No ka hale pule a'u: A brief History:

"Coastlands, listen to Me in silence, And let the peoples gain new strength; Let them come forward, then let them speak; Let us come together for judgment.”  -Isaiah 41:1

There was never a time when the Kingdom of Hawaii has ever given up its rights as a sovereign state nation.  

During the reign of the Kamehameha family structures were set in place to assure the sovereignty of Hawaii.  

Hawaii had a government, declared independence, been recognized, and was under the league of Nations.

In 1893 the Republic of Hawaii (mostly wealthy sugar planters, and businessmen) overthrew the Kingdom of Hawaii by force of US military.  

The Republic of Hawaii provides Newlands Resolution 1898 “joint resolution” to U.S. but is not a treaty.  It was made a port for the Spanish American war.

No treaty

No consent

No annexation

It has been 200 years since the missionaries (1820) have arrived.  

Their contributions (the missionaries) of Christendom, the written word, and western ideas (land ownership, foreign technology, etc.) made quality advances to the people of Hawaii.  

But there was also negative consequences of the missionaries and western contact.  Such as oppression to Hawaiian culture, tradition, art, religion, and language.

In one sense the Hawaiian people were stripped of their identity, and made to forget the injustice and cruelty of certain American people who planted the seed of colonization in Hawaii.  

Colonization in Hawaii is evident.  It is a stronghold for the American military, a monopoly for wealthy entrepreneurs, and defiled with secular humanistic ideology.  

More and more Hawaiians and people of Hawaii are forgetting the true history of this place, and trading it for the comfort, security, and illusion of the American dream.  

Hawaii was a place of mass food production, high literacy, and sacred lands.

It has been a place of many cutting edge movements in technology, politics, race/ ethnicity, women's rights, etc.

Furthermore, Hawaii has been a neutral sovereign state and under international law no other country can occupy it for their own personal use.  Hawaii was to be a sanctuary for the world. Not just for one country.

Hawaiians and Hawaii people are not waking up to the truth of these facts.

Who has the rights to own land?

Who has the rights to water and water use?

Who will pay for the destruction of sacred sites and the natural land systems?

Its it right for someone to make a profit using what isn't theirs to begin with?

I know we all have to make a living here in Hawaii.  The next practical steps are harder to define, but what I am making a case for today about is the retelling of the truth.  Pulling down the curtain of deceit, deception, and lies.

“He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” -Micah 6:7-8

HWN Studies 107 ESSAY #2

Sam Peralta

HWN 107

   
 With the first European arrival in 1778 came an introduction to the western worldview.  A worldview very different than the particular conception of the world, or a philosophy of life as the Hawaiian people.  At the start of the 18th century the “Age of Enlightenment” became the dominant view in which much of Europe and the American people have come to known.   The Enlightenment included a range of ideas centered on reason as the primary source of authority and legitimacy and came to advance ideals like liberty, progress, tolerance, fraternity, constitutional government and separation of church and state.  During this “Age of Discovery” period in Europe and America, there were many catalyst that gave these explorers/ voyagers this sense of mission, “calling”, and or duty to “Manifest destiny”.  

“Historian William E. Weeks has noted that three key themes were usually touched upon by advocates of manifest destiny: 1) The virtue of the American people and their institutions; 2) The mission to spread these institutions, thereby redeeming and remaking the world in the image of the United States;  3) The destiny under God to do this work”.  These ideas were willing to become manifested by the people who held them, all that was needed was the places to do so.

 Landing in the 18th and 19th century to Hawaii was not only this type of worldview but things like free ranging livestock, diseases/ sicknesses (which brought losses of human life at the highest levels), and diversion of malama ‘aina to more commercial activities all contributed to the shaking of the core of the Hawaiian worldview which was directly related to the relationship of the ‘aina.  For example because of the commercial venture of sandalwood harvesting and production many of the daily cultural practices were put aside.  Large amounts of sandalwood would take the places of natural resources in which provided nurishment, quality of living, and a relationship to the ‘aina.  Another example would be the types of material goods that was brought in.  The concept of exchanging paper for more choice options such as alcohol, trinkets, and gun powder became a temptation, bartering no longer was the common norm but longing of these foreign material items became a disruption to the social fabric of the Hawaiian people.  With new diseases, desires, and delicacies the people of Hawaii was dealt with even greater pressures and tensions in an ever increasing, changing, and what one could perceive as unstable environment.  With the death of Kamehameha in 1819, Hawaii was now in an ever increasing fragile state.  The lifting of the “Ai kapu” and the time period of the “Ai noa” was now instated by Kamehameha’s son Liholiho.  During this time frame the Ali’i called for a breaking of the “Ai kapu” by presenting an act of defiance to the ancient traditional ways.  This sparked a chain of events that leave some of the Hawaiian people in total trust of their Ali’i nui and the unseen forces and others willing to sacrifice their very lives against this act of negligence.  Within less than a year another universe of ideas are introduced to the Hawaiian people by the ABCFM Calvinist Missionaries.  With ever increasing change these new sets of ideas in politics, economy, spirituality, religion, and tradition bring in new challenges that Hawaiian people had to navigate though.  Learning to read and write english and hawaiian was a great advancement for Hawaii.  This gave great insight to both cultures and an open door to the world and even the next.  But in the back drop of this story, businessman, pharisees, and, schemers continued to investigate ways on how to suppress, steal, and destroy this relationship the people of Hawaii had with their Akua, aumakua, kupuna, and ‘aina.  Here we start to see the denigration of the Hawaiian beliefs and practices, the regulating of the Hawaiian language, and harmful prejudices.  Education systems become english speaking only schools, businesses and churches strive for land ownership, and the replacement of natural land resource managements for exportation of commercial use.  The western mindset becomes a bully in the home lands of the Hawaiian people using its political manipulation for its own selfish gain in the name of “providence”. 

 Ancient cultural practices kept Hawaiians connected to their comlex value system.  It was a way to live in the sacred and to be aware of the unseen.  With oppression facing the Hawaiian way of living, and the forces of colonialism in act, Hawaii was at constant threat by hungry land owners.  These ingredients all added up to the overthrow of the Hawaiian Monarchy in 1893.

Sources:

Changes in Society and Plant Use After 1820

Brief Chronology of Post-contact Hawai’i

Bud Clark Philosophy 101

Kiope Raymond HWN 107

Video: Act of War