years has begun to sink in to members of the press. They are starting to notice the anomalies and inconsistencies of the U.S. narrative and are becoming more even-handed in reporting about the circumstances here in the islands. They seem to be on the road to discovering the truth and consequences of what the U.S. has done.
So what is our strategy? As Ledward Ka’apana says, “Jus press” (pun intended). That is, keep doing what we are called to do. Use our gifts to pursue and realize our kuleana and show up to support our lāhui.
Right now, there are two excellent opportunities to ku’e that may seem small and insignificant, but they have the potential to break things wide open.
One, is changing the name of McKinley High School. The other is participation in the Olympics as what we really are — the Hawaiian Islands — a separate entity from the United States.
These two projects are crucial opportunities for us to break through false-perception barriers, both local and international, that keep us from our goal of restoring Hawaii as an independent nation. Recent coverage indicates the perception of the press is dramatically shifting in our favor. Let’s give it a nudge in the public realm.
Please sign the two petitions: Rename McKinley High School and Let Hawaii Have an Olympic Team. The links are below. And help blast these both over social media.
The U.S. presence in the Hawaiian Islands is neither legitimate or immutable.
The more we stand as a nation; the more we assert the Hawaiian Kingdom is alive and kicking; the more we expose U.S. claims as false; the sooner we will be a Free Hawaii.-
Sign these petitions…
Rename McKinley High School and remove the McKinley statue! They told us we were adopted but then we found out we had been kidnapped! To honor the abductor as if he’s a hero is creepy and bizarre. Sign this online petition NOW! Tell everyone you know to sign it too! -
http://tinyurl.com/AlohaOeMckinley
Let Hawaii Have an Olympic Team! Surfing has been added to the Olympic Games, but Hawaii is not being allowed to participate as a nation. That means Hawaii’s surfers will be forced to surf for the USA instead of for Hawaii, like they normally do. We are working to change that. Sign the Hawaii in the Olympics petition NOW! Tell everyone you know to sign it too! -
http://change.org/p/the-international-olympic-committee-let-hawaii-have-an-olympic-team
Please Send Kokua
Your kōkua, large or small, is vital to this effort...To contribute, go to:
GoFundMe – CAMPAIGN TO FREE HAWAII
PayPal – use account email: info@HawaiianKingdom.net
To contribute in other ways (airline miles, travel vouchers, professional services, etc...) email us at:
info@HawaiianKingdom.net
Also...
Check out the great FREE HAWAII products you can purchase at...
http://www.robkajiwara.com/store/c8/Support_Human_Rights.html
All proceeds are used to help the cause.
Malama Pono,
Leon Siu
Hawaiian National
-----------------
http://freehawaii.blogspot.com/2021/06/ke-aupuni-update-june-2021-keeping-in_26.html
Free Hawaii blog SATURDAY, JUNE 26, 2021
KE AUPUNI UPDATE - JUNE 2021
Keeping in touch and updated on activities regarding the restoration of Ke Aupuni o Hawai`i, the Hawaiian Kingdom. Ua Mau Ke Ea O Ka `Aina I Ka Pono
July 4th and the McKinley Stigma
While Americans celebrate July 4 as their Independence Day, the date means quite the opposite to Hawaiians and many other peoples around the world, because this year, July 4 will mark the 123rd anniversary of the start of America’s overseas imperialism.
July 4, 1894 was the day the Republic of Hawaii proclaimed itself to be the government of the Hawaiian Islands for the sole purpose of handing Hawaii over to the U.S.
July 4, 1898 was the day the U.S. Congress passed the infamous “Newlands Resolution” purporting to annex the Hawaiian Islands.
In both July 4th actions, the perpetrators virtually gave themselves permission to take over the Hawaiian Islands. Thatʻs like someone saying to you, “I now own you and your home because I wrote a document yesterday that says I own you and your home.” Preposterous, right? But that is essentially what happened to Hawaii…
On July 7, 1898, three days after Congress passed the Newlands Resolution, President William McKinley eagerly signed the bogus measure. And five days after that, on July 12, an annexation ceremony was held at ʻIolani Palace in Honolulu where the leaders of the four-year-old fake “Republic of Hawaii” committed high treason by handing over control of the Hawaiian Islands to the United States of America.
Thatʻs the real legacy of July 4th in Hawaii. Not independence, but subjugation.
The McKinley Stigma
When the U.S. took over, the schools of the Hawaiian Kingdom’s education system (one of the best in the world) were used to indoctrinate students to: 1) forget the truth of what happened, and 2) embrace America as their mother country.
Years passed, and all vestiges of Hawaiian national identity, and much of Hawaiian culture disappeared. Generations of Hawaii’s children became patriotic Americans. The top public school in the islands, Honolulu High School, was renamed President William McKinley High School and became the flagship of the propaganda program to inculcate the American way.
While the academic achievements and corps dʻesprit of the high school is undeniable and admirable, the name McKinley, from what is now known about the man, is an anathema that perpetuates a monumental lie — that Hawaii was annexed by the United States. What happened to Hawaii was a ruthless hijacking, not an annexation.
President McKinley not only violated the sovereignty of the Hawaiian Kingdom, he unleashed a virulent brand of American imperialism that caused havoc and untold death and destruction all over the world for the past 123 years.
As long as the school bears the name of President McKinley, it will bear the stigma of the fake annexation and his abusive policies of American imperialism.
Removing the stigma of the McKinley name would serve to: preserve the merits, dignity and legacy of the students, faculty and staff of the school itself; set the record straight with historical accuracy; maintain the integrity of the Stateʻs education system (by not teaching a curriculum of falsehoods); and serve as a significant step toward truth and reconciliation to the generations of Hawaiians who suffered from the loss of their country.
These are just some of the compelling reasons “President William McKinley High School” should revert to the name, “Honolulu High School.”
The U.S. presence in the Hawaiian Islands is neither legitimate nor immutable.
The more we stand as a nation; the more we assert the Hawaiian Kingdom is alive and kicking; the more others will begin to see a Free Hawaii emerge.
Sign these petitions…
Rename McKinley High School and remove the McKinley statue! They told us we were adopted but then we found out we had been kidnapped! To honor the abductor as if he’s a hero is creepy and bizarre. Sign this online petition NOW! Tell everyone you know to sign it too! -
TinyURL.com/AlohaOeMckinley
Let Hawaii Have an Olympic Team! Surfing has been added to the Olympic Games, but Hawaii is not being allowed to participate as a nation. That means Hawaii’s surfers will be forced to surf for the USA instead of for Hawaii, like they normally do. We are working to change that. Sign the Hawaii in the Olympics petition NOW! Tell everyone you know to sign it too! -
Change.org/p/the-international-olympic-committee-let-hawaii-have-an-olympic-team
Please Send Kokua
Your kōkua, large or small, is vital to this effort...To contribute, go to:
GoFundMe – CAMPAIGN TO FREE HAWAII
PayPal – use account email: info@HawaiianKingdom.net
To contribute in other ways (airline miles, travel vouchers, professional services, etc...) email us at:
info@HawaiianKingdom.net
Also Check out the great FREE HAWAII products you can purchase at
http://www.robkajiwara.com/store/c8/Support_Human_Rights.html
All proceeds are used to help the cause.
Malama Pono, Leon Siu, Hawaiian National
------------------
https://iskh447eqhe3kks2q2rvzg06-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/KaWaiOla-July2021.pdf
Ka Wai Ola [OHA monthly newspaper] Vol. 38 No. 7, July 2021, pg. 25
What if Hawaiians had Control Over the Assets They are Entitled to?
by Keli‘i Akina, Trustee at-large
Sometimes, it’s good to dream about different futures. That’s one way we can find new solutions to today’s problems. So, I’d like to explore a possibility and ask the question: “what if?“
What if Hawaiians had exclusive control over the lands and assets to which we are entitled? What if that could ensure a better future for everyone, both Hawaiians and non-Hawaiians?
An analysis of the present situation tells us that Hawaiians are not in exclusive control of assets to which they are entitled.
For example, Hawaiians are entitled to 20% of Public Land Trust revenues, frequently referred to as ceded land revenues. Hawaiʻi state legislators, at the time, estimated that $15.1 million dollars per year roughly equated to 20%, but that figure was always meant to be an interim amount until an accurate accounting could be done. Despite OHA’s efforts to increase Native Hawaiians’ pro-rata share of public lands trust revenues, only $15.1 million annually goes into the Native Hawaiian Trust Fund administered by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA).
So in reality, much of the control over public land trust revenues owed to Hawaiians belongs to the state of Hawaiʻi. And despite its semi-autonomy, even OHA is a state government agency, and that fact results in OHA having certain accountabilities to all state residents, whether Hawaiian or non-Hawaiian.
Another example of Native Hawaiian assets which are not under the control of native Hawaiians are the Hawaiian Homelands, made up of over 200,000 acres across six islands. The reality is that these lands are also not under the exclusive control of Hawaiians, but are administered by another state agency with federal obligations – the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL).
Interestingly, the problem of Hawaiians not having control over Hawaiian assets really isn’t a question of whether Hawaiians have the right to these assets. That question has largely been settled. Nevertheless, two serious problems arise out of this circumstance.
First, Hawaiians are not in control of assets they are entitled to that could materially improve their lives in terms of housing, jobs, education, and healthcare. Even though OHA is committed to increasing its capital contributions to the Hawaiian community to 100% of the $15.1 million allocated to OHA annually, this is still not the full amount Hawaiians are entitled to.
Secondly, the government agencies tasked with distribution and allocation of resources to Hawaiians must deny those resources to non-Hawaiians in order to carry out their mandates. As a result, these agencies may be seen as discriminating against non-Hawaiians, and that can raise constitutional questions.
While these problems have historical roots and seem intractable, what if there were a solution that could solve both? One idea to consider might be to establish a private Hawaiian sovereign land trust, by transferring the government-held assets to which Hawaiians are entitled into a private trust-owned exclusively by Hawaiians.
Individual Hawaiians would be the shareholders of this trust corporation, and it would be devoted to the betterment of the conditions of native Hawaiians. And by not being a state agency, this corporation would make it possible for the government to move out of a potentially discriminatory role.
Again, we are merely brainstorming here, putting on our thinking caps. Many questions must be answered first, and laws would have to be changed. But examples have emerged elsewhere, such as in Alaska where Alaskan Native people individually own shares of their corporation’s stock.
The main thing is that we look to the future and step out of the box to find solutions. Let me know your thoughts!
-----
** Ken Conklin's comments:
First, I disagree with Keli'i's proposal, because I am opposed to racial separatism and racial entitlement programs. I believe ethnic Hawaiians are entitled to the same things as everyone else, regardless of race -- but no special race-based taxpayer-funded "extras."
Although it is true that the State "owes" OHA 20% of ceded land revenues, that's a problem easy to cure. The 20% law is merely a statute passed in 1979 to provide a way to provide money for the newly-created OHA. That law can be repealed on any day the legislature chooses to do so, which is exactly what I have repeatedly recommended to the legislature in my testimony on numerous bills in the last few years that are trying to increase the amount of annual appropriation for OHA to comply with the 20% rule. The then-newly-created OHA should have been funded the same way as any other agency of the State government, through annual or biennial appropriations in the regular budget act. The 20% rule is NOT in the State Constitution, NOT in the admission act; get rid of it and put an end to 40 years of bitter lawsuits.
Although the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act of 1920 (passed in 1921) is now well-settled law, it is not stare decisis -- no court has ever litigated its (un)constitutionality -- Bill Burgess tried, but his lawsuit was dismissed for lack of standing and for the "political question" doctrine (separation of powers - legislative branch and not courts should decide); therefore, all Burgess' arguments can be raised again if some clever lawyer can figure out how to overcome those two "technicalities." In my not-so-humble opinion HHCA was unconstitutional when it was passed in 1921 and remains unconstitutional today; and by now should be "ripe" for action. 14th Amendment equal protection clause.
I think what Keli'i is proposing is comparable to what Mississippi, Alabama, et. al. tried to do after the Brown v. Board of Education decision ordering desegregation of schools -- the Whites, with support of elected officials -- tried to convert the government schools into private schools for Whites exclusively -- similar to Keli'i's proposal: simply take lands and buildings and money currently owned by the government on behalf of all the people, and hand them over to a private "trust" -- can't a government do that just like with any small parcel of land, or charitable grant, given to the YMCA or Boy Scouts or Red Cross etc.? The answer down South is no, can't do that; and I hope the same answer would prevail in Hawaii.
When I read Keli'i's column I was immediately reminded of two prior attempts to do what Keli'i seems to be proposing; and it was easy for me to find documents in my computer's archives from more than 2 decades ago about them. (a) In 1998 Democrat State Rep. Ed Case introduced in the legislature a 123-page “Native Hawaiian Autonomy Act” proposing exactly the sort of privatization now proposed by Akina. It was bitterly opposed by ethnic Hawaiian activists. (b) On Sunday, February 4, 2001 Republican State Sen. Fred Hemmings published a commentary in the Honolulu Advertiser proposing privatization as a way to rescue OHA, DHHL, and other racial entitlement programs from consequences of Rice v. Cayetano ruling. Hemmings' proposal got very little support.
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https://www.staradvertiser.com/2021/07/04/editorial/island-voices/what-fourth-of-july-means-to-hawaiians/
Honolulu Star-Advertiser Sunday July 4, 2021, guest commentary
What Fourth of July means to Hawaiians
By Leon Kaulahao Siu
While Americans celebrate July 4 as Independence Day, the date signifies quite the opposite to many Hawaiians and to people of many countries around the world. This year, July 4 marks the 123rd anniversary of the launch of America’s brand of overseas imperialism.
On July 4, 1894, the traitorous cabal that had seized control of the Hawaiian Kingdom, which proclaimed itself “The Republic of Hawaii,” determined to annex Hawaii to the United States.
On July 4, 1898, having failed twice to annex Hawaii by a proper treaty, the U.S. Congress resorted to passing the “Newlands Resolution” to simulate an annexation.
With both July 4 actions, the perpetrators virtually gave themselves permission to take over the Hawaiian islands. That’s like someone saying to you, “I now own your home because I wrote a document yesterday that says I own your home.” Preposterous, right? But that is essentially what happened to Hawaii.
On July 7, 1898, three days after Congress passed the Newlands Resolution, President William McKinley signed the bogus measure. And five days after that, on July 12, a ceremony was held at Iolani Palace in Honolulu whereby the leaders of the “Republic of Hawaii” continued their high treason and deception by handing over Hawaii to the United States.
Thus, the real legacy of July Fourth in Hawaii is not independence, but the loss of independence. So why does the general public not know this?
Once the U.S. took over, the public education system of the Hawaiian Kingdom (one of the best in the world) was turned into an indoctrination device to: 1) conceal the truth of what really happened to the Hawaiian Kingdom, and 2) seduce generations of Hawaii’s children into embracing America as their mother country.
As the years passed, all vestiges of Hawaiian national identity, and much of Hawaiian culture, faded away. Generations of Hawaii’s children became loyal, patriotic Americans.
A key to the re-education program was changing the name of Honolulu High School to President William McKinley High School. It became the flagship of the propaganda campaign to inculcate the American way. The school’s bronze statue of McKinley holds in its right hand a fictitious, “Treaty of Annexation.”
While the academic achievements and espirit de corps of the high school is undeniable and admirable, the name “McKinley” is an anathema, perpetuating the monumental lie that Hawaii was duly annexed when it was actually ruthlessly hijacked.
That’s like being told you were adopted, but then finding out you had been kidnapped! But now the kidnapper and many victims suffering from Stockholm syndrome, deny anything is wrong and that being abducted was for their own good and Hawaiians should be grateful, forgive, forget and move on.
President McKinley not only oversaw the violation of the sovereignty of the Hawaiian Kingdom, he unleashed a virulent brand of American imperialism that caused havoc, suffering, death and destruction all over the world for the past 123 years.
As long as the school bears the name of President McKinley, it will bear the stigma of the fake annexation and the abusive policies of American imperialism he instigated.
Removing the stigma of the McKinley name would serve to: preserve the merits, dignity and legacy of the students, faculty and staff of the school itself; be truthful and historically accurate; maintain the integrity of the state’s education system (by not perpetuating falsehoods); and serve as an initial step toward truth, reconciliation and recovery for the generations of Hawaiians who suffered from the loss of their country.
Leon Kaulahao Siu is a Hawaiian national, musician, diplomat and advocate for the reinstatement of the Hawaiian Kingdom.
-----
** Ken Conklin's online comment:
What 4th of July means to ALL of us Hawaiians, not merely to those who have a drop of the magic blood:
July 4 is a Quadruple Holiday for Hawaii to Celebrate
July 4, 1776: U.S. created by proclamation of its Declaration of Independence.
July 4, 1894: Republic of Hawaii created by proclamation of its Constitution. Thanks to President Sanford Dole.
July 6, 1898: U.S. Senate, returning from holiday, passes joint resolution by vote of 42-21 accepting the Treaty of Annexation offered by Hawaii and previously passed by U.S. House by vote of 290-91. Thanks to President William McKinley.
July 4, 1960: 50th star officially added to U.S. flag. Thanks to President Dwight Eisenhower. (A star gets added on the first July 4 after the new State's Admission Act is passed and signed.)
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
Yes it does Leon. And it always will.
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https://www.thegardenisland.com/2021/07/04/lifestyles/professor-activist-dr-haunani-kay-trask-dies-at-71/
The Garden Island [Kaua'i] Sunday, July 4, 2021
Professor, activist Dr. Haunani Kay Trask dies at 71
By The Garden Island
HONOLULU — Haunani Kay Trask, a pioneer in the Hawaiian sovereignty movement, devoted scholar and activist, has died at the age of 71.
As a founding member of Ka Lahui Hawai‘i, she was at the forefront of fighting for self-determination, providing numerous writings and speeches about Native Hawaiian rights, institutional racism, gender discrimination and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
A 30-years tenured professor at the University of Hawai‘i-Manoa, Trask was the founding director of the Kamakakuokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies, and is credited with influencing the study of Hawaiian studies for several generations of students over the last three decades.
“I will never forget when she was a guest speaker to my Hawaiian history class my junior year at Kamehameha,” said Brendon Kalei‘aina Lee. “Being able to debate the issue of Hawaiian sovereignty with someone so knowledgeable on the issue was a great honor, and helped to shape who I am today,” he said.
“Professor Trask was a fearless advocate for the Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiians), and was responsible for inspiring thousands of brilliant and talented Hawaiians to come to the University of Hawai‘i,” said Jonathan Kamakawiwo‘ole Osorio, dean of the UH Hawai‘inuiakea School of Hawaiian Knowledge.
”But she also inspired our people everywhere to embrace their ancestry and identity as Hawaiians, and to fight for the restoration of our nation. She gave everything she had as a person to our lahui, and her voice, her writing and her unrelenting passion for justice will, like our queen, always represent our people. E ola mau loa e, Haunani Kay Trask, ‘aumakua of the poet warrior,” said Osorio.
“It’s with a heavy heart that we share the news of Dr. Haunani Kay Trask’s passing today,” said Kekuewa Kikiloi, director of the Kamakauokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies.
”Dr. Trask was a visionary leader of the Hawaiian sovereignty movement and the founding director of Kamakakuokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies at UH at Manoa.
“She served her career as tenured professor in our department, inspiring critical thinking and making important contributions in areas of settler colonialism and indigenous self-determination,” said Kikiloi.
”More importantly, she was a bold, fearless and vocal leader that our lahui needed in a critical time when Hawaiian political consciousness needed to be nurtured. Our center mourns her passing and sends our aloha and to the Trask ‘ohana. Our department remains committed to carrying on the legacy of Professor Trask in educating and empowering the lahui,” Kikiloi said.
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http://freehawaii.blogspot.com/2021/07/ke-aupuni-update-july-2021-keeping-in.html
Free Hawaii blog Saturday July 10, 2021
KE AUPUNI UPDATE - JULY 2021
Keeping in touch and updated on activities regarding the restoration of Ke Aupuni o Hawai`i, the Hawaiian Kingdom. Ua Mau Ke Ea O Ka `Aina I Ka Pono.
The Words That Shook the Nation
“We are not American!” When Haunani Kay Trask declared these words at ʻIolani Palace in 1993 it sent a shockwave through Hawaiʻi nei. Her powerful statement of truth, spoken at that place, at that moment, shredded the curtain of lies that had deceived, concealed and bound us for a century.
She exhorted: “Say it in your heart. Say it when you sleep. We are not American! We will die as Hawaiians. We will never be Americans! … They took our land. They imprisoned our queen. They banned our language. They forcibly made us a colony of the United States... America always says they are democratic? — Lies!”
When Haunani Kay spoke those words, very few of us grasped its full implications. Haunani herself probably did not. Yes, “sovereignty” became the buzz-word for protesting injustices, resisting the taking of our lands, and pushing back against the oppression. The movement grew stronger as we fought the battles. But it took about ten years for us to realize that what we really need to be free is for Hawaii to be restored as an independent country.
Then it took a few more years to understand that since none of the devices that the U.S. used to take control of our nation were lawful in the first place, our sovereignty and independence were never actually lost! The whole thing has been an elaborate scheme, an illusion using smoke and mirrors, to fool us and the entire world into thinking that Hawaiians had willingly joined the United States and became Americans.
Thatʻs why the audacity of those words, “We are not American!” pronounced nearly 30 years ago, were so startling. It was an “aha!” moment that laid out the challenge and inspired a movement that has grown in consciousness, intellect, depth, mana and aloha ʻāina. The lāhui is now a formidable force moving forward with kapu aloha to Free Hawaii and make things pono in our beloved island home. While Americans celebrate July 4 as their Independence Day, the date means quite the opposite to Hawaiians and many other peoples around the world, because this year, July 4 will mark the 123rd anniversary of the start of America’s overseas imperialism.
July 4, 1894 was the day the Republic of Hawaii proclaimed itself to be the government of the Hawaiian Islands for the sole purpose of handing Hawaii over to the U.S.
July 4, 1898 was the day the U.S. Congress passed the infamous “Newlands Resolution” purporting to annex the Hawaiian Islands.
In both July 4th actions, the perpetrators virtually gave themselves permission to take over the Hawaiian Islands. Thatʻs like someone saying to you, “I now own you and your home because I wrote a document yesterday that says I own you and your home.” Preposterous, right? But that is essentially what happened to Hawaii…
On July 7, 1898, three days after Congress passed the Newlands Resolution, President William McKinley eagerly signed the bogus measure. And five days after that, on July 12, an annexation ceremony was held at ʻIolani Palace in Honolulu where the leaders of the four-year-old fake “Republic of Hawaii” committed high treason by handing over control of the Hawaiian Islands to the United States of America.
Thatʻs the real legacy of July 4th in Hawaii. Not independence, but subjugation.
The McKinley Stigma
When the U.S. took over, the schools of the Hawaiian Kingdom’s education system (one of the best in the world) were used to indoctrinate students to: 1) forget the truth of what happened, and 2) embrace America as their mother country.
Years passed, and all vestiges of Hawaiian national identity, and much of Hawaiian culture disappeared. Generations of Hawaii’s children became patriotic Americans. The top public school in the islands, Honolulu High School, was renamed President William McKinley High School and became the flagship of the propaganda program to inculcate the American way.
While the academic achievements and corps dʻesprit of the high school is undeniable and admirable, the name McKinley, from what is now known about the man, is an anathema that perpetuates a monumental lie — that Hawaii was annexed by the United States. What happened to Hawaii was a ruthless hijacking, not an annexation.
President McKinley not only violated the sovereignty of the Hawaiian Kingdom, he unleashed a virulent brand of American imperialism that caused havoc and untold death and destruction all over the world for the past 123 years.
As long as the school bears the name of President McKinley, it will bear the stigma of the fake annexation and his abusive policies of American imperialism.
Removing the stigma of the McKinley name would serve to: preserve the merits, dignity and legacy of the students, faculty and staff of the school itself; set the record straight with historical accuracy; maintain the integrity of the Stateʻs education system (by not teaching a curriculum of falsehoods); and serve as a significant step toward truth and reconciliation to the generations of Hawaiians who suffered from the loss of their country.
These are just some of the compelling reasons “President William McKinley High School” should revert to the name, “Honolulu High School.”
The U.S. presence in the Hawaiian Islands is neither legitimate nor immutable.
The more we stand as a nation; the more we assert the Hawaiian Kingdom is alive and kicking; the more others will begin to see a Free Hawaii emerge.
Sign these petitions…
Rename McKinley High School and remove the McKinley statue! They told us we were adopted but then we found out we had been kidnapped! To honor the abductor as if he’s a hero is creepy and bizarre. Sign this online petition NOW! Tell everyone you know to sign it too! -
TinyURL.com/AlohaOeMckinley
Let Hawaii Have an Olympic Team! Surfing has been added to the Olympic Games, but Hawaii is not being allowed to participate as a nation. That means Hawaii’s surfers will be forced to surf for the USA instead of for Hawaii, like they normally do. We are working to change that. Sign the Hawaii in the Olympics petition NOW! Tell everyone you know to sign it too! -
Change.org/p/the-international-olympic-committee-let-hawaii-have-an-olympic-team
Please Send Kokua
Your kōkua, large or small, is vital to this effort...To contribute, go to:
GoFundMe – CAMPAIGN TO FREE HAWAII
https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-campaign-to-free-hawaii
PayPal – use account email:
info@HawaiianKingdom.net
To contribute in other ways (airline miles, travel vouchers, professional services, etc...) email us at:
info@HawaiianKingdom.net
Also Check out the great FREE HAWAII products you can purchase at...
http://www.robkajiwara.com/store/c8/Support_Human_Rights.html
All proceeds are used to help the cause.
Malama Pono,
Leon Siu
Hawaiian National
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https://www.civilbeat.org/2021/07/peter-apo-how-to-build-a-virtual-hawaiian-nation/
Honolulu Civil Beat Tuesday July 20, 2021
How To Build A Virtual Hawaiian Nation
There is a vast network of outstanding Hawaiian organizations. What's missing is leadership.
By Peter Apo
This is an attempt to map out what I would describe as a virtual Hawaiian nation. Virtual is defined as almost or nearly as described, but not completely. Hawaiian refers to being of Native Hawaiian ancestry. Nation is defined as a large aggregate of people united by common descent, history, culture or language, inhabiting a particular country.
To be clear, the virtual Hawaiian nation I frame here is not intended as a reference to the Hawaiian Nation or Kingdom of Hawaii that was established by King Kamehameha I that did not require Hawaiian ancestry for citizenship.
The virtual Hawaiian nation, composed of the Hawaiian population, is framed by a sprawling network of Hawaiian organizations ensconced across the state. The network is a rather stunning and fascinating kaleidoscope brimming with scores of institutions, organizations, neighborhood-based social networks, and leadership clusters.
The Big Five
The network of organizations underpinning the virtual Hawaiian nation is topped off by what I refer to as the “Big Five” of Hawaiian institutions because of their economic capacity. Sparing you the details of each institution’s purpose, the five include the Kamehameha Schools, Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, Liliuokalani Trust, The Queen’s Health Systems and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.
Each institution is committed to separately mandated missions that service Hawaiian beneficiaries, with the exception of Queen’s which also serves the general public. What is compelling about these five institutions, irrespective of their separate missions, is the enormity of their collective economic capacity. Led by the Kamehameha Schools portfolio, these five institutions have at their collective command millions of dollars in liquid assets and hundreds of thousands of acres of land in fee title.
Community-Based Organizations
There is a vast network of Native Hawaiian community-based organizations, most of them operating as private nonprofits. The better known organizations are The Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs — there are 67 of them, the Native Hawaiian Chambers of Commerce separately organized on Oahu, Maui and Hawaii island, the Hawaiian Homestead Association and the Sovereign Councils of the Hawaiian Homelands Assembly.
The list goes on to include the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement, Polynesian Voyaging Society, Native Hawaiian Hospitality Association, Hawaii Public Charter Schools Network and the Hawaiian studies programs at University of Hawaii Manoa and UH Hilo. Ka Huli Ao at the UH law school also deserves mention.
Then there are four most interesting organizations referred to as the Royal Societies. These four groups were founded by the alii, the ruling chiefs. They are steeped in history and share a common goal of perpetuating Hawaiian culture and traditions.
These are the Royal Order of Kamehameha I and sister organization, Na Wahine Hui O Kamehameha I, the Ahahui Kaahumanu, the Hale O Na Alii of Hawaii, and the Daughters and Sons of Hawaiian Warriors, also known as Mamakakaua.
The Royal Societies provide an important emotional link to the days of royal rule of the Hawaiian Kingdom and a restored sense of cultural dignity. The mix includes a rich assemblage of Hawaiian culturally-based organizations, too many to specify, that include hula, visual arts, literary arts, voyaging arts and canoe racing associations. The Pai Foundation, whose mission is to preserve and perpetuate Native Hawaiian arts and cultural traditions for future generations, is an example.
An important aspect of the network, although not formal organizations, are certain Hawaiian dominated neighborhoods such as Waimanalo, Molokai, Hana, Waianae, Maili, Nanakuli, Makaha, Papakolea, Kekaha, Kau and Milolii to name the most obvious.
Lastly, there is the most fundamental of Hawaiian gathering institutions which are the Christian churches dominated by Hawaiian congregations under Hawaiian leadership. The two most obvious are Kawaiahao and Kaumakapili churches on Oahu.
What links this vast array of Hawaiians across the state is a haunting sense of the unfinished business of the 1893 overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom followed by the 1898 annexation to the United States.
The Future Leads Through The Past
There is an expectation throughout the network that someday the overthrow and annexation needs to be fully addressed. The demand for some form of reconciliation that may include independence, as unlikely as that may seem to some, continues to bubble. In any case, a legitimate political and economic opportunity for the Hawaiian community to exercise a full measure of self-determination needs to be aggressively pursued. Of course, what that full measure might look like depends on who’s turning the kaleidoscope.
The readily apparent three basic political choices that would shift Hawaiians’ status from a virtual to a bona fide nation are: nation within a state, nation within a nation and independence. I would not rule out status quo as a deliberately preferred option by some Hawaiians who are satisfied with the way things are.
I would be remiss not to mention that there was an aha (Hawaiian convention) convened in 2016 that produced a Hawaiian constitution. But absent the resources and voting rights restrictions to ratify the document in a Hawaiians-only vote (cannot use government resources) the document sits waiting.
That constitution could be put on the table as an option. The irony is that it does not directly address any of the options. What it does is mandate a leadership structure to then pursue the options and I assume return to the Hawaiian citizenry for ratification. I expect other models will surface as part of the deliberative process including opening citizenship to non-Hawaiians.
A Call For Leadership
It will not matter how many visions of a Hawaiian future can spring from this vast network of Hawaiian organizations if we cannot find a way to constructively engage each other and agree on a strategy to navigate the steep climb up the mountain to a preferred Hawaiian future shaped by Hawaiians. There is no more important call for leadership than unification.
It’s puzzling that with all the great work occurring in the broad-based network of Hawaiian organizations, the availability of talented Hawaiian leaders in every sector and the availability of resources that could be collaboratively generated, there is a disappointing reluctance of leaders willing to pick up the gauntlet. I would characterize the plight as an ant hill without a queen.
The pandemic presented an opportunity to hit the reset button, reenergize and renew the commitment to righting the wrong of the overthrow, seek justice, activate the virtual nation and navigate a full measure of self-determination wherever that might lead.
OHA Should Serve As Convener
There is one organization, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, constitutionally created in 1978, that I believe was intentionally envisioned to serve as a center of gravity for all things Hawaiian. But OHA cannot be all things to all people.
However, I do believe there was an expectation that OHA would provide, as a priority, a unifying leadership strategy that brought the Hawaiian community together. I can’t think of a more profound mission for OHA to pursue. It would be a great start if they could at least convene with the other four pivotal Hawaiian institutions I characterize as The Big Five and kick start a dialogue. Imua.
About the Author
Peter Apo is a former trustee of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and legislator. He is the president of the Peter Apo Company, a cultural tourism consulting company to the visitor industry. He has also been the arts and culture director for Honolulu, the city’s director of Waikiki Development and served as special assistant on Hawaiian affairs to Gov. Ben Cayetano.
** Ken Conklin's online comment to Apo's article:
The central concept of Mr. Apo's essay is racial separatism, or race-nationalism. Most people should oppose it for the same reasons we oppose White nationalism on the mainland. It's Critical Race Theory Hawaiian Style (see my webpage). In Hawaii's version Whites are still the colonial oppressors; "Native Hawaiians" replace Blacks as victims; Asians (even born and raised here for several generations) are mere "settlers" obligated to work under Hawaiians to overthrow Whites.
I hope most ethnic Hawaiians reject racial separatism and race-nationalism. But if they embrace it then the rest of us have a nasty remedy, which violates the Aloha Spirit in the short term but is unfortunately necessary to defend it in the long run. We Whites and Asians must never vote to elect ethnic Hawaiians, or their spouses, to become officials in state or county government; and lobby elected officials never to appoint Hawaiians or spouses to decision-making administrative positions in government agencies. Because we fear that Hawaiians will use power to grab public lands and resources to privatize them for Hawaiians only. Anyone who dislikes my remedy should oppose Mr. Apo's concept as the cause of it.
** Online comment responding to Conklin's comment, which clearly displays the attitude Conklin was talking about was talking about:
Why/How would it be a Power Grab of (Public) Hawaii Land when the True and Rightful owners/steward of the land are Kanaka Maoli / Kingdom of Hawaii?
How is it somehow incorrect for the guilty party to be in the wrong to receive back that which was forebly[sic] stolen from them to begin with?
Playing the "Race Card", a Western Idea, is a cop-out when injected into a solely "Polynesian" matter. Playing such a game of Cards is an example of Racism in itself, yes?
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http://freehawaii.blogspot.com/2021/07/ke-aupuni-update-july-2021-keeping-in_24.html
Free Hawaii blog Saturday July 24, 2021
KE AUPUNI UPDATE - JULY 2021
Keeping in touch and updated on activities regarding the restoration of Ke Aupuni o Hawai`i, the Hawaiian Kingdom.
Ua Mau Ke Ea O Ka `Aina I Ka Pono.
Invasion!
It was a shock! Suddenly the State of Hawaii threw open the floodgates of tourism and we realized... we have a big problem. Before the Covid shutdown, our islands hosted 10 million visitors a year. It had built up slowly for over a century and even though we complained and wished it were better managed and not so obtrusive, it was what it was. It was the norm we accepted like the proverbial slow-boiling of the frog.
But during the Covid hiatus, we got a glimpse of the Hawaii of our grandparents. During the 15-month-long shutdown, we came to realize what it was like without 12 or so million visitors traipsing through our islands. The ʻāina started to recover and breathe and though times were tough, the pressure of working the tourism plantation and the commercial rat-race began to lift...
Now tourism is roaring back with a vengeance and itʻs worse than before. Virtually nothing was done by the State and the visitor industry to fix the glaring pre-pandemic problems. So now, not only are we being inundated, but many of these post-pandemic visitors are acting like spoiled brats... rude, pushy, disrespectful. It is alarming to even the visitor industry that brought them here, and who is straining to find ways to stop their cash cows from straying out of the designated corrals and overrunning our neighborhoods and sacred places. Itʻs a mess, but...
This is an opportunity for our Lāhui to take note of the crisis and develop solutions and policies that will ensure the future well-being of our nation... What can we do to protect our homes and communities from being trampled by unruly visitors now and in the future? And how we must do it in the spirit Kapu Aloha. Itʻs time to expand Kū Kiaʻi Mauna into... Kū Kiaʻi ‘Aina!
The U.S. presence in the Hawaiian Islands is neither legitimate nor immutable.
The more we stand as a nation; the more we assert the Hawaiian Kingdom is alive and kicking; the more others will begin to see a Free Hawaii emerge.
Sign these petitions…
Rename McKinley High School and remove the McKinley statue! They told us we were adopted but then we found out we had been kidnapped! To honor the abductor as if he’s a hero is creepy and bizarre. Sign this online petition NOW! Tell everyone you know to sign it too! -
TinyURL.com/AlohaOeMckinley
Let Hawaii Have an Olympic Team! Surfing has been added to the Olympic Games, but Hawaii is not being allowed to participate as a nation. That means Hawaii’s surfers will be forced to surf for the USA instead of for Hawaii, like they normally do. We are working to change that. Sign the Hawaii in the Olympics petition NOW! Tell everyone you know to sign it too! -
Change.org/p/the-international-olympic-committee-let-hawaii-have-an-olympic-team
Please Send Kokua
Your kōkua, large or small, is vital to this effort...To contribute, go to:
GoFundMe – CAMPAIGN TO FREE HAWAII
https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-campaign-to-free-hawaii
PayPal – use account email: info@HawaiianKingdom.net
To contribute in other ways (airline miles, travel vouchers, professional services, etc...) email us at:
info@HawaiianKingdom.net
Also Check out the great FREE HAWAII products you can purchase at...
http://www.robkajiwara.com/store/c8/Support_Human_Rights.html
All proceeds are used to help the cause.
Malama Pono, Leon Siu Hawaiian National
-------------------
https://www.facebook.com/kenneth.conklin.10/posts/2330100083791608
Ken Conklin, Facebook page, July 29, 2021
Carissa Moore: Surfing Olympic Gold Medalist, Proud American, Native Hawaiian
Throughout July 2021 Hawaiian sovereignty secessionists grabbed hold of the opportunity to score a propaganda victory in the Olympic surfing competition in Japan. This was the first time that surfing has been one of the games in the Olympics; and everyone acknowledges that surfing was created by Polynesians and engaged in as both sport and spiritual activity by native Hawaiians for many centuries before Captain Cook "discovered" Hawaii. So it's a source of cultural and historical pride that surfers from Hawaii were expected to win medals at the Olympics -- especially four-time world female champion Carissa Moore, who has Hawaiian native ancestry. She ended up easily winning the Gold Medal.
The Hawaiian secessionists launched a political campaign months before the event trying to persuade the International Olympic Committee to allow athletes from Hawaii to compete under the Hawaiian flag instead of under the U.S. flag (even though the secessionists did not ask the medal contenders whether they would actually want to do that). Thus a worldwide audience would see that the International Olympic Committee is at least tacitly endorsing the belief that Hawaii remains an independent nation. People would be made aware of the secessionist version of history, according to which the U.S. staged a military invasion of the Hawaiian Kingdom, overthrew the monarchy, and installed a puppet regime which offered a Treaty of Annexation to the U.S. But the U.S. reached out and grabbed Hawaii through a joint resolution of Congress that was illegal because it was not a treaty and was done without the consent of the [ethnic] Hawaiian people.
The International Olympic Committee refused to allow Hawaii athletes to renounce their U.S. flags and replace them with Hawaiian flags. The IOC did not want the Olympics to be used as a venue for political protests. Nevertheless the secessionists then launched a propaganda campaign in the media to portray the flag issue as a still-active controversy; and using it as a vehicle for "raising awareness" of their claim that Hawaii remains an independent nation which was "kidnapped and not adopted" by the U.S.
The secessionists were astonishingly successful in their propaganda campaign. On July 13, two weeks before the Olympic surfing competition, an article distributed by the increasingly radical leftwing Associated Press was published in many dozens of newspapers throughout the U.S. and other nations, entitled "Olympic surfing exposes whitewashed Native Hawaiian roots: 'It’s the paradox and hypocrisy of colonization'" That article is copied below, in its entirety, with links to where it can be seen in both the Honolulu Star-Advertiser and the online newspaper "Indian Country Today."
Perhaps the most amazing propaganda piece was published by NBC News barely an hour after Carissa Moore won the Gold Medal -- it had clearly been written ahead of time and held to be published regardless of the competition's outcome. This news report is outrageously sympathetic to the secessionists and celebrates the alleged desire of Hawaii's surfers to set aside the U.S. flag and replace it with the Hawaiian flag. What makes this "news report" so amazing is the fact that it was a reporter for that same NBC News, Lester Holt, who had interviewed Carissa Moore immediately after she was triumphantly carried ashore -- a victorious champion in her moment of glory who WAS WEARING A COVID FACEMASK CONSISTING ENTIRELY OF AN IMAGE OF THE U.S. FLAG. That interview was broadcast on TV for all the world to see! Indeed, other photos easily found by Googling "Carissa Moore Gold Medal" show her using both hands to hold a 5-foot wide U.S. flag spread wide behind herself as she was carried ashore laughing and beaming with pride, and also showing that her surfboard, beautifully decorated on one side, has a U.S. flag on its other side. This Native Hawaiian woman is clearly proud to be an American, because she could have chosen not to display any flag, or even a Hawaiian flag, in her facemask, her surfboard, or her background shawl, after the competition was finished, without violating any IOC rules of decorum.
Facebook page displays full text of the NBC News article from July 19-20; then the Associated Press article from July 13; then three photos showing the U.S. flag joyously displayed by Carissa Moore as a shawl over her shoulders during triumphal return to the beach after competition, and on bottom of her surfboard, and as the entirety of her facemask during nationally televised interview with NBC reporter Lester Holt.
https://www.facebook.com/kenneth.conklin.10/posts/2330100083791608
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https://www.kitv.com/story/44426059/hundreds-gather-on-oahu-maui-to-celebrate-la-hoihoi-ea-call-for-hawaiian-sovereignty
KITV News Sunday August 1, 2021
More than 100 people gathered at Thomas Square Park in Makiki Friday to celebrate the 178th annual La Ho'iho'i Ea, or "the return of sovereignty," the first national holiday in the Hawaiian Kingdom.
In 1843, British captain Lord George Paulet illegally occupied Hawai'i for five months, lowering all Hawaiian flags and raising the union jack.
Since Brittain already recognized Hawai'i as its own independent nation, Queen Victoria sent an Admiral named Richard Thomas to nullify Paulet's actions.
On July 31, 1843, Thomas and then reigning Hawaiian monarch Kamehameha 'Ekolu (Kamehameha The Third) Kauikeaouli ended the occupation and raised the Hawaiian flag once again.
The area in which Thomas and Kauikeaouli made the declaration is now known as Thomas Square Park, named for the British admiral.
University of Hawai'i political science professor Noelani Goodyear-Ka'opua described La Ho'iho'i Ea as a reminder to Native Hawaiians to keep resisting what many call the United States' ongoing, illegal occupation of Hawai'i.
"We know that in the case of the U.K., they righted their wrong and so we remember this so that hopefully someday in the future the U.S. will also right their wrongs," Goodyear-Ka'opua added.
More than 200 people on Maui also gathered in Ka'anapali Friday to mark the occasion. One of the organizers told KITV-4 many tourists joined the crowd to learn about Hawaiian history.
During the event, activists also honored the late Haunani-Kay Trask, who died earlier this month, to thank the former University of Hawai'i professor and activist for her work to empower the Native Hawaiian people.
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https://iskh447eqhe3kks2q2rvzg06-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/KaWaiOla-August2021.pdf
Ka Wai Ola [OHA monthly newspaper] August 1, 2021, p.19
Let’s Celebrate on Admission Day!
By Kaleikoa Ka'eo
On Aug. 21, 1959, U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower declared that “the procedural requirements imposed by the Congress on the State of Hawaiʻi to entitle that state to admission to the Union have been complied with in all respects and that the admission of the State of Hawaiʻi into the Union on an equal footing with other states of the Union is now accomplished.”
Te above declaration purports to provide a legal rendering on how Hawaiʻi was made into the 50th State. However, does the evidence and actual political history substantiate Eisenhower’s words?
Tis declaration births the State of Hawaiʻi, granting them the self-recognized power to exercise military and governmental rule over our homeland. Yet, every day, the legality of this power is being questioned.
More and more, Hawaiians and others are examining and analyzing the historical record and legal precedents.
The research is overwhelming, and we should all recognize:
• That the Hawaiian Kingdom was internationally recognized as a neutral independent nation state.
• That the Hawaiian Islands were never incorporated as a U.S. territory because the U.S. Senate failed to ratify the Treaty of Annexation of Hawaiʻi of 1897.
• That the Newlands Resolution of 1898 was a simple joint resolution passed by the U.S. Congress whose legislative powers were limited to U.S. territory and so it did not have extraterritorial force to unilaterally annex and incorporate the sovereign territory of another recognized nation-state.
When we know this history, it is obvious that the Hawaiʻi Admission Act lacked a juridical foundation and is the by-product of legal fiction.
Notably, there is no evidence that the U.S. Congress possessed supreme extraterritorial powers over the territory of other recognized nation-states. In comparison, could China simply pass its own legislative act with extraterritorial force whereby China could unilaterally annex, say, Tonga, and make it Chinese territory? That would be nonsense.
Our people are awakening and will eventually know that Admission Day rep- resents the same nonsense. What should we do?
We should repurpose Admission Day as a holiday for our lāhui kanaka. Since Admission Day is already an “official” day of, why not commandeer this holiday and transform it into a day of celebration for Hawaiian nationals?
Let’s establish Lā Aloha ʻAina as a holiday to honor our people’s patriotism towards our own nation. Lā Aloha ‘Aina should become a day of conscious resistance to the U.S. military occupation and miseducation programs of deculturation and denationalization. A day to celebrate and recognize all who are engaged in struggles to protect our homeland, to restore our cultural integrity, and to reinstate the re-recognition of our true national consciousness.
Let’s take our power and create an alternative. Let’s boycott all Hawaiʻi Admission Day festivities and organize our own activities dedicated to the re-education and re-culturation of our people.
Lā Aloha ʻAina will disempower and counter the false narrative of Hawaiʻi’s Admission Day. Wouldn’t this day be worthy of support from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs whereby they can set aside resources and commit to providing Lā Aloha ʻAina celebrations across Hawaiʻi?
Let’s make it a day to honor the highest expressions of aloha ‘āina.
Kaleikoa Kaʻeo was born and raised on the island of Maui where he lives with his wife and three keiki in Waiohuli Hawaiian Homestead. Kaʻeo is a graduate of Baldwin High School and UH Mānoa, and is an associate professor at UH Maui College.
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https://iskh447eqhe3kks2q2rvzg06-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/KaWaiOla-August2021.pdf
Ka Wai Ola [OHA monthly newspaper] August 1, 2021, p.19
Seeking Redress for War Crimes Committed Against the Hawaiian Kingdom
Submitted by the AHEC Resolution Committee
In July, a Resolution of Witness was submitted to the General Synod 2021 by the Association of Hawaiian Evangelical Churches (AHEC) of the Hawaiʻi Conference United Church of Christ (UCC).
AHEC is comprised of 30 Native Hawaiian churches founded before the belligerent illegal occupation began in the Hawaiian Kingdom on Jan. 17, 1893, and six partnership ministries.
The General Synod is the main governing body of the UCC which meets biennially. The UCC is includes about 800,000 members in 4,852 congregations, whose demographic is 83.8% White/Euro-American and 3.9% Asian/Pacifc Islander.
On July 18, delegates representing the UCC passed the Native Hawaiian resolution with 328 votes approved, 122 votes against and 34 votes abstained. The 72.9% vote approval surpassed the 66.67% super majority threshold for the resolution to pass.
The resolution calls upon all settings of the church, denomination officers, conferences, associations, and congregations to “live into the 1993 apology of the United Church of Christ delivered to the Native Hawaiian people” by President Paul Sherry.
The UCC General Council, which is the legal representative of the UCC, and the AHEC, will work together to draft communication to local, national and international leaders and organizations calling for compliance with international humanitarian law and an end to the illegal occupation of the Hawaiian Islands.
The UCC reaffirms its commitment to support efforts of Native Hawaiians to seek redress and restitution for the war crimes of the U.S. against the Hawaiian Kingdom including, but not limited to, the crime of denationalization.
The UCC Board will provide a written and oral update on the progress on the implementation of this resolution for the next General Synod in two years.
Church members and delegates, reflecting on the passing of this resolution as the will of God and in God’s time, acted to correct a century of war crimes against the Hawaiian people by calling for an end to the belligerent illegal occupation of the Hawaiian Kingdom.
As it is written in Exodus 20:16, “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.”
For over a century, the pandemic of white supremacy committed the war crime of denationalization against the entire population by obliterating the national consciousness of the Hawaiian people.
“You shall not spread a false report. You shall not join hands with a wicked man to be a malicious witness. You shall not fall in with the many to do evil, nor shall you bear witness in a lawsuit, siding with the many, so as to pervert justice, nor shall you be partial to a poor man in his lawsuit.” (Exodus 23:1-3)
“Through our love for God and the blessings of his presence, this resolution reflects the will and sovereignty of Ke Akua,” said UCC Association Minister Papa Makua Wendell Davis.
The Association of Hawaiian Evangelical Churches Resolution Committee includes Kalaniakea Wilson (chair), Papa Makua Wendell Davis (association minister), Kahu Ronald Fujiyoshi, Kahu Kaleo Patterson, and Gloria Pualani Muraki.
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https://www.staradvertiser.com/2021/08/06/editorial/5-questions-with/kuhio-lewis-president-of-cnha-promotes-pop-up-makeke-and-other-initiatives-to-help-native-hawaiian-businesses-thrive/
Honolulu Star-Advertiser Friday August 6, 2021
Five questions with ...
Kuhio Lewis: President of CNHA promotes Pop-Up Makeke and other initiatives to help Native Hawaiian businesses thrive
Besides the work on rent and utility assistance, what CNHA programs have an impact on non-Hawaiians as well as Native Hawaiians?
CNHA strives to create a positive impact and to build a more resilient community by supporting Native Hawaiians and all of Hawaii.
During the pandemic, CNHA helped organize and promote COVID-19 vaccinations through partnerships with health care organizations. We brought inoculation efforts into underserved communities and to kupuna statewide.
We developed Pop-Up Makeke — a virtual marketplace supporting hundreds of Hawaiian and non-Hawaiian small Hawaii-based businesses. The initiative has so far put more than $2.5 million into the hands of business owners.
Our efforts aren’t limited to the pandemic. We offer workforce training through our Hawaiian Trades Academy, entrepreneurial support to aspiring young business owners through our Kealahou Initiative, and business plan development through our Ku Hana program, to name a few.
CNHA also provides scholarships, loans and grants to locals seeking financial assistance, as well as HUD counseling for individuals and families whose goal is to own, rent, maintain or finance a home. We also work diligently, and alongside our 400-plus member based organizations.
How do you see the future for Pop Up Makeke? An independent online marketplace? Or under CNHA?
Pop-Up Makeke is one way we kako‘o our locally owned businesses and vendors. We are extremely proud of how Pop-Up Makeke has grown and evolved — providing our Hawaii-based vendors with support and opportunities.
We are always trying to improve on our initiatives and we’ve started to do that with Pop-Up Makeke. Early on, we realized we had to get creative — not just to make a vision a reality, but to shift courses in strategy when we realized the market’s overwhelming success.
We’re always reevaluating and brainstorming ways to further support Hawaii’s community. We hope to continue the market and expand its impact as long as we can. We’re partnering with Amazon and Shopify to expand our global audience to support and showcase Hawaii’s unique brands.
Pop-Up Makeke is also providing business owners the guidance they need to grow and become self-sustaining. Participating vendors can take part in CNHA programs and courses so their businesses can thrive beyond the pandemic.
The future of the Pop-Up Makeke will be decided based on the best path to support our local businesses.
What is the organization’s role in workforce development and trades?
CNHA strives to bolster the core of Hawaii families by helping our community members secure well-paying careers that improve their likelihood at surviving in our homeland.
We launched the Hawaiian Trades Program in 2019 — a development program for disadvantaged and underserved communities. It’s a 40-hour-long course that gives students an opportunity to specialize and earn their licenses or certificates in various trades, including carpentry and solar work, as well as the police and firefighting force.
To date, over 260 students have successfully completed the program and are well on their way to providing much needed stability for their families.
How do Native Hawaiian political movements fit in with your overall program?
An important role of CNHA is to elevate the voices of our community and facilitate conversations about the future of our collective advancement.
Each year, CNHA hosts the Native Hawaiian Convention, the largest convening of Native Hawaiians in Hawaii. At these gatherings, leaders share, collaborate, brainstorm and develop priorities that speak to our advancement as a community. These priorities become the backbone of CNHA’s advocacy throughout the year.
How has the mission changed for the Council in its 20 years, if at all?
The mission remains. How we achieve our mission has evolved. As we look to the next 20 years, we will focus our energy on building the capacity of our membership, businesses and nonprofit organizations utilizing innovation, education and motivation to help our community as a whole.
THE BIO FILE
>> Title: President and chief executive officer, Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement (CNHA).
>> Professional experience: Operational management experience in nonprofit and government services, including the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, the Kapolei Community Development Corporation, and now, managing, creating and realizing the vision for Hawaii’s largest community development financial institution (CDFI). Helping to shape economic development through an e-commerce hub, Pop-Up Makeke.
>> Community work: I proudly live in the community I am committed to serve. When I am not in the office, I am actively involved as the vice president of Kanehili Community Association, director of the Hawaii Civic Club of Honolulu, and as an adviser to Halewai‘olu Senior Residences.
>> Personal: I am a proud single dad.
>> One more thing: There is a plaque I placed on the Administration Building at Honolulu Community College that reads, “Failure is not an option; Persist and you will always be successful.” This has been a theme that I have come to live by.
>> Guilty pleasure: I still play video games on my Xbox — and I love it!
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https://www.staradvertiser.com/2021/08/09/hawaii-news/native-hawaiian-leader-speaks-with-biden-harris-about-economic-development-visibility
Honolulu Star-Advertiser Monday August 9, 2021
Native Hawaiian leader, Kuhio Lewis, speaks with Biden, Harris about economic development, visibility
The Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement CEO spoke Thursday at the White House
By Jayna Omaye
A Native Hawaiian leader Thursday got a rare opportunity: a chance to speak with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris in person about economic development, visibility and other issues that affect the islands’ Indigenous communities.
Kuhio Lewis, president and CEO of the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement, was part of a group of about a dozen Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander leaders that Biden and Harris invited to the White House. The 1-1/2-hour meeting delved into issues such as anti-Asian hate crimes, economic opportunity, voter rights and immigration reform. The initiative was part of Biden’s pledge to work more closely with Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, particularly in the wake of anti-Asian hate crimes across the country. Lewis was the only Native Hawaiian at the meeting. It was his first time meeting Biden.
“I knew that being in that room, it was important to represent the diversity of our Native Hawaiian community,” said Lewis, whose nonprofit supports and advocates for the cultural, economic, political and community development of Hawaiians. “This was an opportunity to focus on how to stabilize our community.”
As more Hawaiians move to the mainland because they can’t afford Hawaii’s high cost of living, Lewis said he chose to talk about economic development, an issue that affects most of the community in some way. He also thanked Biden for the appointment of Krystal Ka‘ai to lead the White House Initiative on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, but added that there still is much more work to be done.
“I said that Hawaiians have been invisible to our nation for too long. We want to be part of the solution,” he said. “We want to look at how we can have greater access and equality for Hawaiians.”
Lewis said the invitation to attend the White House meeting came unexpectedly. He had recently returned home from a trip to Washington, D.C., to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act with federal leaders. During that time he and other Hawaiian leaders hosted a breakfast and invited White House staffers. Then the call from the White House inviting him to speak to Biden and Harris came Monday, and Lewis was on a flight and arrived in Washington on Tuesday night.
He said he hopes this is the start of many more discussions to come with Biden, Harris and other federal leaders.
“My ask to the president was that he help us be less invisible, that we have greater access and representation, and to continue dialogue,” Lewis said. “He definitely kept the door wide open to having continued communication.”
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Jayna Omaye covers ethnic and cultural affairs and is a corps member of Report for America, a national service organization that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues and communities.
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** Ken Conklin's online comment:
On Friday newspaper editor Vicki Viotti authored a puff-piece entitled "Kuhio Lewis: President of CNHA promotes Pop-Up Makeke and other initiatives to help Native Hawaiian businesses thrive." The article potrayed CNHA as a benign group that "strives to create a positive impact and to build a more resilient community by supporting Native Hawaiians and all of Hawaii." And now, 3 days later, we have this news report about Lewis meeting at White House with Pres Biden, VP Harris, and other leaders, supposedly just to seek economic development and greater visibility for Hawaii's "indigenous communities." How sweet and innocent that sounds! Folks, fasten your seat belts for a wild ride ahead.
20 years ago CNHA was created as a consortium of powerful, wealthy ethnic Hawaiian institutions for the main purpose of pushing the Akaka bill to create a federally recognized Hawaiian tribe. Sen. Inouye, his handmaidens the Danner sisters (from Alaska), Alaska oil interests, and Alaska tribes played a major role in running CNHA's first annual convention, where new UH Pres. Evan Dobelle was keynote speaker -- he promised to enlist UH as a weapon in service to Hawaiian sovereignty, and then greatly increased the budget and staffing of Center for Hawaiian Studies. 2000-2012 the Akaka bill was always active in Congress, while editor Vicki Viotti published one after another article pushing the Akaka bill and reporting it was on the brink of being passed -- thank God it always failed. Now here we go again, under the cover of an agent for a nationwide gang of propagandists who "place journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues and communities."
On his way out in 2016, Obama (with Vice Pres Biden), helped by Assistant Sec. of Interior Esther Kia'aina (now City Council member), proclaimed massive regulation 43CFR50 providing pathway for federal recognition of Hawaiian tribe. That regulation remains in place as a sleeper agent waiting to be activated under direction of Biden and new Sec of Interior who is tribal leader. Dems control both House and Senate, and might choose to pursue legislative path in case DOI regulation doesn't work out. CNHA now meets with Pres. Biden. Here comes the Hawaiian tribe with heap big wampum, as editor Viotti cheers them on.
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https://www.khon2.com/local-news/congresswoman-teresa-fernandez-visits-big-island-with-hawaii-congressional-representatives/
KHON2 TV News Friday night August 13, 2021
Congresswoman Teresa Fernández visits Big Island with Hawaii congressional representatives
HILO, Hawaii (KHON2) — Congressman Kaiali’i Kahele hosted Congressman Ed Case and Congresswoman Teresa Leger Fernández of New Mexico in Hilo.
She is the chair of the House Natural Resources Subcommittee for Indigenous Peoples of the United States.
They talked about Native Hawaiians issues including the importance of continuing to keep Hawaiian Homelands preserved. They visited homestead communities in Pana’ewa and Keaukaha.
Ceremony marks 100th anniversary of Hawaiian Homes Commission Act
They also toured the University of Hawai’i at Hilo and visited Ka Haka ‘Ula o Keʻelikōlani,, the University’s College of Hawaiian Language center, and the ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center. They also saw the Lyman Museum, which is accredited by the Alliance of American Museums and a Smithsonian affiliate.
Case is also a member of the Subcommittee for Indigenous Peoples of the United States.
** Ken Conklin's note: This subcommittee is the House version of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. This is where the Akaka bill always had its beginning in the House during every new 2-year Congress. It's where Rep Neil Abercrombie began pushing the Akaka bill from 2000 through 2012, and it actually passed the full House 3 times, with Abercrombie leading the floor debate, while the same bill was working its way through the Senate where a Republican "hold" or filibuster stopped it. For many decades one of the two Hawaii members of Congress has sat on this House subcommittee to ensure that "Native Hawaiians" would always be included in bills to benefit the genuine tribes; just as both Senators Inouye and Akaka always sat on the Indian Affairs Committee to accomplish the same mission.
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https://www.bigislandvideonews.com/2021/08/14/hawaiʻi-reps-welcome-chair-of-house-indigenous-peoples-subcommittee/
Big Island Video News, August 14, 2021
Hawaiʻi Reps Welcome Chair Of House Indigenous Peoples Subcommittee
STORY SUMMARY
HILO, Hawaiʻi - New Mexico Congresswoman Leger Fernández oversees the House Natural Resources Subcommittee for Indigenous Peoples of the United States, which deals with Native Hawaiian issues.
(BIVN) – The Chair of the House Natural Resources Subcommittee for Indigenous Peoples of the United States was on Hawaiʻi island on Friday, visiting homestead communities in Panaʻewa and Keaukaha.
New Mexico Congresswoman Teresa Leger Fernández, who heads the only Subcommittee with jurisdiction over American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian issues in the House of Representatives, joined Congressman Kaialiʻi Kahele (D, HI-02) and Congressman Ed Case (D, HI-01) in Hilo. Fernández is also a member of the Congressional Native American Caucus and holds a leadership role with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus as Freshman Representative.
From the office of Rep. Kahele:
As chair, Congresswoman Leger Fernández oversees the sole Subcommittee with exclusive jurisdiction over American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian issues in the House of Representatives. The Subcommittee for Indigenous Peoples of the United States oversees matters ranging from natural resources and land management, ownership, and leasing to Indian health care, tribal criminal justice, development of reservation economies, enhancement of social welfare and improvement of energy efficiency and renewable energy development initiatives on tribal lands. The goal of the Subcommittee is to protect tribal sovereignty and tribes’ authority over their lands and natural resources while empowering tribal communities with enhanced self-governance authorities.
The congressional delegation visited homestead communities in Panaʻewa and Keaukaha and was joined by members of the Hawaiian Homestead Associations on Hawaiʻi Island. The group discussed key priorities for Native Hawaiians including the stability of homestead lessees and the long-term tenancy of beneficiaries of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act (HHCA) and their successors. In recognition of the 100th anniversary of the passage of the HCCA, Kahele introduced H.J. Res. 55, the Prince Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole Protecting Family Legacies Act. The bill consents to a recent amendment to the HHCA enacted by the Hawaiʻi State Legislature in 2017 and signed by the Governor of Hawaiʻi under Act 80. The amendment updates the definition of an eligible successor to an HHCA residential, farming or ranching homestead lease by reducing the blood quantum requirement of a lessee’s spouse, child, grandchild or siblings from one quarter to one thirty-second Hawaiian.
Kahele, Leger Fernández and Case toured the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo and visited Ka Haka ‘Ula o Keʻelikōlani, the University’s College of Hawaiian Language, and the ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center. They also toured the Lyman Museum, accredited by the Alliance of American Museums and a Smithsonian affiliate.
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http://freehawaii.blogspot.com/2021/08/ke-aupuni-update-august-2021-keeping-in.html
Free Hawaii blog August 16, 2021
KE AUPUNI UPDATE - AUGUST 2021
Keeping in touch and updated on activities regarding the restoration of Ke Aupuni o Hawai`i, the Hawaiian Kingdom. Ua Mau Ke Ea O Ka `Aina I Ka Pono.
Did anyone notice?
Guess everyone forgot. August 12 came and left without anyone noting it was the 123rd anniversary of the so-called “annexation” of "Hawaii" by the U.S. You would think it was a big deal, but did we hear anyone from the State of Hawaii or the U.S. or the media mention it? Of course not.
Talking about the annexation makes them nervous. It's tough to maintain a lie when people know the truth. And what if someone asks to see the actual “Treaty of Annexation”? Will they point to the McKinley statue and say, "There it is!"?
If anything was annexed, it was the illegitimate, rogue Republic of Hawaii, falsely claiming to be the successor to the Hawaiian Kingdom, while passing stolen goods to their partner in crime, the USA…
On that 12th day of August, 1898, the Queen and all who were loyal to the Hawaiian Kingdom stayed home and mourned, while the traitors and thieves and their American collaborators celebrated at ʻIolani Palace by taking down and desecrating the Hawaiian Kingdom flag (cutting it to pieces for souvenirs) and raising in its place, the flag of the backstabbing United States of America.
Thus, began not only the prolonged American occupation of the Hawaiian Islands, but the hatching of a greedy and ruthless American foreign policy to bully countries into submission to American interests, even if economies are ruined, lands decimated and people die in the process.
This is the legacy of President William McKinley who, by falsely “annexing” Hawaii in 1898 and, in getting away with it, started the destructive and deadly policy of pushing America’s interests first, no matter what.
A Sad Note: Today, Kabul will fall and many Afghans who believed the U.S. was there to protect and help them will die. It will be yet another disastrous bloodbath of America’s failed foreign policy.
And to think it was kicked off with the celebration at ‘Iolani Palace on Annexation Day...
By The Way August 21 is “Statehood Day”... an even bigger historical event that the State of Hawaii no longer celebrates… or anyone else for that matter. Itʻs hard to keep up pretenses and celebrate something when everyone knows it’s a total lie!
The U.S. presence in the Hawaiian Islands is neither legitimate nor immutable.
The more we stand as a nation; the more we assert the Hawaiian Kingdom is alive and kicking; the more others will begin to see a Free Hawaii emerge.
Sign this petition:
Rename McKinley High School and remove the McKinley statue! They told us we were adopted but then we found out we had been kidnapped! To honor the abductor as if he’s a hero is creepy and bizarre. Sign this online petition NOW! Tell everyone you know to sign it too! -
TinyURL.com/AlohaOeMckinley
Please Send Kokua
Your kōkua, large or small, is vital to this effort...To contribute, go to:
GoFundMe – CAMPAIGN TO FREE HAWAII
https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-campaign-to-free-hawaii
PayPal – use account email:
info@HawaiianKingdom.net
To contribute in other ways (airline miles, travel vouchers, professional services, etc...) email us at:
info@HawaiianKingdom.net
Also Check out the great FREE HAWAII products you can purchase at
http://www.robkajiwara.com/store/c8/Support_Human_Rights.html
All proceeds are used to help the cause.
Malama Pono,
Leon Siu, Hawaiian National
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https://www.staradvertiser.com/2021/08/17/hawaii-news/native-hawaiian-homestead-leader-to-reopen-washington-d-c-office-full-time
Honolulu Star-Advertiser August 17, 2021
Native Hawaiian homestead leader, Robin Danner, to reopen Washington, D.C., office full time
By Jayna Omaye
** Photo caption
“It’s time for Native Hawaiians to have a presence there and to be seen, to be visible and to be able to more quickly engage with our federal government.”
Robin Danner, Chairwoman, Sovereign Council of Hawaiian Homestead Associations
The largest statewide organization representing all Native Hawaiian homestead beneficiaries will soon have a bigger presence in Washington, D.C.
Robin Danner, chairwoman of the Sovereign Council of Hawaiian Homestead Associations, will move from Kauai to the nation’s capital next month to reopen the advocacy group’s office. This marks the first time in the organization’s 34-year history that it will have full-time representation on the Hill.
“It’s time for Native Hawaiians to have a presence there and to be seen, to be visible and to be able to more quickly engage with our federal government,” said Danner, who was elected SCHHA’s chairwoman in 2015. “I’m excited. I love Washington, D.C. I love democracy and engaging in our government, even when it’s frustrating.”
Founded in 1987, SCHHA, which represents and advocates for the nearly 10,000 Native Hawaiians living on homestead lots and the more than 28,000 on the wait list under the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, opened a Washington office in 2015 which was staffed part time by Danner, interns and fellows but temporarily closed it last year due to the pandemic. Danner said prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, she traveled to the nation’s capital three to five times a year, for about a week or two at a time, to advocate for SCHHA’s membership and meet with federal officials.
Once she gets settled and reopens SCHHA’s Washington office, which is within walking distance of the Capitol, Danner said priorities to work on include increasing federal resources for those awaiting homestead lots, advocating for federal legislation that would lower the blood-quantum requirement for many homestead successors to one-thirty second from one-quarter, and helping homestead farmers and ranchers access more U.S. Department of Agriculture programs. From her past trips to Washington, Danner said she’s seen the benefits and progress made when meeting with federal officials in person and that being there full time could improve and speed up the progress. She also said she’s looking forward to working with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ administration.
Long-term goals are to hire more staff to help Danner, including a full-time policy director, she said.
SCHHA also has organized trips in September and November to bring homestead leaders to D.C. to meet with the Hawaii congressional delegation, the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs and officials from the Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Treasury and Agriculture departments. Danner added that depending on the COVID-19 situation, the September meetings may be virtual instead of in person.
It was a difficult decision to move to Washington full time, said Danner, whose youngest child is already in college, but she and her husband made the decision to move because it was the best for SCHHA and its Native Hawaiian membership.
“When the governing council discussed it and asked me, I prayed on it, thought about it and talked to my husband,” she said. “There’s a lot of work to be done that needs to be focused on the nation’s capital. Hoping the federal government understands and sees the 28,000 on the wait list is not a good approach. We have to physically be there and advocate so they have a voice.”
Jayna Omaye covers ethnic and cultural affairs and is a corps member of Report for America, a national service organization that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues and communities.
Honolulu Star-Advertiser
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** 2 online comments by "Mythman" [Fred Trenchard, longtime spokesman for "Chief Maui Loa" of the Hou Hawaiian alleged tribe who asserts that the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act of 1920, passed in 1921, actually constitutes federal recognition of a tribe of ethnic Hawaiians having at least 50% native blood]
Capital N Native Hawaiian definition - anyone able to claim ancestry from an actual native Hawaiian as defined already in federal Indian law. Small n native Hawaiian, the nearest kinship group to the folks found living in the Hawaiian Islands in 1778, the date Cook passed by. Who is funding this push to blend the native Hawaiian with the racial group singled out in Rice 1? Same wealthy missionary royalist entity funding the CNHA and Royal Societies. Danner admits this implicitly when she lists her objectives - merge the KSBE definition with the federal definition by reinventing the federal Indian policy wheel. Not going to happen. What's the problem with making the existing law work as it is?
Danner family part of the Alaskan ANC scheme put together back in the day by Inouye and Ted Stevens, so possible source of funds. Also, Royal societies linked to KSBE are running ops that infiltrated homestead associations. And, There are two groups of citizens who claim they are aboriginal to Hawaii: A small group and a vastly larger one. The claims of the smaller group are genuine but all claims of the bigger group are false. The claims of the smaller group were secured in a finding by the United States Department of the Interior long before Hawaii became a state. The false claims of the larger group are fraudulent. Nevertheless, the larger group has political power in the state based upon ethnicity and the power of Kamehameha Schools Bishop Estate (KSBE) and uses it to dominate and discriminate against the actually indigenous
group as well as deceive and manipulate the public. Also, lately naive and ignorant interns are being used to publish this agenda.....
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** Ken's online comment [broken into 5 parts due to length restriction] after "Mythman"
I agree with Mythman on all his points except for his belief (implied but not stated here) that the small-n group is somehow already federally recognized under Hawaiian Homes Commission Act of a century ago.
Let me stress a couple of points:
Robin Danner (and sister Jade) was recruited by Dan Inouye, chair of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, to come to Hawaii about 20 years ago from the Alaska tribe (funding from Inouye's committee) where they were living, for the purpose of creating the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement -- a consortium of wealthy, powerful race-based institutions assembled for the purpose of pushing the Akaka bill to create a federally recognized Hawaiian tribe. Alaska North Slope Corporation [big oil money] funded first annual meeting of CNHA. KSBE has net worth of around $15 Billion. Most other members of CNHA are wealthy government-funded groups providing racially exclusionary benefits such as OHA (about $700 Million), DHHL, Papa Ola Lokahi [NH healthcare], Alu Like, etc. Each has an empire depending on govt. money whose racial earmarking is illegal under 14th Amendment but could be made OK under current law if NH could get federal recognition as Indian tribe.
This "new" Washington DC office is not new. OHA[CNHA] had one for many years. OHA "trustees" [misnomer: OHA is not a "trust" under trust law] often flew to DC to do lobbying for hundreds of Hawaii racial entitlement programs and Akaka bill.
Why opening this reincarnated office right now? Biden's Dept. of Interior head [Haaland] is an Indian, who has already been visited by Danner & CNHA; Dems control House & Senate and now pushing huge bills with gobs of money and power for leftwing projects; Haaland spokeswoman last week came to Hilo to celebrate centennial of HHCA and hosted by Reps Kahele & Case.
Comes now new reporter Jayna Omaye who "covers ethnic and cultural affairs and is a corps member of Report for America, a national service organization that places journalists in local newsrooms." She knows nothing about Hawaii's culture, or history of OHA, CNHA, DHHL, etc. but will nevertheless cover them. Where does she get her information? Whatever she's told by those heavily biased groups and individuals she's reporting on! Who helps her write her articles? The editors of this newspaper who have always favored racial entitlement programs and pushed Akaka bill, who will of course publish what she writes, as long as she writes it the way they tell her to [possibly with some input from her leftwing associates at the shadowy "Report for America" [funded by George Soros?].
CNHA, Danner, et. al. have worked hard for decades to fundamentally transform Hawaii, with help from reporters and editors. They see what's happening in D.C. with trillions of spending and massive empire-building. They see what just happened with Taliban suddenly taking control in Afghanistan. Now is the time for ACTION. Engineer a coup! Pounce!
Here's one small example of false/misleading "reporting" in this "news report": The falsehood is stated twice: once at the beginning and again in the middle -- a typical propaganda technique, or else a way for a cub reporter to fill space when there's not enough content.
"The largest statewide organization representing all Native Hawaiian homestead beneficiaries ...SCHHA, which represents and advocates for the nearly 10,000 Native Hawaiians living on homestead lots and the more than 28,000 on the wait list under the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act ..".
Whoa! SCHHA does NOT represent or speak for the 10,000 nor for the 28,000 -- SCHHA (and Omaye) is arrogant enough to make that claim and would like you to believe it, but it is false. SCHHA is one advocacy group but there are other competing groups, nobody represents all those people. Other groups, plus other NH not on the list at all, plus the 80% of Hawaii's people who lack a drop of the magic blood, need to step forward and be heard.
** Another commenter asked:
I would like to know how they justify lowering the successor blood quantum from 1/4 to 1/32, skipping over even 1/8. I think when your time is up, you get out and let another family enjoy the spot because land is limited. Unless you plan to open up land for every Hawaiian family, people have to move off the land and let somebody else in. When you choose to marry non-Hawaiian, that's your choice. I think lowering the quantum will open the flood gates of corruption. Anxious to hear what others believe.
** Conklin's reply:
Why lower quantum to 1/32? Tycoons of Hawaiian racial entitlements claim that was the level Kuhio himself wanted, but, they say, sugar barons & White racists forced him to agree to 1/2 to get bill passed. They say it's guaranteed genocide by arithmetic because as years go by the number of 50%ers will dwindle down to zero. Clever White racists!
To get an initial lease you still need 1/2. To inherit a lease you now need only 1/4 as passed by legislature & approved by Congress a few years ago. Greed now wants to make it 1/32. Idea is that current leaseholders can pass down lease to kids, grandkids, great-grandkids, g-g-grandkids; then water it down to 1/64/, 1/128, etc. No more phase-out genocide by arithmetic.
The BIG reason is to restore ancient culture & modern greed: have a core group of high-ranking ali'i families hang onto all available lands forever, while the ever-growing inferior ranks of maka'ainana and kauwa are forever frozen out. Undesirable riff-raff need not apply.
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https://hawaiiankingdom.org/blog/correcting-revisionist-history-of-the-1848-great-mahele/?fbclid=IwAR25-SM8ce6WzoR_1POt58Gcwg2WYp7OfubABkvHDGbiibZniyJUTZ2_moE
Hawaiian Kingdom Blog August 25, 2021
Weblog of the acting government of the Hawaiian Kingdom presently operating within the occupied State of the Hawaiian Islands.
[** Keanu Sai blog]
Correcting Revisionist Hawaiian History: The 1848 Great Māhele
** Excerpts displaying how this independence activist trashes the scholarly work of several tribalist leaders whose scholarship is used as evidence of U.S. colonial oppression when lobbying U.S. government officials for federal recognition of a Hawaiian tribe.]
** Keanu Sai provides names of chiefs who signed a petition to U.S. President Grover Cleveland dated December 27, 1893; and excerpts from their petition saying that the missionaries did good work that benefitted natives, and the creation of fee-simple land ownership was freely proclaimed by the King, chiefs, and commoners.
These historical facts run counter to the common recital today that the United States and American missionaries controlled Hawaiian Kingdom, from the King down, to the detriment of the commoner class of people. The “evil” missionaries became the common trope that they, not the Hawaiians, controlled the kingdom.
Examples of this targeting of the kingdom is Professor Sally Merry in her 2000 book Colonizing Hawai‘i: The Cultural Power of Law, where she states, “the relationship between Euro-Americans and Native Hawaiians was a classical colonial relationship [that sought] to transform the society of the indigenous people and subsequently wrested political control from them.” In his 2002 book, Dismembering Lāhui, Professor Jon Osorio concluded the Hawaiian Kingdom “never empowered the Natives to materially improve their lives, to protect or extend their cultural values, nor even, in the end, to protect that government from being discarded,” because the system itself was foreign and not Hawaiian.
Dr. Robert Stauffer, in his 2004 book, Kahana: How the Land Was Lost, writes, “the government that was overthrown in 1893 had, for much of its fifty-year history, been little more than a de facto unincorporated territory of the United States…[and] the kingdomʻs government was often American-dominated if not American-run.” And Professor Noenoe Silva, in her book, Aloha Betrayed: Native Hawaiian Resistance to American Colonialism, concluded that the overthrow “was the culmination of seventy years of U.S. missionary presence.” These conclusions have no basis in relevant historical facts nor in relevant laws.
A particular trope constantly recited is that the 1848 Great Māhele or Great Land Division was controlled by the missionaries that dispossessed the commoner of their lands. There are no historical records from the nineteenth century that says the Māhele was a disaster. It was a fiction invented in Lilikalā Dorton’s 1986 doctoral dissertation titled, Land and the Promise of Capitalism: A Dilemma for the Hawaiian Chiefs of the 1848 Māhele. She later changed her last name to Kame‘eleihiwa and her dissertation was published as a book in 1992 titled Native Land and Foreign Desires: Pehea Lā E Pono Ai?
This subjective conclusion that the Māhele was a “tragic historical event” was Kame‘eleihiwa’s own making. Historians did not call this historical event as tragic. Kame‘eleihiwa draws attention to Marion Kelly who, in her M.A. thesis in anthropology, “placed a new emphasis on the effect of the Māhele on the maka‘ainana Hawaiian (commoner).” Kelly introduced the framing of Hawaiian land tenure to be a conflict between the missionaries and chiefs, as the bourgeoise, and the Hawaiian commoner as the proletariat. Kame‘eleihiwa sought to confirm this bias. Osorio also hints at the hypothesis that guided Kame‘eleihiwa’s research. In his book, he writes:
As significant an event as the Mahele has proven to be, historians have seen it as a way of making specific indictments either of Ali‘i or of colonialism. No one disagrees that the privatization of lands proved to be disastrous for Maka‘ainana [commoners], yet the focus of every study, from John Chinen’s 1958 work to Kame‘eleihiwa in 1992, has been to try and establish the principal responsibility for its “failure.”
The underlying basis for the “failure” of the 1848 Māhele is explained by Kame‘eleihiwa where she alleges that the commoner class only received “a total of 28,658 acres of Land [in fee-simple], which is less than 1 percent of the total acreage of Hawai‘i.” This alleged travesty of the commoners would then be attributed to the western legal systems that commoners could not understand or comprehend because of their traditional political and social relationships. According to Kame‘eleihiwa, the “vast majority of Native Hawaiians simply did not understand the capitalist uses of private ownership of ‘Āina (land): they did not know how to use ‘Āina to increase their wealth.”
Osorio accepted this as a historical fact by stating that the “single most critical dismemberment of Hawaiian society was the Māhele or division of lands and the consequent transformation of ‘āina into private property between 1845 and 1850.” Osorio restates Kame‘eleihiwa’s numbers and adds the “failure” of governance to the “failure” of land distribution, which he concluded happened in 1851. According to Osorio, the “haole (white foreigner) were insinuating themselves to fill the spaces created by that dismemberment. They began with oaths of allegiance, they progressed to recognizing themselves as legal titleholders to the land, and they capped it off by taking over the House of Representatives in 1851, after awarding suffrage to haole whether they were citizens or not.” There is no evidence, however, that aliens served in the House of Representatives.
The negotiations of the Māhele began in December of 1847 and certain rules of the division were adopted by resolution in Privy Council on December 18, 1847, which would not only guide the division process, but also contractually bind the King and the Konohikis to adhere to the rules of the division and the right of commoners to acquire a fee-simple title to the lands they occupied under the Konohikis or the Government. The Great Māhele in 1848 did not begin private ownership of lands in Hawai‘i, rather, it was the beginning of private ownership for the Konohikis and commoners who were previously under the ancient system of land tenure.
In the 1882 report by the Surveyor General, he noted that Kamehameha III “showed his deep sympathy with the wants of his people, and set an illustrious example of liberality and public spirit …[and the] whole transaction was a severe test of their patriotism, and reflects great credit on that Hawaiian aristocracy which thus peacefully gave up a portion of its hereditary rights and privileges for the good of the nation.” These statutes also show the liberality with which the Hawaiian government was extended to both the chiefly class and the commoner class.
The Surveyor General also reported that between “the years 1850 and 1860, nearly all the desirable Government land was sold, generally to natives.” Donovan Preza, in his 2010 M.A. thesis on the Great Māhele tallied the number of acreage acquired by the Native within this ten year period to be a remarkable 111,448.36 acres. This number of acreage is in addition to the 28,658 acres that Natives acquired from the Land Commission that Kame‘eleihiwa and Osorio hang theirs hats on as their sole evidence of oppression. By 1893, Natives acquired from the government a total of 167,290.45 acres. This is not evidence of dispossession and oppression of the commoners by the aristocracy and missionaries.
Preza’s thesis not only rebukes Kame‘eleihiwa’s conclusions, which is reflected in its title, The Emperical Writes Back: Re-Examining Hawaiian Dispossession Resulting from the Māhele of 1848, but also undermines Osorio’s reliance on Kame‘eleihiwa’s so-called travesty of the Māhele upon the Natives. What is ironic, to say the least, is that the very Legislature that Osorio accuses of dismemberment was in fact responsible for facilitating the acquisition of lands for those Natives that were not able to file their claim with the Land Commission. What Osorio fails to mention in his book is that it was practice for the House of Representatives to publish a report of their work in the government newspaper, The Polynesian, after the legislative session has ended.
In their address “To the Makaainana of the Hawaiian Islands,” dated June 28, 1851, all twenty-four Representatives begin with, “We, the undersigned, Representatives of the People, feeling it our duty to render an account of the manner in which we have discharged the trust reposed in us, hereby submit to you a summary of the laws, passed during the last session of the Legislature, which we consider of most interest to the People at large.” In particular, they stated:
We have passed an Act for the appointment of agents, in every district where there are Government lands for sale, whose duty it shall be to sell lands to the Makaainanas residing in such districts, in lots of from one to fifty acres, at a minimum price of fifty cents per acre.
Hereafter, there can be but little doubt that each man, not already provided with sufficient land, will become possessed of a small farm. Save your money then, and improve the opportunity, now afforded, of purchasing a homestead for yourselves and families. Those of you who have no kuleanas (fee-simple), or who have neglected to send in your claims, to the Land Commissioners, must not fail to avail yourselves of this privilege.
Kame‘eleihiwaʻs book has been used to teach Hawaiian history in the Middle Schools, High Schools and at the Universities across the globe. This historical invention has become so pervasive and entrenched in the minds of people that if someone were to ask a student of Hawaiian history a question about the Great Māhele, a typical response would be “Whatʻs so Great about it?”
From an academic standpoint, if scholars carefully read Kame‘eleihiwa’s book, they would have seen a glaring red flag that would raise serious concern as to the veracity of her conclusions. Her book is her doctoral dissertation out of the History Department at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. In her book, Kame‘eleihiwa writes, “To those members of the History department who refused to sign off on my ʻbrilliant’ dissertation, let the Lāhui decide who is more skilled in their profession. Soon young Hawaiians—my students—will rise to assume your positions as you fade into the obscurity of footnote trivia.” Her dissertation can be retrieved from the University of Hawai‘i’s Hamilton Library and it shows that two of the committee members, who were tenured in the History Department—Professors Pauline King and Edward Beechert, did not sign off on the dissertation.
http://www2.hawaii.edu/~anu/pdf/Dissertation_Signatures_(Dorton).pdf
What was more concerning was that Professor King was the chair of her committee. She, by the way, was part aboriginal Hawaiian. According to the rules at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, a Ph.D. degree cannot be granted if the Chair of the doctoral committee did not sign off.
Despite Osorio’s failure to directly address in writing his misinterpretations of the Great Māhele and the 1851 House of Representatives in his book Dismembering Lāhui, he did, to his credit, speak to this issue in an online webinar celebrating Lā Kūʻokoʻa (Hawaiian Independence) on November 28, 2020.
https://www.facebook.com/ndncol/videos/207958127499343/
He admitted that the Māhele was “done to protect the hoaʻāina, the makaʻāinana, the people of the land who are not chiefs; to protect their existence on the land, and this is one of the most amazing things about the Māhele, and it was something that I didn’t really understand when I wrote my book. It was something that, really…Professor Keanu Sai makes clear to all of us.”
For a detailed analysis addressing this topic and other subjects of revisionists history at the university, see Dr. Keanu Saiʻs latest publication “Setting the Record Straight on Hawaiian Indigeneity,”
http://www2.hawaii.edu/~anu/pdf/Indigeneity_Sai%20_(HJLP)_Vol_3.pdf
published by the Hawaiian Journal of Law and Politics at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.
http://www2.hawaii.edu/~hjlp/Journal.html
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http://freehawaii.blogspot.com/2021/08/ke-aupuni-update-august-2021-keeping-in_28.html
Free Hawaii blog Saturday August 28, 2021
KE AUPUNI UPDATE - AUGUST 2021
Keeping in touch and updated on activities regarding the restoration of Ke Aupuni o Hawai`i, the Hawaiian Kingdom. Ua Mau Ke Ea O Ka `Aina I Ka Pono.
Words Bind and Words Set Free
Yield or Surrender?
Queen Liliʻuokalaniʻs 183rd birthday is coming up on September 2nd and there will be many stories told and songs sung as we celebrate her remarkable life.
I would like to clear up a misunderstanding about what the Queen did on January 17, 1893. Almost every account you read, hear or view, uses the word “surrender” in describing the Queenʻs action that day, when in fact, she did not surrender.
Liliʻu specifically used the word “yield” not “surrender.” A surrender would indicate a permanent “I give up, you win.” A yield means: Iʻm not going to fight with you, letʻs put this on hold — time-out — so we can straightened this out. This is what she meant — and this is what she wrote:
I, Liliuokalani, by the grace of God and under the constitution of the Hawaiian Kingdom, Queen, do hereby solemnly protest against any and all acts done against myself and the constitutional Government of the Hawaiian Kingdom by certain persons claiming to have established a Provisional Government of and for this Kingdom. That I yield to the superior force of the United States of America, whose minister plenipotentiary, His Excellency John L. Stevens, has caused United States troops to be landed at Honolulu and declared that he would support the said Provisional Government.
Now, to avoid any collision of armed forces, and perhaps the loss of life, I do, under this protest and impelled by said forces, yield my authority until such time as the Government of the United States shall, upon the facts being presented to it, undo the action of its representative and reinstate me in the authority which I claim as the constitutional sovereign of the Hawaiian Islands.
So all of you out there filing lawsuits, lecturing and making documentaries, please donʻt insult the Queen by saying she surrendered. And donʻt insult the patriots who are fighting to restore our nation precisely because our Queen did not surrender, but instead, through her protest and conditional yield, protected our sovereignty and preserved our right to reactivate it.
Apology Resolution or Apology Law?
Likewise, people keep referring USPL 103-150 as “the Apology Resolution” or worse, “the Apology Bill”. It is neither. Itʻs the “Apology Law”. When both houses of Congress pass a Joint Resolution and it is signed by the President, it becomes a law. That’s why it is named USPL (United States Public Law) 103-150. To the U.S., that Apology is the law of the land and, like any other law, is binding.
One More…”Mainland”
While we are at it, let’s stop calling the U.S./America the “Mainland.” “We are not American!” Hawaii is not part of the United States! So let’s not, out of habit, continue to repeat and reinforce the statehood lie by using the “M”-word that indicates subserviency to the U.S. Every time you check yourself from saying “Mainland,” you will be resetting your mind toward a Free Hawaii.
The U.S. presence in the Hawaiian Islands is neither legitimate nor immutable. The more we stand as a nation; the more we assert the Hawaiian Kingdom is alive and kicking; the more others will begin to see a Free Hawaii emerge.
Sign this petition…
Rename McKinley High School and remove the McKinley statue! They told us we were adopted but then we found out we had been kidnapped! To honor the abductor as if he’s a hero is creepy and bizarre. Sign this online petition NOW! Tell everyone you know to sign it too! -
TinyURL.com/AlohaOeMckinley
Please Send Kokua
Your kōkua, large or small, is vital to this effort...To contribute, go to:
GoFundMe – CAMPAIGN TO FREE HAWAII
https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-campaign-to-free-hawaii
PayPal – use account email:
info@HawaiianKingdom.net
To contribute in other ways (airline miles, travel vouchers, professional services, etc...) email us at:
info@HawaiianKingdom.net
Also Check out the great FREE HAWAII products you can purchase at
http://www.robkajiwara.com/store/c8/Support_Human_Rights.html
All proceeds are used to help the cause.
Malama Pono,
Leon Siu
Hawaiian National
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https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/covid-spike-reignites-sovereignty-debate-native-hawaiians-rcna1761
NBC News August 28, 2021
Covid spike reignites sovereignty debate among Native Hawaiians
“There’s a huge split between those who literally want to have a Native governing entity with limited autonomy ... and those who want the U.S. out of Hawaii,” one scholar said.
By Claire Wang
Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders have been reeling from a brutal summer of rising Covid-19 cases and a resource-crippling wave of over-tourism. The crisis has brought attention to a contentious decades-old campaign for federal recognition of a Native Hawaiian government that’s gained strong political support in the past year.
For both supporters and critics of a new Native Hawaiian government, the pandemic has become a platform to build their case for either much-needed economic relief or full separation from the U.S.
In December, after Democrats secured unified control of the White House and Congress, Joe Biden, then the president-elect, backed legislation to re-establish a government-to-government relationship with Native Hawaiians and Alaska Natives — an effort that gained steam during the Obama administration but stalled after former President Donald Trump was elected.
Hawaii’s four-member congressional delegation has expressed support for a federally recognized government. But the issue is more contentious among Native Hawaiian activists, some of whom say the effort will allow them to lobby for more resources while others argue it will thwart the sovereignty movement, a grassroots campaign to establish an independent Hawaiian nation.
“There’s a huge split between those who literally want to have a Native governing entity with limited autonomy that’s subordinate to the U.S. nation-state and those who want the U.S. out of Hawaii,” said J. Kēhaulani Kauanui, an American studies professor at Wesleyan University and author of “Hawaiian Blood: Colonialism and the Politics of Sovereignty and Indigeneity.”
The idea of forming a government-to-government relationship with the U.S. — a policy of self-determination whereby Indigenous communities deal directly with federal agencies — has long been a controversial issue in Hawaii. In the 2000s, Democratic Sen. Daniel Akaka, who died in 2018, tried several times to pass legislation that would give Native Hawaiians the same tribal independence that American Indians have. His efforts, though ultimately unsuccessful, prompted the Obama administration to propose a similar rule in 2016.
The initial reception to that proposal was, however, overwhelmingly negative. According to a study of a series of public meetings held in Hawaii in 2014, 95 percent of Native Hawaiians objected to the idea of federal recognition. (There are currently 700,000 Native Hawaiians in Hawaii and the U.S. mainland, a nearly 30 percent increase from a decade ago, according to the 2020 census.)
Central to the issue of Indigenous sovereignty, activists say, is control over land the U.S. government stole from the Hawaiian Kingdom nearly 130 years ago. In 1893, a group of white sugar planters, backed by the U.S. military, toppled Hawaiian Queen Liliuokalani and formed a provisional government. President William McKinley authorized the annexation of the islands five years later, but Native Hawaiian activists say the official treaty was never ratified by Congress and is therefore illegitimate.
Noelani Goodyear-Kaʻōpua, an Indigenous scholar and professor at University of Hawaii at Mānoa, said the creation of a Native Hawaiian government does not provide reparations or “address the original harm of illegally invading, overthrowing and seizing the national lands of the Hawaiian Kingdom.”
Uahikea Maile, an assistant professor of Indigenous studies at the University of Toronto, said a Native Hawaiian government offers the community only symbolic autonomy, as it has no ability to take the stolen land into trust without first going through the federal government.
“This government would have no land, no territory and no resources,” he said. “It’s a bad deal that Native Hawaiians for decades have resoundingly said no to.”
In contrast to the symbolic gesture of forming a governing entity, Maile said, Indigenous people are already asserting independence in other ways, such as protesting the construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope on Mauna Kea, a volcano regarded as one of the most sacred sites in Hawaiian culture.
“These are all forms of intellectual sovereignty that exist beyond what federal recognition can even grasp,” Maile said. “It’s Native Hawaiians themselves who are engaged in processes of land reclamation.”
On the other hand, supporters of a sovereign Hawaiian entity say it can help Native Hawaiians secure federal funding streams at a time when they’re disproportionately affected by Covid-19. When Congress in March 2020 passed the CARES Act, the $2.2 trillion Covid-19 relief bill with $8 billion earmarked for Indigenous communities, Native Hawaiians were left out, as they did not have a centralized government to process federal money.
Establishing a sovereign government is significant because it “recognizes that Native Hawaiians are not just a mere ethnic group” but a political group as well, said Derek Kauanoe, former governance manager at the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.
Native Hawaiians were left out of the relief bill, Kauanoe said, because Title VI of the Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of race and national origin in federally funded programs. But as a political group, they would be eligible for entitlements that are “based not on race but on their relationship with the federal government.”
One of the programs at stake is a state-run homesteading program that aims to return Native Hawaiians to about 200,000 acres of their ancestral land. Since its passage in 1921, the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act has awarded more than 8,400 residential leases to Native Hawaiians with at least 50 percent ancestry, but 23,000 people remain on a rapidly growing waitlist, according to a 2020 investigation by ProPublica and the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.
“We have issues where the state might not prioritize its goal of housing Native Hawaiians because they have to take care of non-Native Hawaiians, too,” Kauanoe said. “You can see how a federally recognized government can work directly with the federal government to advance Native Hawaiian interests.”
Mahealani Perez-Wendt, former executive director of the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation, said a formal government can be a stepping stone to full sovereignty. It also gives Native Hawaiians leverage to overturn a century of economic and cultural decline that’s being accelerated by the pandemic and over-tourism.
“One of the biggest sources of our suffering is our displacement from our land,” Perez-Wendt said, noting the median home price in Oahu has surged to nearly $1 million this summer. “If we had our own government, we’d be better positioned to negotiate for the return of lands that were illegally taken or stolen from Native people.”
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