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(c) Copyright 2023
Kenneth R. Conklin, Ph.D.
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INDEX OF NEWS REPORTS AND COMMENTARIES FROM MAY 1 through August 31, 2023
May 10, 2023: Website of The History Channel publishes outrageous Hawaiian sovereignty propaganda essay filled with falsehoods and distortions
May 13: Leon Siu, who imagines himself to be foreign minister of the still-independent nation of Hawaii, "Aupuni Update" says ethnic Hawaiians have kuleana (right. responsibility, duty) to protect, oversee, and serve the lands and waters of Hawaii.
May 16: OHA board member Mililani Trask publishes on Free Hawaii blog a long-delayed response to Peter Apo's Civil Beat essay from April 18 regarding Apo's allegation that OHA has abandoned efforts to engage in self-determination.
May 24: A 44-year-old man found guilty of posting social media threats to behead then-Lt. Gov. Josh Green, Mayor Rick Blangiardi and the Waianae Small Boat Harbor master following a dispute over nonpayment of $30,000 in mooring fees by the leader of a militant Hawaiian sovereignty group was sentenced to 37 months in federal prison
May 26: Newspaper on Kaua'i Island publishes report based entirely on press release about OHA grant for environmental Hawaiian-culture program on O'ahu supposedly focused on revitalization of Hawaiian language, filled with outrageous victimhood falsehoods about suppression of Hawaiian culture through alleged banning of Hawaiian language following illegal overthrow of Hawaiian kingdom. Ken Conklin's email rebuttal to author and editor.
May 27:
(a) Major Hawaii TV station publishes racially inflammatory anti-American screed authored by station staffer, focused on who can call themselves "Hawaiian" and why.;
(b) Leon Siu, Free Hawaii blog Ke Aupuni Update, explains why Hawaiian Kingdom still exists as the rightful government under international law. BUT note correction by Leon Siu in June 10 blog post.
May 30: "Distinguished Professor" at University of Hawaii Law School displays typical twisted history and legal theory which he and his colleagues teach to future lawyers.
June 10, 2023: Leon Siu, who imagines himself to be foreign minister of the still-independent nation of Hawaii, "Aupuni Update" says one way to assert the Hawaiian Kingdom still lives is to remember and celebrate important days in our history. Here are three significant days to remember in the month of June.
June 21: How To Rediscover Hawaii's Soul? Here Are 4 Scenarios
A report issued at the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement conference in Las Vegas produced 4 competing visions of who will have political power and which cultural values will prevail.
June 22: Headline story: Bipartisan staff of the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs were at the first Western Regional Native Hawaiian Convention held in Las Vegas to highlight that Congress has secured hundreds of millions of dollars in dedicated federal funding [list included], the most ever, for Native Hawaiians and to seek input on amending legislation [list of topics provided] to extend protection to Native Hawaiian art and artists for the first time.
June 24: Leon Siu, who imagines himself to be foreign minister of the still-independent nation of Hawaii, "Aupuni Update" is entitled "Our Treaty with the Swiss Confederation". The assertions in this post by Leon Siu are very deceptive and have been repeated many times for several decades by numerous Hawaiian sovereignty activists using the 1864 Swiss treaty to assert that the Hawaiian kingdom still exists as an internationally recognized independent nation, and should be set free from U.S. belligerent military occupation. Ken Conklin therefore created a major webpage providing detailed rebuttal.
June 26: Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement held a major convention outside Hawaii for the first time, in Las Vegas, noting that the U.S. Census’ American Community Survey in 2021 estimated that 370,546 Native Hawaiians were living on the mainland, compared with 309,807 in the Hawaiian Islands. Therefore CNHA intends to greatly expand its presence and influence throughout the lower 48 states (and will presumably become more effective in lobbying members of Congress for racial entitlement programs and perhaps federal recognition of Native Hawaiians as an Indian tribe).
July 18, 2023: In 1883 King Kalakaua's internationally recognized government sent a letter to the European nations' governments asking them to stop colonizing numerous Pacific islands; the protest was ignored; but today the situation is reversed and Hawaii needs help from internationally recognized Pacific island nations to go to United Nations and protest U.S. illegal occupation of Hawaii.
July 26: Efforts are underway to pass federal legislation to give Native Hawaiian businesses the same preference for sole-source contracts the same as though they are an Indian tribe (similar tactics being used just like the tactics from 2000-2012 to create a Hawaiian tribe and give it federal recognition).
July 29: Leon Siu: Ke Aupuni Update. July 31st marks the 180th Anniversary of Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea - Sovereignty Restoration Day! On this day in 1843, King Kamehameha III was restored to his rightful position as the ruling King of the Hawaiian Islands by Admiral Richard Thomas of the British Royal Navy, ending “the Paulet Affair”, a four-month-long unlawful occupation of the Hawaiian Islands instigated by British naval officer Lord George Paulet.
August 8-10, 2023: On Tuesday August 8 a massive wildfire, worsened by 80MPH wind gusts from faraway Hurricane Dora, burned to the ground most of the historic town of Lahaina Maui including thousands of homes, businesses, and historic buildings; and causing at least 80 human deaths. The chairperson of the board of race-based state agency, Office of Hawaiian Affairs, issued an official statement on August 9 quoted at length in the newspapers on August 10, sending condolences to ethnic Hawaiians (exclusively) on the devastation to the historic capitol of the Hawaiian Kingdom, blaming a history of colonialism and loss of race-based control of the land and water, and concluding that "The same western forces that tried to erase us as a people now threaten our survival with their destructive practices.”
Aug 11: Leon Siu, who imagines himself to be Foreign Minister of the still-existing Kingdom of Hawaii, publishes an "Aupuni Update" lamenting the cultural losses in Lahaina, and announcing "Tomorrow, I leave for two months of back-to-back conferences and meetings in Asia, the South Pacific, Europe and America. I will share that the restoration of Lāhainā and the restoration of the Hawaiian Kingdom, will be driven by the same resilient spirit of the people of Hawaiʻi, rooted in Aloha."
Aug 12: A small group of the most recognizable anti-American Hawaiian independence activists publish letter to editor in Honolulu newspaper announcing the “August 12, 2023 – August 12, 2024” Project: In the tradition of the 1993 Onipa‘a, the 100-year observance of the overthrow, and the 1998 Ku‘e observance of the illegality of annexation, we are initiating a community-based educational project in observance of the 125th year of the U.S. government’s leap into Pacific imperialism ... to generate wide participation in understanding a pernicious history that is still with us today. This is history not only of Hawaii but of Guam, the Philippines and far-flung islands throughout the Pacific."
Aug 17: Ethnic Hawaiian sovereignty activist "explains" that the refusal to release water to fight the fires in Lahaina was righteous because ethnic Hawaiian taro farmers have hard-won special rights by law to ensure their taro patches have adequate supply of flowing water.
Aug 21: Ethnic Hawaiian sovereignty activist government water control officer was forced to resign because he protected water allocation for taro farmers and refused to release water to fight Lahaina wildfire that destroyed the town. He now gets honored in a rally by a group of sovereignty activists who perform a hula for him and give him numerous leis.
Aug 22:
(a) Show Respect For Lahaina By Restoring Its Once Lush Wetlands
It is too early to focus on rebuilding, but cultural advocates already see an opportunity to return to a Lahaina of the past.
[Turn over entire reconstruction project to ethnic Hawaiian activists]
(b) The Imperialist History Behind the Maui Fires
At the center of the latest climate change disaster is the long and ongoing struggle for water and land rights for Native Hawaiians.
[Left Voice is a revolutionary socialist news site and magazine dedicated to fostering a sustained and strategic struggle against every form of capitalist exploitation and oppression.]
Aug 24: NBC News national website publishes article: "Why Hawaiian sovereignty has undeniable context for the Maui fires. Scholars and activists say Native Hawaiians have ultimately been seeking their right to self-determination — an issue they say touches on the cause of the fires and affects Hawaii's healing." Far-leftwing secessionists are the only "scholars" whose views are provided in this propaganda piece.
Aug 25: Dr. Thomas DiLorenzo is a senior fellow of the Ludwig von Mises Institute, and a leftwing Libertarian and Hawaiian independence activist. His diatribe on Lew Rockwell's blog weaponizes the Lahaina tragedy and celebrates the sovereignty protesters who gave Biden the finger during Biden's visit to Lahaina. DiLorenzo portrays a history of American imperialism and colonization in Hawaii as being the cause of Lahaina's destruction by fire, and he speculates that this protest might be the start of a new revolution for Hawaiian independence.
Aug 28: Leon Siu, who imagines himself to be Foreign Minister of the still-existing Kingdom of Hawaii, publishes an "Aupuni Update" calling for "food sovereignty" lamenting that colonialism has caused 90% of food consumed in Hawaii to be shipped in from outside. "Hawaii will never be truly independent, unless we can feed ourselves."
Aug 30: Two ethnic Hawaiian medical doctors holding prestigious positions in the Native Hawaiian medical establishment invoke the old Hawaiian religion's viewpoint [creation legend] that Native Hawaiians are descended from the gods and have a genealogical relationship with the land; in order to assert that "A just recovery for Maui must center Native Hawaiians" as the rightful decision-makers. [What Ken Conklin has called "Native Hawaiian religious fascism".]
August 31, 2023: A "vigil" melange of ceremonies for the healing of Maui's people and environment will be held on Friday September 1 on several islands at dawn, midday, and dusk, and will be broadcast on local TV stations and on internet. Honolulu Star-Advertiser announces the event(s) and has online poll asking "will you participate?" Hilo newspaper also describes what will happen. Ken Conklin online comment analyzes the event as an example of Hawaiian sovereignty activists using the old religion as a weapon for modern demands for race-based political power.
END OF INDEX
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FULL TEXT OF ITEMS LISTED IN THE INDEX, FROM MAY 1 through August 31, 2023
** Note from website editor Ken Conklin: The following essay is copied here because it provides a well-written example of Hawaiian sovereignty propaganda filled with false and badly distorted assertions about Hawaii's history, which was published in an easily-available website published by a national television empire which many people would probably regard as truthful and authoritative. Each falsehood or distortion of history requires detailed, lengthy analysis to refute. To get links to webpages providing those refutations, please visit:
"Historical Issues Related to Hawaiian Sovereignty -- Revolution (Overthrow of monarchy), Annexation, Statehood, Indigenous Status, Hawaiian Language Ban, Ceded Lands, Etc." at
https://www.angelfire.com/hi2/hawaiiansovereignty/historical.html
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https://www.history.com/news/native-hawaiian-sovereignty-protest
History [Website of The History Channel] Wednesday May 10, 2023
How Native Hawaiians Have Fought for Sovereignty
Ever since the US overthrew the Hawaiian monarchy in an illegal coup, Native islanders responded with protest, activism and expressions of cultural pride.
BY: KELLI Y. NAKAMURA
Ever since white Christian missionaries first arrived in Hawaii (Native spelling: Hawai‘i) in the 1820s, the islands’ Native people have found their sovereignty, culture and way of life under increasing threat. For two centuries, many have resisted.
The threats began early. By 1840, some scholars estimate, the Native Hawaiian population had plummeted by as much as 84 percent, largely due to diseases introduced by Western colonizers. In 1893, an illegal coup, orchestrated by a handful of white planters and businessmen, ousted the sovereign Hawaiian monarchy. Five years later, the United States annexed Hawaii, viewing the islands as both a rich agricultural resource and a strategic perch in the Pacific. And in 1959, the U.S. legislature voted to make Hawaii America’s 50th state. During that time, colonizers confiscated lands and militarized parts of the island. They suppressed traditional cultural and spiritual practices. And they banned the Hawaiian language in schools and government.
Native Hawaiians have responded with protest, activism and expressions of Indigenous cultural pride. In the 1880s, King David Kalākaua kindled nationalism and promoted Hawaii internationally as an independent sovereign kingdom. He also fostered what came to be known as the First Hawaiian Renaissance, reviving traditional cultural practices like hula dancing, an integral part of Native Hawaiian storytelling—and outlawed since 1830, largely because missionaries did not understand its cultural importance and viewed it as a pagan ritual. The Second Hawaiian Renaissance flourished in the 1960s and ’70s. Today, Native Hawaiian sovereignty remains a critical issue, informing contemporary protests against militarism, imperialism and occupation.
“Resistance and nationalism have been intertwined throughout the last two hundred years of the history of Hawaii,” writes Noenoe Silva, a scholar of Indigenous politics at the University of Hawaii and author of Aloha Betrayed: Native Hawaiian Resistance to American Colonialism.
Early Resistance Efforts
Even prior to the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom, Native Hawaiians had engaged in organized opposition to the annexation of their nation by the United States.
Six years earlier, in 1887, a group of sugar barons and other businessmen forced King Kalākaua at gunpoint to sign the so-called Bayonet Constitution, usurping his power and disenfranchising Native Hawaiians. In response, Hawaiians formed different hui (organizations) to mobilize protests. One resistance leader, Robert Kalanihiapo Wilcox of Maui, launched a failed armed insurrection to overthrow the Bayonet Constitution and the members of the all-white Reform Government who had imposed it. But these actions ultimately came to naught: On January 16, 1893, United States troops invaded the Hawaiian Kingdom and forced Kalākaua’s successor, Queen Lili‘uokalani, to sign a conditional surrender.
Following the overthrow, members of the provisional white government of Hawaii looked to the United States to begin annexation of the islands. Although President Grover Cleveland believed the provisional government had acted illegally, he left the decision to Congress. Many in Congress supported annexation because Hawaii’s strategic location offered crucial access to Asian trade markets.
After William McKinley succeeded Cleveland as president, he signed a treaty of annexation—despite widespread objection from Native coalitions. They wrote articles in both Hawaiian and English newspapers. They stopped hoʻokupu (offerings) to white churches and sang mele (traditional songs or chants) of protest. In a rousing 1897 protest speech to thousands of Hawaiians, resistance leader James Keauiluna Kaulia declared that “consenting for our nation to be subsumed within America is like agreeing that we…be buried alive.”
Bringing Protests to Washington
In an overwhelming expression of dissent, nearly 38,000 Native individuals out of 40,000 across the Hawaiian Islands—or 95 percent—collectively signed two Kū’e petitions that rejected annexation and called to restore the monarchy, according to Silva.
In December 1897, Kaulia, along with three other Native Hawaiian delegates, brought the petitions to Washington, D.C. and joined Queen Liliʻuokalani to formally protest the annexation, documenting how her government had been illegally overthrown in a violation of international law. Together, over three months of intense lobbying, they made their case to senators, and successfully squashed the annexation bill.
But their victory was short-lived. When the Spanish-American War broke out the following year, highlighting Hawaii’s strategic location within the Pacific as a coaling station for the American Navy, Congress voted to officially make Hawaii a U.S. territory. Many on the islands expressed deep grief after the American flag was raised. Among the most profoundly affected was Queen Liliʻuokalani, the last ruling monarch of Hawaii, who expressed her remorse that she had failed her lāhui: her nation and her people.
The Second Hawaiian Renaissance
For many years after, traditional Hawaiian culture remained peripheral to the events that would transform the islands: the corporate expansion of plantations, the growing U.S. military presence during World War II and the Cold War and the emergence of the tourism industry. However, the rise of the civil rights movement and the growing support for Indigenous peoples and identities sparked renewed interest in Hawaiian culture.
In the 1960s and ’70s, activists began to revive calls for sovereignty. A second Hawaiian Renaissance began to flourish, which witnessed the embrace of traditional language and cultural practices such as hula and slack-key music, which helped give voice to Native resistance. A renewed interest emerged in Polynesian maritime wayfinding using traditional canoes and ancient celestial navigation.
During this time, Native Hawaiian activism targeted militarism and land development. New construction in Kalama Valley, Waiāhole and Waikāne sparked protests about local farmers being evicted and displaced. And in 1976, a group of young resisters occupied the island of Kahoʻolawe, a site of cultural and spiritual significance decimated by military bombing practice since 1953, when President Dwight D. Eisenhower had transferred its title to the U.S. Navy. After more than a decade of protest, the Protect Kahoʻolawe ʻOhana movement succeeded in ending the bombing, transferring control of the island back to the state and beginning environmental cleanup.
More significant progress for Native Hawaiians came in 1978, when the Hawaii State Constitutional Convention established the Office of Hawaiian Affairs to address the historical injustices faced by Native Hawaiians and encouraged the return of Kahoʻolawe. As part of the Constitutional Convention, the Hawaiian language also became the official state language of the islands for the first time since the overthrow.
Hawaiian Statehood: An Ongoing Sovereignty Issue
Although Hawaiian voters approved Hawaii statehood bill by an overwhelmingly wide margin and Hawaii became America’s 50th state on August 21, 1959, many Native Hawaiian activists protested—and continue to do so. They consider statehood another example of Hawaii’s history of militarism, imperialism and colonization.
The contemporary sovereignty movement remains splintered regarding statehood. Some, who argue that the U.S. has illegally occupied the islands, have advocated for a restoration of land, along with compensation. Others, who believe a complete restoration is impossible, have sought federal recognition of Hawaiians as Native people—with some lands returned. Some have argued against the kingdom’s restoration and national recognition; instead, they’ve sought the decolonization of Hawaii under the International Trusteeship System created by the United Nations for territories under the control of foreign powers.
In 1993, the federal government issued a formal apology for the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy—and acknowledged that the Hawaiian people never formally relinquished their lands. In 2009, a bill seeking federal recognition of Native Hawaiians as an Indigenous tribal group passed the U.S. House but has since stalled. Known as the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act, a.k.a. the Akaka bill, it would allow Native Hawaiians to form their own government on par with that of the federal government. If passed, it would provide their first self-determination since America overthrew the monarchy in 1893.
Kelli Y. Nakamura is an associate professor of history at Kapi’olani Community College in Honolulu, Hawaii.
** LOL
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** Note from website editor Ken Conklin: The essay above is copied here because it provides a well-written example of Hawaiian sovereignty propaganda filled with false and badly distorted assertions about Hawaii's history, which was published in an easily-available website published by a national television empire which many people would probably regard as truthful and authoritative. Each falsehood or distortion of history requires detailed, lengthy analysis to refute. To get links to webpages providing those refutations, please visit:
"Historical Issues Related to Hawaiian Sovereignty -- Revolution (Overthrow of monarchy), Annexation, Statehood, Indigenous Status, Hawaiian Language Ban, Ceded Lands, Etc." at
https://www.angelfire.com/hi2/hawaiiansovereignty/historical.html
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http://freehawaii.blogspot.com/2023/05/ke-aupuni-update-april-2023-issue-is.html
Free Hawaii blog Ke Aupuni update Saturday May 13, 2023
The Issue Is Kuleana
Back in 1998 I was in Rapid City which is at the edge of Paha Sapa, the famous Black Hills of South Dakota. I was visiting with my friend, Richard Twiss,* a descendant of the Lakota, the inhabitants and stewards of that land for numerous generations. In effect Richard said: When my people came to this area we saw Paha Sapa and immediately knew it was an awesome work of beauty by the Creator, a sacred place that should be protected and preserved just the way the Creator made it. Many years later, the white invaders came and saw the same magnificent mountains and said. “What a great place to carve giant faces of our great white leaders, and leave our mark on it forever!”
This perfectly illustrates the fundamental difference in how we view the world. It is at the heart of what original nations and indigenous peoples face living with a colonial system that has overrun and extended its greedy hold over most of the planet. How can we properly care for our part of the world when greedy foreigners come and forcibly take over, disregard our ways, carve up, desecrate and pollute the land?
Flatly put, the colonial world view is, that land and resources are there for the colonizers to generate and increase wealth and power for themselves. And that native inhabitants can either help, get trampled or get pushed out of the way.
We can tell by the actions and legacies of nā Mōʻī (our Kings and our Queen) that they all had a firm understanding of their kuleana (responibility, duty) to care for the people and the land.
Queen Liliʻuokalani, in her 1893 letter appealing to “honest Americans” likened Americaʻs taking of Hawaii to the Biblical account of evil King Ahabʻs treacherous taking of Nabothʻs little vineyard.**
Besides the obvious parallel, Queen Liliʻuokalani is referring to Naboth telling Ahab his vineyard is not just a piece of property to be bought and sold, but it is his inheritance, along with the responsibility to care for it — his kuleana — that he got from his father and is meant to be passed on to his descendants. The Queen is making the point that Hawaii is not just some piece of property to be bought and sold (or stolen). We do not own Hawaii. Hawaii is our inheritance — our sacred kuleana — to be handed on to the next generations...
What’s at stake in our efforts to free Hawaii is not simply superficial political or legal shifts or addressing grievances, it is changing the fundamental way we operate as a people and a nation. It requires returning to ola the life-giving kuleana as embodied in our core principles and Hawaiian Kingdom laws, and rejecting hewa, the oppressive, life-draining colonial system of America, and puppet State of Hawaii.
“Love of country is deep-seated in the breast of every Hawaiian, whatever his station.” — Queen Liliʻuokalani
It has been 10 years now, since Richard Twiss walked on with his ancestors. A hui hou aku
1 Kings 21:1-16
Ua mau ke ea o ka ʻāina i ka pono. The sovereignty of the land is perpetuated in righteousness.
For the latest news and developments about our progress at the United Nations in both New York and Geneva, tune in to Free Hawaii News at 6 PM the first Friday of each month on ʻŌlelo Television, Channel 53.
"And remember, for the latest updates and information about the Hawaiian Kingdom check out the twice-a-month Ke Aupuni Updates published online on Facebook and other social media."
PLEASE KŌKUA
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
• Other – To contribute in other ways (airline miles, travel vouchers, volunteer services, etc...) email us at: info@HawaiianKingdom.net
“FREE HAWAII” T-SHIRTS - etc.
Check out the great FREE HAWAII products you can purchase at
http://www.robkajiwara.com/store/c8/free_hawaii_products
All proceeds are used to help the cause. MAHALO!
Malama Pono, Leon Siu, Hawaiian National
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http://freehawaii.blogspot.com/2023/05/the-article-honolulu-civil-beat.html
Free Hawaii blog Tuesday May 16, 2023
THE ARTICLE HONOLULU CIVIL BEAT RECENTLY REFUSED TO PUBLISH
OHA Trustee Mililani B. Trask Response to Honolulu Civil Beat article by Peter Apo (04/18/2023) “OHA Abandons Commitment To Self Governance”
** Note by Ken Conklin: Peter Apo's April 18 essat in Civil Beat can be seen at
https://www.civilbeat.org/2023/04/oha-abandons-commitment-to-self-governance/
Recently, Civil Beat teamed up with ex OHA Trustee/State Legislator, Peter Apo, in an effort to resurrect the Hawaiian vs Hawaiian debate on building a Hawaiian nation. Civil beat failed to include the history of the state democratic party’s effort to create a native nation for the state’s benefit and did not review years that were wasted on failed initiatives. Civil & Apo also ignored the millions of dollars of costs for the effort, paid by OHA with revenues from the Ceded Land Trust.
The historic record speaks for itself. Hawaiians did not initiate the Kanaiolowalu and Na’i Aupuni Nation Building initiatives. These initiatives were created by the state legislature, but OHA was made to pay for it with our beneficiaries trust funds.
The record reveals the following:
1. For over a decade the State supported federal recognition of Hawaiians under the “Akaka Bill” in Congress because of fears that federal funding provided to native Hawaiians as “Native Americans” would be lost to the State unless there was a Hawaiian ‘Indian Nation’.
2. When the Akaka Bill died in the Congress, the State legislature moved to create a Hawaiian nation on their own! They passed ACT 195, later known as the Kana’iolowalu (HSEC) Initiative. The effort involved the formation of a Hawaiian Roll Commission to register 200, 000 Hawaiians to vote in a future election for delegates to a Hawaiian Constitutional Convention thereby creating a Hawaiian Nation. Over 60% of the nearly 85,000 who were sent ballots in mail refused to participate in the election of delegates.
3. In 2014 when it was clear that Kanaiolowalu was dead, a group of Native Hawaiian individuals who were members of Hawaiian organizations that had received funding for Kanaiolowalu, moved on their own to form a non-profit Consortium called Na’i Aupuni. This non-profit did not identify directors with DCCA when it was created, nor did it have a G.E. Tax license for tax exempt status as required by the IRS. Millions were wasted. In the end, no election of delegates by Hawaiians was ever achieved.
4. OHA did not create Kanaiolowalu or Na’i Aupuni but was required to provide millions of trust dollars in order to facilitate federal recognition for a paper nation which would have no land and no jurisdiction over the assets and resources of the Hawaiian people.
In the years that have transpired since these events occurred, a new OHA Board of Trustees has been elected. The majority of the current OHA board knows the definition of ‘Self-Determination’ ..... it is a Human right of all peoples including the Hawaiian peoples. It is not a political right of the United States or the State of Hawaii. The current Board of OHA Trustees has no intention of usurping the right of our Hawaiian beneficiaries to pursue their right of ‘Self-Determination’ through Nation building.
OHA’s priorities are clear, they are the development of Kaka’ako and Hakuone so that Hawaiian beneficiaries will have a place to call home, a cultural center to showcase the value of our peoples. Our priorities are to create an economic engine for maintaining existing programs in the areas of Health, Education, the preservation of Native Language, the protection of native Legacy Lands, and the provision for affordable housing for the 28,000 Hawaiians currently dying on the Department of Hawaiian Homes Land waiting list.
The current board of OHA trustees are well aware of the past abuses that our office was subjected to in the pursuit of ‘federal recognition’. It is significant to note that the State Auditor, the Clifton Larson Allen Accounting Firm and Plante Moran Finance Firm, who conducted the 3 audits of OHA’s expenditure in past years all flagged the Nation building effort and the activities of Na’i Aupuni as Fraud Waste and Abuse.
In an ongoing effort to achieve accountability and address these past abuses, the current Board of Trustees has delivered all materials, information, and data relating to The Kanaiolowalu (HSEC)/Na’i Aupuni Nation building effort to appropriate Federal and State Investigators for follow-up.
Mahalo nui loa,
Mililani B. Trask
Hawai’i Island Trustee
OHA Board of Trustees Vice Chair
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https://www.staradvertiser.com/2023/05/24/hawaii-news/man-who-threatened-government-officials-gets-37-months/
Honolulu Star-Advertiser Wednesday May 24, 2022
Man who threatened government officials gets 37 months
By Peter Boylan
** Excerpts by Ken Conklin, focusing on topics related to Hawaiian sovereignty
A 44-year-old man found guilty of posting social media threats to behead then-Lt. Gov. Josh Green, Mayor Rick Blangiardi and the Waianae Small Boat Harbor master following a dispute over nonpayment of $30,000 in mooring fees by the leader of a militant Hawaiian sovereignty group was sentenced to 37 months in federal prison Tuesday morning,
On Feb. 8, a federal jury found Lindsey Kinney, aka “Cowboy,” guilty of two counts of interstate threat to injure, over postings on his Instagram and Facebook accounts in January 2022. Kinney considers himself a member of the Occupied Forces Hawaii Army.
Kinney, who does not believe he is subject to U.S. law, also made online threats in March 2022 to behead Green and his security detail, and Blangiardi. Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig Nolan prosecuted the case that was investigated by agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Occupied Forces Hawaii Army is a “group of persons who identify themselves by military titles and ranks who describe their efforts as operations, don military uniforms, carry illegitimate military documents, and maintain their membership in a military organization,” according to social media posts and federal court documents.
The group’s website displays its motto, “Don’t delay, Repatriate today, To the Country of Hawaii.”
On Jan. 17, 2022, at about noon, Kinney posted on his Instagram accounts that he would cut off the heads of the harbor master, Joseph Simpliciano, his wife and their friend and take them to the “gates,” according to court records.
Three days later, the harbor master told the FBI that Kinney posted a video declaring that DLNR was part of a human trafficking ring and that Kinney would overthrow state government “and then be king.”
During an April 19, 2022, detention hearing, Kinney, through an attorney, asserted that he is not subject to U.S. laws due to the illegal occupation and overthrow of the Hawaiian kingdom.
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https://www.thegardenisland.com/2023/05/26/hawaii-news/native-hawaiian-group-receives-85k-grant-to-revitalize-hawaiian-language/
The Garden Island [Kaua'i] Friday May 26, 2023
Native Hawaiian group receives $85k grant to revitalize Hawaiian language
By Jackson Healy
LIHU‘E — Native Hawaiian organization Papahana Kuaola has received a nearly $85,000 grant from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs as part of a multi-organizational effort to revitalize ‘olelo Hawai‘i, the Hawaiian language, from keiki to kupuna.
Historically Hawai‘i’s primary language, ‘olelo Hawai‘i was banned from being taught in schools in 1896 by the Republic of Hawai‘i’s governing body, three years after the overthrow of the Hawaiian kingdom.
With punishments for students speaking Hawaiian and educational institutions even discouraging use of the language at home, ‘olelo Hawai‘i’s prominence soon plummeted across all spheres of public life.
This trend would continue for most of the 20th century, until a late-1960s resurgence in cultural pride and identity spurred a renewed interest in embracing Hawaiian culture — and, in particular, the Hawaiian language.
Even while ‘olelo Hawai‘i became an official language of the state in 1978, it wasn’t until 1986 that the ban on teaching the language in school was lifted.
“A lot of people don’t realize that, up until fairly recently, it was illegal for the Department of Education to teach Hawaiian language in school,” said Keoua Nelsen, project manager at Papahana Kuaola. “We’re really talking about just 40, 50 years ago.”
Nelsen continued, considering this shift as likely the most significant for the ‘olelo Hawai‘i’s modern-day resurgence.
“It was when it became legal for the language to be taught in the public school system that we see what I believe is the second renaissance of really growing the language,” he said.
Still, that growth has been slow. According to a 2007 study, only about 2,000 native Hawaiian speakers exist. Additionally, UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) still classifies ‘olelo Hawai‘i as a critically endangered language — the agency’s most extreme classification for a surviving language.
With the Hawaiian language still threatened, much of kanaka maoli culture is threatened as well. Nelsen summarized this stuggle with a Hawaiian proverb: “I ke ‘olelo no ke ola, i ka ‘olelo no ka make” — or in English, “In language there is life, in language there is death.”
“I believe we really couldn’t start to understand our cultural practices unless we revived our language,” he said. “In the language, culture and cultural practices live and thrive. That’s why, to me, normalizing the use of Hawaiian language becomes very important.”
O‘ahu-based Papahana Kuaola — one of several organizations involved in OHA’s program — is working with 10 Hawaiian families in approximately 40 weekly classes to teach foundational skills and lessons on ‘olelo Hawai‘i across multiple generations. Making use of the organization’s 63-acre Kane‘ohe property, much of the lessons are meant to be immersive and hands-on, tying in Hawaiian language with cultural practices.
“Whether it’s stream restoration or identifying native plants and things like that, (we’re) kind of making it a more living type of lesson versus a classroom setting,” Nelsen said. “The focus will be, of course, with the parents and the grandparents, so that they can take these skill sets and reinforce them in the home with their children and grandchildren.” Ultimately, OHA intends to gather data from Papahana Kuaola’s project, as well as similar projects conducted by other organizations across Hawai‘i, in order to create a report on the state and use of ‘olelo Hawai‘i. With this guide, OHA intends to better inform future efforts to further revitalize the Hawaiian language.
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** Ken Conklin's email response to reporter, with copy to editor and other reporters
Aloha Jackson Healy,
I was greatly saddened by your "news report" on Friday, May 26, 2023 entitled "Native Hawaiian group receives $85k grant to revitalize Hawaiian language". Your article appears to be based entirely on some sort of politically biased news release. I'm guessing you are not familiar with the facts of Hawaii's history related to the so-called language ban, so I encourage you to read a couple of detailed webpages (see below) which explain exactly what happened and why.
It is false to say that there was a ban against teaching Hawaiian language in the schools. The law passed in 1896 allowed Hawaiian, or any other language, to be taught as a language. Numerous languages, including Hawaiian, have been taught in both public and private schools throughout all decades of the Republic, Territory, and State of Hawaii. What the law actually required was that English must be the language used as the vehicle for teaching every subject in the schools (such as math, history, science, etc). Please read what the law actually said -- I have its full text in the first webpage mentioned below.
The law never singled out Hawaiian language or mentioned Hawaiian at all. The law also was not focused only on the public schools as your article says -- the law applied to ALL the schools in Hawaii, public or private, which wanted to be certified by the government as "schools" for the purpose of satisfying the compulsory attendance law which stated that all children must attend "school." By 1892, the year before the monarchy was overthrown, 95% of all the public schools in Hawaii were already using English as the language of instruction (see proof from authoritative sources cited in my webpages), with enthusiastic support of native parents -- thus, the law had almost no effect on causing the decline of Hawaiian language, since 95% of the kids were already speaking English all day in school and most native parents were also demanding their kids speak English at home.
The underlying reason for passing the law was directed against the private schools run by the sugar plantations where nearly all the children were of Japanese or Chinese ancestry and the parents wanted their kids to have their lessons taught in those languages -- the Republic government was looking ahead to annexation to the USA; all kids born in Hawaii would then become U.S. citizens and would have voting rights when they grew up and should be fluent in English so they could have one language which they would all share and could understand the laws and participate in civic and business activities. The resurgence of Hawaiian language in recent decades has been done for ethnic cultural pride and for political purposes as part of a race-based and highly divisive sovereignty movement, which the unfortunate victimhood grievance tone of your article displays and encourages.
For a general overview of this topic see webpage "Was Hawaiian Language Illegal? Did the Evil Haoles Suppress Hawaiian Language As A Way of Oppressing Kanaka Maoli and Destroying Their Culture?" at
https://www.angelfire.com/hi2/hawaiiansovereignty/hawlangillegal.html
For a more detailed discussion, including an effort to get the Department of Education to correct falsehoods in its webpage, see "Holding the State of Hawaii Department of Education accountable for propagating the lie that Hawaiian language was banned" at
https://www.angelfire.com/big11a/DOEHawnLangBan.html
I am adding your news report and this email to the following webpage: "Examples of Some Angry or Bitter Published Articles Claiming That Ethnic Hawaiians Were Victimized by Having Their Language Made Illegal or Suppressed"
https://www.angelfire.com/hi2/hawaiiansovereignty/hawlangpublvictclaims.html
You might also want to see how the claim of language banning is part of a much broader and pernicious political battle: "Hawaiian Language as a Political Weapon"
https://www.angelfire.com/big09/HawLangPolitWeapon.html
Thank you for your attention to these matters. You are welcome to contact me for information and a diverse viewpoint about Hawaiian history in general and Hawaiian sovereignty in particular, especially before you write other news reports based on news releases or contacts from Hawaiian political activists.
Ken Conklin
-----------------------------
https://www.khon2.com/local-news/are-hawaiʻi-residents-hawaiians-the-long-and-short-of-it/
KHON TV Saturday May 27, 2023
Kanaka v. resident: Why you need to know the difference
by: Sandy Harjo-Livingston
** Ken Conklin's note: Google this author's name "Sandy Harjo-Livingston" to see where Sandy came from [the name "Harjo" is well-known among tribal activists], what is Sandy's job title at KHON-TV, what Sandy looks like, and what gender Sandy is. Also note that there is no way to comment on or respond to this "news" item. Aside from the heavy propaganda throughout this essay, items #5 and #7 are blatantly false as I have repeatedly proved in numerous webpages and legislature testimonies.
HONOLULU (KHON2) — Oftentimes, those living in Hawaiʻi are referred to as Hawaiians by media sources or individuals located outside the Pacific region.
But, not everyone who lives in Hawaiʻi are Hawaiian. Most who live here are residents of the occupied island nation, but they are not necessarily Hawaiian.
So, what is the difference between a Native Hawaiian, or a kanaka, and a resident?
For this, KHON2.com enlisted the help of ʻĀina Momoa and Native America Today.
“The American practice of marking identity according to place of residence [Californians, Bostonians, Arizonians, etc.] often validates the misconception that anyone who resides in Hawaiʻi can refer to themselves as ‘Hawaiian’ regardless of whether they have Indigenous Hawaiian ancestors,” explained ʻĀina Momoa.
The Hawaiian language (ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi) provides specific terminology that kānaka use to identify themselves. This language in couched in references to their ancestral and genealogical connection to the Hawaiian islands.
However, the understanding of the history of how Native Hawaiians’ linguistic self-identification has evolved is important when knowing how modern identities function.
According to ʻĀina Momoa, kanaka is the singular of kānaka. For centuries before European contact, the peoples of Hawaiʻi identified as kanaka/kānaka, and it meant humans in general. But this in general had the stipulation of Hawaiians being the humans of the world.
Once on the international scene, kānaka needed better ways of demarking their identity from all the other people groups coming to the islands.
The introduction of nūpepa (newspapers) to Hawaiʻi led to many kānaka writers exploring new linguistic ways of identity.
Maoli — which means native, indigenous, genuine, true or real — was used to create the term “Kanaka Maoli” or “Native person” or “Real Hawaiian” in nūpepa. It was used for the first time on April 18, 1834 in Hawaiʻi’s very first nūpepa, Ka Lama Hawaiʻi.
Kanaka maoli is by far the most commonly used identifier in modern times.
“Kanaka Hawaiʻi” became another term which means “Hawaiian person”. This was also used to identify kānaka following foreign contact and was first used on Dec. 24, 1834 in Ka Lama Hawaiʻi.
This way of identifying led to other groups gaining identities in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi.
For example, kanaka haole is a person of European descent; and kanaka kepanī is a person of Japanese ancestry.
ʻŌiwi means native and was later used as an identifying term for kānaka, according to ʻĀina Momoa. “Oiwi” or “Poʻe Oiwi” were terms recorded in nūpepa throughout the 1860s.
So, in 1875, a new term became the trend. “Kanaka Oiwi” became popular after that and led to “nā Hawaiʻi” also meaning “Hawaiian”.
As self-identification in a global society evolved in Hawaiʻi, the internationally recognized government of Hawaiʻi experienced an illegal overthrow by United States industrialists.
When these industrialists took over Hawaiʻi, they outlawed the ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi; and Kanaka, Kanaka Maoli, Kanaka Hawaiʻi and Kanaka Oiwi became generally referred to as Hawaiian.
As you can see, the people of Hawaiʻi have a long history that clearly identifies who is Hawaiian and who is not.
“Being born and raised in Hawaiʻi does not make you Hawaiian. Living in Hawaiʻi for most of your life does not make you Hawaiian. Loving the culture and respecting the land and resources does not make you Hawaiian. If you truly love and respect Hawaiʻi and consider this your home, you have the kuleana [responsibility] to learn the history of the Kānaka Maoli of this place. Respecting Hawaiʻi means respecting Hawaiians and listening to our voices. You can live here and love this land alongside us, but please do not attempt to erase us by taking on titles that do not belong to you.”
-- ʻĀINA MOMOA
Native America Today published a list of facts that many, even some residents of Hawaiʻi, do not know. It is in these facts that one can see a clear picture emerge of how different kanaka is from resident.
1. Native Hawaiians are a race of people: As discussed above, kānaka maoli have a genetic link to the Polynesians who navigated the Pacific to establish their homes and lives in the Hawaiian archipelago.
2. Hawaiians almost became extinct: When Cook landed in 1778, it was estimated that between 400,000 and one million kānaka maoli lived on the islands. Within the year, that number was reduced to 40,000.
3. Hawaiʻi was an independent and sovereign nation that was recognized by Europe’s colonial powers and other states. Hawaiʻi had a monarchy that developed extensive trade relations throughout the world.
4. Hawaiians quickly became literate after western contact due to missionaries who believed that literacy would make kānaka maoli easier to convert to Christianity.
5. Hawaiʻi’s government was illegally overthrown by the United States of America in an effort by industrialists to take control of trade into and out of the islands.
6. Native Hawaiians tried to fight back by protesting and appealing to both the U.S. Government and president as well as governments with which they had trade relations.
7. The Hawaiian language (ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi) was banned as colonization took hold of Hawaiʻi. The U.S. industrialists who overthrew the sovereign state wanted to ensure that kānaka maoli did not have ready access to their traditions, culture, religions and heritage.
8. Queen Lili’uokalani wrote the famous song “Aloha ‘Oe” (“Farewell to Thee”) while she was under house arrest by the foreigners who overthrew her government.
9. The U.S. officially apologized for the illegal overthrow of Hawaiʻi in 1993 by President Bill Clinton.
Native Hawaiians are revitalizing their language and culture: In 1986 John Waiheʻe was elected as Hawaiʻi’s first kanaka maoli governor. After that, in 1987, ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi began to be taught in schools; and a renaissance of kānaka maoli art and culture followed through to today.
10. ʻĀina Momoa makes a point to highlight a famous quote made by the late Haunani-Kay Trask: “Say it in your heart. Say it when you sleep. We are not American. We will die as Hawaiians. We will never be Americans!”
So, to answer the question are Hawaiʻi residents Hawaiian? No, they are not. You can call yourself a kanaka haole or a resident, but you are not Hawaiian or kanaka maoli.
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http://freehawaii.blogspot.com/2023/05/ke-aupuni-update-may-2023-does-hawaiian.html
Free Hawaii blog, Ke Aupuni Update Saturday May 27, 2023
Does the Hawaiian Kingdom still exist?
YES! The truth is, despite outward appearances, according to established international standards, the lawful, sovereign entity -- the Hawaiian Kingdom — still exists!
Over the centuries, certain criteria developed regarding the nature and character of a nation-state*, so that once a nation-state has been lawfully established, it is extremely difficult to extinguish.
There are only two ways an established nation-state can be extinguished:
1) by Conquest: involving the military defeat and subjugation of its people, along with the physical seizure of its territory and assets by the victor; or
2) by Consent: the un-coerced, free-will choice of its people to merge their country’s sovereignty to another’s.
Even the unconditional surrender of Japan and Germany after World War II, did not extinguish their sovereignty. They became occupied states but still retained their national identity. They were still Japan and Germany and the occupying forces administered and enforced the laws of Japan and Germany respectively (though Germany was partitioned for 45 years).
Even the absorption of the Eastern European states by the Soviet Union after World War II did not extinguish their sovereignty. Despite decades of complete domination by the USSR during the “Cold War,” when the Soviet Union collapsed in the early 1990s states like Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Ukraine, Czechoslovakia, and so forth, reemerged as sovereign and independent countries in continuity.
In the case of Hawaii, after the illegal seizure and fake annexation, the political status of the Hawaiian people (referring to nationals, not aboriginals) remained intact and inviolate. Neither a vote nor plebiscite was ever conducted to gain the consent of the Hawaiian nationals to dissolve their country, the Hawaiian Kingdom. At no time did the Hawaiian Kingdom or Hawaiian nationals surrender sovereignty or consent to a merger with the United States. On the contrary, there was ardent and vociferous opposition to the 1893 seizure and to both U.S. efforts at annexation (1893 and 1897), as evidenced by the Kūʻē petitions, protests and resistance by Hawaiians.
The hearing of the case of Lance Larsen vs. the Hawaiian Kingdom at the Permanent Court of Arbitration at the Hague, Netherlands in 2000, positively confirmed the continued existence of the Hawaiian Kingdom. The acceptance of this case by this body of the World Court was based on the court’s determination that the Hawaiian Kingdom still exists and that both the Hawaiian Kingdom and the Hawaiian Kingdom national (Larsen), had standing in the World Court.
** Note from editor Ken Conklin: See Leon Siu's blog post on June 10 correcting his error on this point.
The fact-finding recommended after the proceedings at the Permanent Court of Arbitration, produced a study by professor of international law, Dr. Matthew Craven titled, The Continuity of the Hawaiian Kingdom. Craven confirmed that, according to the standards of international law, the Hawaiian Kingdom continues to exist. It did not expire. It survives even having been buried alive under the layers of U.S. deception and fraud. This has been confirmed numerous times by experts and institutions of international law.
“Love of country is deep-seated in the breast of every Hawaiian, whatever his station.” — Queen Liliʻuokalani
* The word “state” in international legal terminology, refers to a nation-state, a recognized nation, a country.
Ua mau ke ea o ka ʻāina i ka pono. The sovereignty of the land is perpetuated in righteousness.
For the latest news and developments about our progress at the United Nations in both New York and Geneva, tune in to Free Hawaii News at 6 PM the first Friday of each month on ʻŌlelo Television, Channel 53.
And remember, for the latest updates and information about the Hawaiian Kingdom check out the twice-a-month Ke Aupuni Updates published online on Facebook and other social media.
PLEASE KŌKUA
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
• Other – To contribute in other ways (airline miles, travel vouchers, volunteer services, etc...) email us at: info@HawaiianKingdom.net
“FREE HAWAII” T-SHIRTS - etc.
Check out the great FREE HAWAII products you can purchase at
http://www.robkajiwara.com/store/c8/free_hawaii_products
All proceeds are used to help the cause. MAHALO!
Malama Pono, Leon Siu, Hawaiian National
----------------------
https://www.acslaw.org/expertforum/portrait-of-a-queen-hawaiian-history-and-the-law/
American Constitution Society Expert Forum on Law and Policy Analysis Tuesday May 30, 2023
Portrait of a Queen: Hawaiian History and the Law
TROY J.H. ANDRADE, J.D., PH.D.
Joanna Lau Sullivan Distinguished Professor
University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa William S. Richardson School of Law
Last week, I walked into a special exhibit in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., and was confronted with a large painting of Hawai‘i’s last sovereign, Queen Lili‘uokalani. In the portrait, the Queen peers out at visitors as they seek to beat the Potomac heat, as if to say, “listen to my story.” The portrait, which, for the first time, journeyed halfway across the globe from its home in Hawai‘i, was a poignant reminder of the same voyage that the Queen took more than a century ago to tell the history of her people and her stolen nation.
American Overthrow
For centuries, Hawai‘i’s indigenous people lived in a highly sophisticated and self-sustaining community. As with many other indigenous peoples, western contact brought about the near demise of Native Hawaiians. Despite dwindling numbers, the Native Hawaiians persevered and created an independent and internationally recognized Kingdom of Hawai‘i.
Yet, in 1893, and capitalizing on American expansionism across the Pacific Ocean, the marines of the U.S.S. Boston unlawfully landed on the shores of the Kingdom. The insurrectionists forced the then-Queen, Lili‘uokalani, to make a decision to either suppress the American-supported coup and face the wrath of the American military, or cede her authority and hope that the rule of law in Washington, D.C. would prevail. To avoid bloodshed, the Queen chose the peaceful and diplomatic path. The bloodless coup, however, resulted in the illegal overthrow of the Kingdom and calls for immediate annexation.
President Grover Cleveland condemned his countrymen’s conduct in the islands as an “act of war.” Kingdom citizens refused to sit idly and let the United States seize their land and their sovereignty. Community leaders gathered petitions expressing strong opposition to annexation. After being delivered to Congress, in 1897, these petitions helped make the case against Senate ratification of a proposed annexation treaty. Nevertheless, American imperialism prevailed. In 1898, and although the United States Senate never ratified a treaty of annexation as required under the Constitution, the McKinley Administration seized Hawai‘i through a joint resolution.
Throughout this period and even following annexation, Queen Lili‘uokalani spent significant time in Washington, D.C. She met with politicians of all parties to plead the case for her people. Although halfway across the world, she never gave up and she told Hawai‘i’s story.
The Project of Americanization
But, the injustices continued. Congress subsequently created the Territory of Hawaii in 1900 and, for decades, the project of Americanization inculcated the islands. Children (and their teachers) were punished for speaking the native language. Cultural practices were forced underground or, even worse, commodified to placate a growing tourism industry. Prime agricultural lands and precious natural resources were diverted from native farmers to support the sugar and pineapple industries.
The massive military presence in Hawai‘i made our lands and our people the target for anti-American sentiments just as America was poised to enter World War II. The Territory’s criminal justice system disproportionately and unfairly punished brown bodies. Native Hawaiians had the lowest rates of educational attainment, and the highest rates of incarceration and death. The project of Americanization was nearly complete.
Promise of Reconciliation
Then, in 1978, something changed. Following a state constitutional convention, the multi-ethnic voters in Hawai‘i approved generation-shifting laws regarding traditional practices, the Hawaiian language, and reconciliation with Native Hawaiians. One of these constitutional amendments—the creation of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs—sought to alter the relationship between the State of Hawai‘i and the indigenous Hawaiian people. This new agency would be run by and for the betterment of the conditions of Native Hawaiians. It would serve as a vehicle for reparative action for the historical harms of colonization.
President Bill Clinton and a bipartisan Congress amplified this message of hope for redress for historical harms when, in 1993, they apologized for the overthrow and committed to support reconciliation efforts between the United States and Native Hawaiians. While not perfect, the movement for reconciliation for the harms of the seizure of Hawaiian lands and sovereignty took significant steps forward.
Reconciliation at a Crossroads
In 2000, the United States Supreme Court struck a blow to this reparatory momentum with its startling decision in Rice v. Cayetano, 528 U.S. 495 (2000). In that case, a white Hawai‘i resident challenged the Native Hawaiian-only voting limitations for the leaders of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. The Court ignored the efforts of the state and federal governments to address the historical harms of colonization and the unique effort to provide a semblance of self-governance to Native Hawaiians through the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. The Court majority whitewashed the history of Hawai‘i and its native people. The Court then used that biased history to frame their legal conclusion and equate ancestry with race. In short, the Court denied Native Hawaiians their self-governance.
Since Rice, the path to justice for Native Hawaiians has been fraught with controversy. Any federal lawsuit dealing with Native Hawaiian issues has been forced to reconcile with the improperly premised and wrongly decided Rice decision. Even other indigenous communities across the Pacific, such as in Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, have been shackled by Rice.
While the road to overturning Rice and correcting Hawai‘i’s history in the law seems to be perilous, to see Queen Lili‘uokalani revisit Washington, D.C.—even if just in a portrait—provides hope that Hawai‘i’s true history continues to be told. During this time as America celebrates Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, learn more about our unique histories and beautiful stories, and continue to share them. The fight for justice begins with sharing our stories.
Troy J.H. Andrade is the Joanna Lau Sullivan Distinguished Professor and director of the Ulu Lehua Scholars Program at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa William S. Richardson School of Law. His scholarship lies at the intersection of American jurisprudence and legal history, particularly in the context of the pursuit of Native Hawaiian political and social justice.
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http://freehawaii.blogspot.com/2023/06/ke-aupuni-update-june-2023-june.html
Free Hawaii blog Saturday, June 10, 2023
June Celebrations in the Hawaiian Kingdom
One way to assert the Hawaiian Kingdom still lives is to remember and celebrate important days in our history. Here are three significant days to remember in the month of June.
June 11 – Kamehameha Day
On December 22, 1871, King Kamehameha V proclaimed a national holiday to honor and celebrate his grandfather, King Kamehameha the Great, the founder of the Hawaiian Kingdom. Originally, Hawaiian subjects wanted to mark the legacy of Lot Kapūaiwa (Kamehameha V) on his birthday, December 11. But in humility he opted to honor his grandfather instead, choosing a date as far away from his (Lot’s) birthday as possible, hence the date of June 11.
Since 1872 the June 11 King Kamehameha Day celebration has steadfastly endured. Even through the upheavals of insurgency, usurpation, regime changes, occupation, “annexation” and “statehood”, the one constant has been Kamehameha Day. And rightly so. Through his life, Kamehameha Ekolu transitioned from fierce warrior to conqueror to unifier and founding father to peace maker to human rights advocate (The Law of the splintered paddle) to statesman.
June 7, 1839
The Hawaiian Kingdom Declaration of Rights
Issued by Kamehameha III, the king’s Declaration of Rights profoundly improved on the American Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights from which it was fashioned. The Hawaiian Kingdom Declaration of Rights is written from a distinctly Hawaiian perspective. For instance, the American declaration famously says, “We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal...” (but “equal” was not meant to include blacks, native Americans, Asians, etc.). In contrast, the Declaration of Kamehameha III says, "God hath made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on the earth, in unity and blessedness.” Wow! The Hawaiian Declaration says we not only have equal rights, but that we are all related by blood! We are all family, meant to dwell in unity and blessedness... Our declaration says we must treat each other not just “equally” as defined in legal terms, but with aloha, as we would treat our relatives. From the highest to the lowliest, we are all ʻOhana.
June 17, 1897
The Kūʻē Petition is delivered to the U.S. Senate
Queen Liliʻuokalani went to Washington, DC to lobby against the ratification of the McKinley Treaty of Annexation. To show their support for their Queen and country, Hawaiian patriots conducted massive petition drives throughout the Islands. One of them, with 21,000 signatures, was hand-delivered to the U.S. Senate by James Kaulia (president of Hui Aloha ʻĀina), David Kalauokalani (president of Hui Kālaiʻāina), William Auld, and John Richardson. Their mission succeeded in defeating ratification of the treaty. Because of this, still today, there is no treaty annexing the Hawaiian Islands to the United States.
“Love of country is deep-seated in the breast of every Hawaiian, whatever his station.” — Queen Liliʻuokalani
Correction:
In the May 27, 2023 issue of Ke Aupuni Update I stated that hearing the case of Larsen vs. Hawaiian Kingdom at the Permanent Court of Arbitration at the Hague in 2000, constituted recognition by the court of the Hawaiian Kingdom as a State (sovereign country). It did not. The case was accepted by the PCA under rules that did not require one party to be a recognized State. Mahalo to renown international lawyer, Curtis F. Doebbler for that clarification.
Ua mau ke ea o ka ʻāina i ka pono. The sovereignty of the land is perpetuated in righteousness.
For the latest news and developments about our progress at the United Nations in both New York and Geneva, tune in to Free Hawaii News at 6 PM the first Friday of each month on ʻŌlelo Television, Channel 53.
"And remember, for the latest updates and information about the Hawaiian Kingdom check out the twice-a-month Ke Aupuni Updates published online on Facebook and other social media."
PLEASE KŌKUA
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
• Other – To contribute in other ways (airline miles, travel vouchers, volunteer services, etc...) email us at: info@HawaiianKingdom.net
“FREE HAWAII” T-SHIRTS - etc.
Check out the great FREE HAWAII products you can purchase at
http://www.robkajiwara.com/store/c8/free_hawaii_products
All proceeds are used to help the cause. MAHALO!
Malama Pono, Leon Siu, Hawaiian National
--------------------
https://www.civilbeat.org/2023/06/naka-nathaniel-how-to-rediscover-hawaiis-soul-here-are-4-scenarios/
Honolulu Civil Beat Wednesday June 21, 2023
How To Rediscover Hawaii's Soul? Here Are 4 Scenarios
A report issued at the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement conference in Las Vegas summed it up using four birds as symbols.
By Naka Nathaniel
LAS VEGAS — Talk about Hawaiian birds dominated discussions on Tuesday at the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement conference in Las Vegas to the point that it’s hard to avoid writing an avian cliche or a pun — but, I will spare the readers a trite introduction.
During a morning session, four leaders from the Hawaii Executive Collaborative (Duane Kurisu, Kamana’opono Crabbe, Micah Kane and Lynelle Marble) and former Gov. John Waihee shared their four scenarios for possible futures in Hawaii. Each of the scenarios was given the name of a bird: The iwa, the nene, the manu o ku and the ua’u.
The Hawaii Executive Collaborative, a business organization chaired by Kurisu, teamed with Reos Partners for a process called “Transformative Scenario Planning.” The process was inspired by the Mont Fleur Scenario Exercise, which was conducted in South Africa after the release of Nelson Mandela and the end of apartheid.
In 1991-1992, South African leaders were brought together to think creatively about possible futures for their still deeply divided country.
They settled on four plausible scenarios and gave them the names of birds: The ostrich symbolized what would happen if the country’s government continued to be nonrepresentative; the lame duck, in which the transition was slow and indecisive; the icarus, in which transition is rapid but the new government pursued populist economic policies; and the flight of the flamingos, in which the government’s policies are sustainable and the country took a path of inclusive growth and democracy.
The exercise has been used in other places confronting strife, including Cyprus. The exercise was undertaken last fall in Hawaii and the four scenarios were presented in Las Vegas.
Iwa is a great frigate bird whose appearance warns of incoming storms. In iwa, the structures of Hawaii’s governing system do not change, and access to power, influence and opportunity is increasingly controlled by those from outside. The nature of the economy is extractive, built around using the land, culture and people in Hawaii to drive economic profits. Iwa sees those who are benefiting under the current conditions continuing to benefit, while those who are currently struggling see their lot deteriorating.
Nene, the Hawaiian goose, is known to fly in pairs. In nene, Native Hawaiians seek and receive federal acknowledgement as Indian tribes and establish a government-to-government relationship with the United States. The term “Hawaiian” is defined as a person holding citizenship in the tribal government. Hawaiians in this scenario feel reconnected to land, and a subsistence economy emerges on Hawaiian lands. Nene enshrines existing tensions between the Native Hawaiian and non-Hawaiian communities in new structures.
Manu o ku, the white tern, is a native Hawaiian bird that thrives in both ocean and urban environments. In Manu o ku, the structures of Hawaii’s governing system do not change, and traditional Hawaiian values are increasingly embraced and embodied by leaders in business, politics and civil society. Manu o Ku sees access to power, influence, and opportunity being driven by those inside Hawaii. This widespread adoption of Hawaiian values fundamentally shifts how people and institutions in Hawaii engage with one another, and the term “Hawaiian” grows less fraught.
Ua’u, the Hawaiian petrel, guides voyagers to unknown lands. In ua’u, regulatory power and governing authority shift toward the individual states. A weakened federal government leads some states to leave the union, and Hawaii becomes its own sovereign nation. As an independent nation, Hawaii becomes a political and economic target for existing world powers. All citizens of the new nation are considered Hawaiian. ua’u occurs via a major shift in the longstanding international order, and contains the most uncertainty around Hawaii’s future.
The scenarios were accompanied by taglines: For iwa. it was Hawaii’s soul is lost; for nene, it’s Hawai’s soul is split in two; for manu o ku, it’s Hawaii’s soul is transformed; and for ua’u, it’s Hawaii’s soul is tested.
“In today’s world, we want to say, if I do these three things, this is the outcome that we’re going to have and (the scenario planning) is not that,” said Kane. “It is more about understanding the trajectory of our place and are the actions we are taking in alignment with one of those scenarios? And, if you don’t like that those actions are leading to that scenario then maybe you should rethink those activities. So it does force us to do a lot of self-reflection, especially if you have a higher degree of authority, and the decisions you make impact peoples’ lives.”
When the ua’u scenario was read aloud by Kurisu, Hilinai Son-Dudoit, a University of Hawaii Manoa political science doctoral student, gasped. He was bothered that it was the only scenario with a sovereignty pathway.
“Obviously everything is hypothetical, but they took a lot of liberties with the ua’u, more so than with the manu o ku,” he said. “The only feasible possibility of independence (in the ua’u scenario) is the dissolution of the federal government.”
Kahilo Keller, an ethnic studies student at UH Manoa, said the ua’u perspective was “the only one where sovereignty would be gained and it was with the United States collapsing.”
“Then a new (foreign) power, or multiple powers, would subject themselves onto Hawaii. I thought it was interesting that it was the only sovereignty route that they saw as realistic,” Keller added.
Michelle Ka’uhane, a member of the Rediscovering Hawaii’s Soul Core Steering Committee, said there was power in the process of scenarios.
“If you don’t like parts of one or you don’t like anything about any of them, you can ask yourself what are you doing to perpetuate the scenario that has the transformation that you want?” she said. “We each need to say to ourselves, what are we going to do to perpetuate the things that we want to happen?”
She also acknowledged to Kainoa Azama, 21, that a deficiency in the project was the lack of youth input for the scenarios.
“None of the scenarios seem to be in a position of abundance,” Azama said. “But as an opio (youth) watching how things are, there’s nothing I saw that would be a huge benefit to us.”
Sen. Jarrett Keohokalole brought the discussion of the scenarios into his panel on public policy.
“What I thought was fascinating and ultimately necessary and critical that they did is that they expanded the circle to non-Hawaiians, to people that are decision-makers and have influence and reach,” he said. “They put them all together and asked them what you think and they stepped away and that was the result of that conversation. I don’t know that anybody on Bishop Street in downtown Honolulu has actually been asked meaningfully about what they think about the kingdom and independence. But you saw that that was the number four scenario.”
Makaio Villanueva of Waianae said his visceral reaction to seeing the scenarios was hurt.
“I felt like federal recognition was being shoved on our throat,” he said. “They tried to frame it in a way where it’s different, but each one of these presented a scenario where we were always subject to another world power.”
The Reos team told Kane that this is one of the most complex projects they have worked on.
“It has generational issues, it has interracial issues because of the early influx of immigrants into Hawaii,” he said.
“You have people that have come to this place, six, seven generations, eight generations ago. They know no place other than this place as their home. And when you look out a thousand generations from now is the 30 generations difference between what one would say is we want our culture to have a presence here that guides this place forever.”
About the Author
Naka Nathaniel spent much of his career as a journalist with The New York Times, helping launch NYTimes.com, covering war in Iraq and Afghanistan and the collapse of the second tower on 9/11. He lives in Waimea on the Big Island. Opinions are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Civil Beat's views. You can reach him by email at nnathaniel@civilbeat.org.
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https://www.staradvertiser.com/2023/06/22/hawaii-news/native-hawaiians-weigh-in-on-federal-funds-protections/
Honolulu Star-Advertiser Thursday June 22, 2023 FRONTPAGE HEADLINE ARTICLE
Native Hawaiians weigh in on federal funds, protections
By Allison Schaefers
LAS VEGAS >> Bipartisan staff of the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs were at the first Western Regional Native Hawaiian Convention held in Las Vegas to highlight that Congress has secured hundreds of millions of dollars in dedicated federal funding, the most ever, for Native Hawaiians and to seek input on amending legislation to extend protection to Native Hawaiian art and artists for the first time.
U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, was not at the convention but addressed attendees in a video Wednesday and told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser in an email, “Over the last few years, we delivered the largest amount of dedicated funding to the Native Hawaiian community ever.”
“In the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, we’ve made historic, bipartisan progress to gain broad support for Native communities. And we’ve worked hard to make sure Native Hawaiians are heard and included in any bill that impacts their community,” Schatz said.
Schatz thanked colleagues in the Senate Appropriations Committee for helping to secure the historic funding, adding that it’s “a unique moment in history.”
“The way I look at the work we’re doing is to try to understand all the injustices that have occurred, and then to try to reverse them in a systematic way,” he said. “We have a president, the first-ever Native Interior Secretary, and the public recognizing the need to right historical injustices.”
The decision from the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement, or CNHA, to hold the conference on the mainland also provided an opportunity for committee staff to meet with Native Hawaiian attendees and provide updates on Native Hawaiian equities in the 118th Congress, while garnering feedback on legislative efforts.
CNHA President and CEO Kuhio Lewis said the decision to host a mainland conference came because there are now more Native Hawaiians living outside of Hawaii and it’s important to unite the community for myriad reasons, including advocacy.
“There is strength in numbers,” Lewis said. “There are Native Hawaiians living in all 50 states. That’s a powerful tool; rather than just two senators, you now have 100.”
The conference drew about 2,000 attendees, some 65% from states outside of Hawaii, he said.
Schatz said, “Native Hawaiian issues are national issues. Our committee is at the convention this year to hear directly from the Native Hawaiian community and help us shape a number of bills this Congress, including 2023 Farm Bill reauthorization, the draft ARTIST Act and the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding Schools Act.”
Committee staff hosted a formal listening session Wednesday to get feedback from Native Hawaiians on the latest amendments to the Respect Traditional Indigenous Skill and Talent (ARTIST) Act of 2023, which if passed, would update the Indian Arts and Crafts Act.
IACA was first passed in 1935 as a “truth in advertising” federal law to protect Native American arts and crafts from counterfeit sales in the United States. IACA has been amended three times since its passage, and over the past four years the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs received testimony calling for reforms.
“The ARTIST Act is about protecting Native artists and their works against counterfeits and strengthening existing law to enforce these protections. Native Hawaiians aren’t currently covered by the Indian Arts and Crafts Act, which provides these protections to other Native artists,” Schatz said. “Hearing directly from the Native Hawaiian community on issues that directly impact them is critical, and that’s why our committee is at the convention this week. Comments we receive from the listening session will help us shape legislation and serve as a resource for future discussions.”
If ARTIST passes, the new amendments are expected to:
>> Add protection for Native Hawaiian-produced arts and crafts.
>> Expand enforcement and improve the ability of federal officers to arrest and prosecute violations.
>> Create a grant program to fund arts programs in schools.
Preliminary feedback during the session was favorable, although some testifiers said adequate enforcement would be critical, and that language in the bill must clearly define Native Hawaiian in a way that offers adequate protection, while not making ancestry impossible to prove.
Makalika Naholowa‘a, executive director of the Native Hawaiian Legal Corp. and president of the National Native American Bar Association, also noted a lack of legal resources with only about 20 Native attorneys nationwide practicing intellectual property law.
Kaleiheana Stormcrow, a Native Hawaiian artist, cultural practitioner and scientist, testified, “I think it’s super important that Native Hawaiians are included in this act. Our cultural and intellectual property has not been protected for far too long. It really hurts my heart to see non-Hawaiians benefiting from our cultural practices while many of us are unable to survive here on the islands.”
State Rep. Daniel Holt, co-chair of the state legislative Hawaiian caucus, said Native Hawaiian products must have the same protections afforded to Native Americans.
“Aloha is not for sale. Aloha is our way of life. I ask that you please show our lahui aloha by passing the ARTIST Act and giving Native Hawaiian-made products the protections that they deserve,” Holt said.
The conference follows several other recent Hawaiian equities actions taken by the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. Last month, Schatz held a virtual meeting with Native Hawaiian farmers and producers from across the state to discuss the needs and priorities of the Native Hawaiian community in the 2023 reauthorization of the Farm Bill, which first passed in 1933 and only meaningfully addressed the unique needs of the Native producers for the first time in 2018.
Key Farm Bill priorities for Native Hawaiian producers, include:
>> Equity for Native Hawaiians in program access.
>> Grant navigation assistance.
>> Recognize traditional ecological knowledge.
>> Defray high shipping costs.
>> Cost share and match waivers.
>> Productive repurposing of unused agricultural lands.
Schatz and U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, vice chairman of the committee, earlier this month also led committee passage of S.1723, a bill to establish the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies in the United States, and for other purposes.
“The impacts of federal Indian boarding school policies led to some of the same outcomes for Native Hawaiians as for other Native communities, including the loss of language and culture. It’s important that the federal government continues to enact laws — like the Native American Language Resource Center Act and Durbin Feeling Native American Languages Act — to help right these historical wrongs,” Schatz said.
FEDERAL FUNDING
Federal funding for the Native Hawaiian community:
>> $200 million+: Native Hawaiian education, including $170 million for Native Hawaiian education program.
>> $69 million: Native Hawaiian health care.
>> $54 million: Native Hawaiian housing, including $5 million for emergency rental assistance and access to new programs at Treasury, including for homeowner assistance.
>> $2 million+: Federal funding to support Native Hawaiian cultural tourism opportunities.
Also includes new funding and programs for the Native Hawaiian community:
>> $90 million: New funding for broadband deployment on Hawaiian Home Lands.
>> $25 million: New Native Hawaiian climate resiliency and adaptation funds.
>> New public safety resources, including $3 million to establish a new Native Hawaiian Resource Center on domestic violence.
>> Technical fix to clarify that Native Hawaiian organizations have access to federal grants to serve survivors in their own communities.
>> New landmark Native language laws.
>> New behavioral health resources for Native committees.
Source: U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, bipartisan staff presentation
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http://freehawaii.blogspot.com/2023/06/ke-aupuni-update-june-2023-our-treaty.html
Free Hawaii blog Saturday June 24, 2023
Ke Aupuni update
Our Treaty with the Swiss Confederation
For the past week I have been in Switzerland, first in Zürich to speak at an event, then Bern, to visit the Swiss Federal Archives and now in Geneva to attend the 53rd Session of the UN Human Rights Council.
The United Nations has several headquarters: the main one in New York with which most people are familiar; the much larger one in Geneva that houses the Human Rights mechanisms as well as the World Trade Organization, the World Health Organization, the World Intellectual Properties Organization, the International Labor Organization and numerous others. Then there are headquarters in Vienna and in Nairobi.
I found out something interesting. This year, Switzerland is celebrating the 175th anniversary of its 1848 Constitution, which is the official start of the current, modern-day Swiss Confederation. That means the Hawaiian Kingdom became a constitutional government eight years before Switzerland did, and the Hawaiian Kingdom was officially recognized as a modern sovereign state by the Anglo-Franco Proclamation of 1843, five years before Switzerland.
In talking about the Hawaiian Kingdom as a recognized sovereign state, we often refer to the treaties that our Kingdom had with the principal nations of the world, particularly those of Europe.
The reason I went to the city of Bern, which is the seat of the Swiss government, was to view the documents pertaining to the Swiss-Hawaiian Kingdom Treaty of 1864. It’s one thing to cite that we have a treaty and to show an image of the treaty. It is quite another thing to see the thick file of original, hand-written documents pertaining to the drafting, correspondence, discussions and ratification of the treaty. The huge files of supporting materials leading up to the treaty from the Swiss side are all there.
It is profoundly validating to know there are real documents from real people from a real country who made a real treaty with the real Hawaiian Kingdom. And that there are corresponding treaty-documents like these in the archives of other European capitals. Not only that, if one were to dig further, one would find trade records and diplomatic communications from the 137 Hawaiian Kingdom embassies and consulates from all over the world.
But, what is not in the Swiss Confederation file on the Hawaiian Kingdom Treaty is a document of notification terminating the treaty. And it would be safe to say, no such terminating document exists in the possession of any of our other treaty partners’ archives.
When we say the Hawaiian Kingdom Treaties were never terminated, abrogated, repealed, revoked, rescinded, retracted, annulled, abolished… it’s really true. The Hawaiian Kingdom actually exists in the indelible records of its treaties.
And the one treaty upon which the United States stakes it claim to Hawaii does not exist! The so-called, “Treaty of Annexation”.
“Love of country is deep-seated in the breast of every Hawaiian, whatever his station.” — Queen Liliʻuokalani
Ua mau ke ea o ka ʻāina i ka pono. The sovereignty of the land is perpetuated in righteousness.
For the latest news and developments about our progress at the United Nations in both New York and Geneva, tune in to Free Hawaii News at 6 PM the first Friday of each month on ʻŌlelo Television, Channel 53.
"And remember, for the latest updates and information about the Hawaiian Kingdom check out the twice-a-month Ke Aupuni Updates published online on Facebook and other social media."
PLEASE KŌKUA
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
• Other – To contribute in other ways (airline miles, travel vouchers, volunteer services, etc...) email us at: info@HawaiianKingdom.net
“FREE HAWAII” T-SHIRTS - etc.
Check out the great FREE HAWAII products you can purchase at
http://www.robkajiwara.com/store/c8/free_hawaii_products
All proceeds are used to help the cause. MAHALO!
Malama Pono,
Leon Siu
Hawaiian National
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** Note by website editor Ken Conklin:
The assertions in this post by Leon Siu are very deceptive and have been repeated many times for several decades by numerous Hawaiian sovereignty activists. I have therefore created a major webpage providing detailed rebuttal. Please see
"Does an 1864 treaty between Switzerland and the Kingdom of Hawaii remain in effect? No. Does its historical existence prove that the Kingdom of Hawaii continues to exist and has international recognition as a sovereign nation? No. Hawaiian activists have asserted these lies for decades, twisting history to attack U.S. sovereignty in Hawaii. Examples of Leon Siu, Keanu Sai, Niklaus Schweizer regarding the Swiss treaty. " at
https://www.angelfire.com/big11a/SwissHwnTreaty1864.html
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https://www.staradvertiser.com/2023/06/26/hawaii-news/leaving-for-las-vegas-reaching-out-to-native-hawaiians/
Honolulu Star-Advertiser Monday June 26, 2023
Leaving for Las Vegas: Reaching out to Native Hawaiians
By Allison Schaefers
Las Vegas >> Trying to make it in Hawaii is becoming increasingly difficult — so impossible for some that more than 50% of Native Hawaiians are now living outside of the state.
Are those who have fled the islands for an easier life still part of the lahui (community), and should they receive the same benefits and assistance as those struggling to survive in the islands? The subject of expanding services to Native Hawaiians on the mainland has become a hot debate.
But to the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement, the trend is clear —that’s why they debuted a new annual mainland conference, the Western Regional Native Hawaiian Conference. Held in Las Vegas this year, the conference drew nearly 2,000 attendees, and more than 60% came from 36 states across the mainland — including states as far away as Maine.
It’s also why CNHA is eyeing Seattle for a conference in 2024 and has plans to begin scaling up to offer advocacy and services in Los Angeles over the next couple of years, with other cities to follow.
CNHA has numbers on its side. The U.S. Census’ American Community Survey in 2021 estimated that 370,546 Native Hawaiians were living on the mainland, compared with 309,807 in the Hawaiian Islands.
Kuhio Lewis, CNHA CEO, said Native Hawaiians now comprise just 18% of Hawaii’s population, and the dynamics of the lahui have grown more complicated as they are now fractured between Hawaii and the mainland. Lewis said Hawaii loses part of its culture with each Native Hawaiian who leaves, while Native Hawaiians living outside the islands struggle to preserve their own Native Hawaiian culture, values and identity.
“What is Hawaii without the culture? It’s sad to see that the Hawaiians, the people that have kept that culture alive for generations, are moving away just to survive,” Lewis said.
Meanwhile, Lewis said, “There’s no national intermediary voice that is representing the collective Hawaiian community. It’s all Hawaii- based — like the (Office of Hawaiian Affairs) that’s chartered by the state of Hawaii and Kamehameha Schools, which is focused on Hawaii.
“Nobody is focused on the future, the trajectory. The trajectory shows that Hawaiians are displaced and they are all over the U.S.”
Lewis said what’s emerging at CNHA and at its Western Regional Native Hawaiian Conference is a national intermediary voice. To be sure, the conference was important enough to attract Hawaii’s Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke, bipartisan staff from the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, Native American tribal leaders, and politicians from Hawaii and elsewhere.
“I do think that there is a future here where CNHA will have a presence in states that have predominant Native Hawaiians. We are already talking about opening up something in Los Angeles, possibly in the next two years. We are already poking around.”
Lewis said CNHA’s vision for mainland expansion includes everything from workforce, business and cultural development programs to loan programs. He said the goal is to help Hawaiians living outside of Hawaii build wealth so that “maybe one day they could come home (to Hawaii).”
But CNHA’s vision isn’t an automatic sell. Some Native Hawaiians living in Hawaii worry that there will be less for them if CNHA expands to the mainland. They are also concerned that it would encourage more Hawaiians to leave, taking a piece of Hawaii’s culture with them.
Trisha Kehaulani Watson, a cultural resource specialist, environmental planner and community engagement consultant living in Hawaii, was part of a conference panel discussion Wednesday — “Should Mainland Hawaiians Be Part of the Lahui?” — but said she was more interested in discussing how to keep the Native Hawaiian community at home.
“When we talk about lahui, to me that is a sacred word. It is rooted in our history, it is rooted in aloha aina (land). This is not our aina. We are not native here. We are malihini (strangers) here,” Watson said. “I would rather be houseless in Hawaii than ever move from my homeland.”
Watson said she is open to offering Hawaiians on the mainland assistance with language, culture, education and perhaps relocation help for ohana who want to return home. But she found herself questioning the use of homeownership loans being used to buy “some other Indigenous people’s land.”
Judging from the applause after Watson’s remarks, she wasn’t the only conferee with that sentiment. However, some of those viewpoints mellowed as conferees found opportunities to talk, listen and identify connections and shared values to bridge the gaps between them.
Pa‘ahana Bissen, who participated in the same panel as Watson, shared that her family relocated from Hawaii to the mainland for her father’s work. Bissen said three generations of the family now live on the mainland, but she still dreams of returning to Hawaii.
“As the flood of Hawaiians come to the continent, we are we are only asking Hawaii to help us care for them, to help them be successful like they should. We want to show the continent that our people in Hawaii care about us,” Bissen said.
“I myself want to go home, and I have plans to go home as soon as I can. But I want to go not to drain Hawaii; I want to bring things back to enhance Hawaii.”
Sentiments were also expressed by some conferees that Native Hawaiians living outside of Hawaii who become better off financially than those living in Hawaii should kokua by remitting money back to Hawaii as do other Pacific Islanders. However, while Las Vegas offers new opportunities, it hasn’t always become the promised land for those leaving Hawaii, and some of those who left Hawaii in crisis have struggled to find their footing.
While some would return to Hawaii, others said that wasn’t a possibility due to the high cost of living as well as housing. They also expressed concerns that Hawaii offered a less friendly business environment, and fewer opportunities to find good-paying jobs. Another popular reason to leave was to be closer to other friends and family who had already left.
Noelani Paselio, whose family followed friends to Las Vegas in 2007, said the move allowed the family to buy a home, which they could not have done in Hawaii. However, she said being outside of Hawaii has made it more difficult to find loans or other assistance to expand the candy business, Sweet Kings Las Vegas, that she and her daughter Anuhea opened during the pandemic.
The Kamehameha Schools graduate said she reached out to Hawaii programs for support but was turned away because she does not live there. In contrast, aid for other minority groups in the United States doesn’t commonly use location as a qualifier. The difference might be the concept of “sense of place,” which is so important to the Native Hawaiian culture that introductions commonly include information about where a person comes from as well as identity.
“I understand that we are no longer on the birthplace of our ancestors; however, we are still an extension. Wherever we go we carry that with us, so why not support us while we are here?” Paselio said, adding she believes that Native Hawaiians living outside of Hawaii should be able to qualify for the same benefits as Native Hawaiians living in Hawaii.
Terry Nacion, a Native Hawaiian Realtor at Xpand Realty in Las Vegas, where about 70% of the agents are from Hawaii, said struggles aren’t unique to Hawaii. Nacion said she has seen many Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders buy homes, but she also has encountered those going through a short-sale or foreclosure, who would have benefited from CNHA’s loan programs, financial counseling or emergency assistance.
“Support should be provided just as with any other nationality,” Nacion said. “We have limited resources. But I feel the Hawaiian people are just ever so grateful for any help. They are not demanding it.”
Lewis said CNHA’s planned push into serving mainland Hawaiians will not take away resources from those living in Hawaii, where the nonprofit now manages $100 million in annual program revenue, four facilities and employees across six divisions.
“I think what people don’t realize there’s already a lot of money going to states to support Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders,” he said. “California gets a huge amount of federal allocation. The problem is they go to these Asian American organizations and groups, rather than one that truly represents Native Hawaiians.”
He said more even more resources are likely to become available as greater advocacy power for the lahui comes from forging a deeper connection with Hawaiians in all states.
U.S. Rep. Ed Case, D- Hawaii, said Wednesday in a digital welcome to conferees, “Here in Congress, really the responsibility for our federal programs and our laws and our funding on behalf of Native Hawaiians has fallen to our Hawaii congressional delegations as it should — that’s a responsibility that we all bear.”
However, he added that census records show that 28 states now have 10,000 or more Native Hawaiians living there. He said there are large states such as California that have almost as many Native Hawaiians as in Hawaii, and other states, such as Texas and Washington, also have become natural partners.
He implored conferees: “Please go back into your states, into your districts, and contact your member of Congress and ask for their commitment to Native Hawaiians not just as a matter of national policy, but also as a matter of personal commitment to their own constituencies.
“This is going to be necessary for us to carry forward Native Hawaiian programs, Native Hawaiian efforts and commitment to Native Hawaiians in our federal government for another number of generations.”
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** Ken Conklin's online comment.
I have some percentage of Irish ancestry. The mo'olelo (legend) is that an Irishman who was starving during the great potato famine around 1850 became an economic refugee and came to America, along with millions of others; and now here I am.
So am I actually a member of the Irish "lahui"? Should I work myself into a frenzy of nostalgia for my "homeland"? Should today's citizens of Ireland regard me as one of their own? Should I feel anger toward today's descendants of the British who invaded and conquered my homeland and continue to hold onto 6 counties in the narth of it?
Sure and begorrah the tears come to my eyes when I hear the song "Irish eyes are smiling" while hoisting a pint of Guinness stout or Harp light.
I visited Ireland (both north and south) for a couple weeks & about 30 other countries during a period of several decades. Yes, it was beautiful. And the natives were friendly. Yes, I leaned over backwards to kiss the Blarney stone (as I'm sure readers are realizing).
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http://freehawaii.blogspot.com/2023/07/ke-aupuni-update-july-2023-kalakauas.html
Free Hawaii blog Tuesday July 18, 2023
KE AUPUNI UPDATE - JULY 2023
Kalākaua’s Protest of 1883
Last month, at the Federal Archives of the Swiss Confederation in Bern, Switzerland, I came across a letter of protest, written by Walter M. Gibson the Foreign Minister of the Hawaiian Kingdom on behalf of King Kalākaua and the Hawaiian people. It addresses our European treaty partners, protesting their colonial activities in Polynesia, beginning with the following eerily prophetic sentence:
“Whereas His Hawaiian Majesty’s Government being informed that certain Sovereign and Colonial States propose to annex various Island and Archipelagoes of Polynesia does hereby solemnly protest against such proposals of annexation as unjust for a simple and ignorant [uninformed] people and subversive in their case of those conditions for favorable national development, which have been so happily accorded to the Hawaiian Nation.”
It is a beautifully written protest by which King Kalākaua exercised his prerogative as the King of a Sovereign Nation to stand in support of the sovereignty of the Polynesian nations who were being forcibly subjected to colonial takeover by European powers. Although Kalākaua’s Protest was ignored by the colonial powers, it was a sincere, noble and righteous act.
Little did he know, that ten years later, his country would be forcibly hijacked by the United States.
If one were to do even a cursory search, Kalākaua’s Protest and other documents of Hawaii’s active engagement in international discourse (such as neutrality during the Crimean War, the immediate emancipation of slaves who touched Hawaii’s shores, etc.) can be found in the archives of many, if not all of our treaty partners in Europe, Asia and the Americas.
The irony is, today in 2023, the picture is flipped. Most of the Pacific nations are independent or autonomous nations, but Hawaii is being held captive as the fake U.S. “State of Hawaii”, a situation to which the UN was manipulated into being an unwitting accomplice. Fortunately, today the United Nations and the international community in general, are inclined to take questions about sovereignty more seriously.
Thus, we have been speaking to our Pacific Family of Nations to ask them to assist in bringing the UN’s attention to the situation of the hijacking and usurpation of the Hawaiian Islands.
The beauty is, these nations would not have to jeopardize themselves by directly confronting the United States or the ʻmissing-in-action’ European treaty partners who abandoned us at every step since 1893.
All it would take is for a few UN members from our Pacific Family to submit a resolution to the United Nations General Assembly requesting for the UN to conduct a procedural review of its Resolution 1469 of December 12, 1959. This is the resolution that erroneously endorsed the fake narrative and deceitful illusion that the Hawaiian Islands is an integral part of the United States.
If the members of our Pacific Family were to shine a light on the statehood illusion by calling for a review of Resolution 1469, the U.S. claim of dominion over Hawaii would quickly be exposed and rejected, and the Hawaiian Kingdom would be peacefully reinstated.
“Love of country is deep-seated in the breast of every Hawaiian, whatever his station.” — Queen Liliʻuokalani
Ua mau ke ea o ka ʻāina i ka pono. The sovereignty of the land is perpetuated in righteousness.
For the latest news and developments about our progress at the United Nations in both New York and Geneva, tune in to Free Hawaii News at 6 PM the first Friday of each month on ʻŌlelo Television, Channel 53.
And remember, for the latest updates and information about the Hawaiian Kingdom check out the twice-a-month Ke Aupuni Updates published online on Facebook and other social media.
PLEASE KŌKUA
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
• Other – To contribute in other ways (airline miles, travel vouchers, volunteer services, etc...) email us at: info@HawaiianKingdom.net
“FREE HAWAII” T-SHIRTS - etc.
Check out the great FREE HAWAII products you can purchase at
http://www.robkajiwara.com/store/c8/free_hawaii_products
All proceeds are used to help the cause. MAHALO!
Malama Pono, Leon Siu, Hawaiian National
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https://www.civilbeat.org/2023/07/native-hawaiian-contractors-take-a-back-seat-to-alaskans-and-tribes-for-lucrative-jobs/
Honolulu Civil Beat Wednesday July 26, 2023
Native Hawaiian Contractors Take A Back Seat To Alaskans And Tribes For Lucrative Jobs
Hawaii's congressional delegation is hoping to make it easier for Native Hawaiian-owned businesses to compete with other Indigenous contractors.
by Nick Grube
** Lengthy article edited by Ken Conklin to focus on issues related to claims that "Native Hawaiians" should be treated the same way as though they are a federally recognized Indian tribe.
Hawaii’s congressional delegation is working to pass legislation that would expand sole source contracting opportunities for certain Native Hawaiian-owned businesses, a move that would put them on the same footing as Native American tribes and Alaska Native corporations.
Now, Native Hawaiian firms can only receive special sole source contracting preferences with the Defense Department while Alaska Native and Native American companies have access to contracts being offered by the rest of the federal government.
Hundreds of millions of dollars in new revenue is at stake for the Hawaiian contractors through the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 8(a) business development program that gives preference to firms owned by qualified nonprofit Native Hawaiian organizations.
“This is just another example of another program that other Native people participate in that we think Hawaiians should be able to participate in,” said U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, chairman of the Indian Affairs Committee and Hawaii’s senior senator. “We believe that Native Hawaiians should be on equal footing with Alaska Natives and American Indian tribes.”
The 8(a) program, which for decades has been scrutinized by federal investigators and criticized by members of Congress and others when glaring instances of blatant fraud have surfaced, is coming under the public microscope again as a new federal investigation into a Hawaiian 8(a) continues.
Few details have been released about what exactly federal investigators were looking for when they executed a search warrant at the downtown Honolulu offices of the Hawaiian Native Corp., the parent company of DAWSON, a conglomerate of 11 firms that have received more than $1.4 billion in federal jobs since 2008.
The allegations involve possible financial crimes and the Hawaiian Native Corp.’s founder, Christopher Dawson, has stepped down in an attempt to distance himself from the work his companies are doing.
He’s also hired a high profile defense attorney, Michael Purpura, who previously served as one of former President Donald Trump’s impeachment lawyers.
U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda sponsored the House version of the bill to expand the Native Hawaiian contracting preferences.
For Tokuda, the legislation that’s being pursued by the state’s congressional delegation to expand contracting preferences for Native Hawaiian businesses is about fairness, and that the controversy involving the Hawaiian Native Corp. should be viewed in a separate light.
“This was never about one Native Hawaiian organization,” Tokuda said. “I don’t want us to be distracted from the good work that Native Hawaiian organizations are doing and the support we should be providing them in terms of parity with other Native and tribal organizations.”
The 8(a) program has been particularly lucrative for Native entities, such as Native American tribes, Alaska Native corporations and NHOs.
Whereas most individuals participating in the program can only have one 8(a) firm, Native entities can own multiple companies that receive special contracting preferences.
Those preferences too are more generous.
The government provides billions of dollars in set-aside and sole source contracts for companies. But in general the sole source awards are capped at $7 million for manufacturing and $4.5 million for all other contracts.
Those price caps, however, do not apply to firms owned by qualified tribes, Alaska Native corporations and NHOs, which means they can receive sole source awards worth tens of millions of dollars or more.
The only difference is that NHO-owned 8(a)s are restricted to Defense Department contracts while the firms owned by tribes and Alaska Native corporations can receive large sole source awards from any government agency.
That difference, however, can equate to hundreds of millions of dollars.
Cariann Ah Loo is the president of the Native Hawaiian Organizations Association, a trade group representing nearly two dozen NHOs, including the Hawaiian Native Corp. ...
Ah Loo said sole source parity has been a concern of the NHOA ever since U.S. Sen. Dan Inouye successfully secured special contracting preferences for NHOs with the Defense Department in 2005.
She said Inouye was a powerful member of Congress, but even he struggled to convince his colleagues that Native Hawaiians should have access to the same sole source contracts as Native Americans and Alaska Natives. Part of the reason was politics, Ah Loo said, but the fact that Native Hawaiians are not federally recognized as their own sovereign nation also played a complicating factor.
While there’s generally support within the Native Hawaiian contracting community for expanding the 8(a) program, Ah Loo said the same cannot be said for tribes and Alaska Native corporations.
“We do get pushback not just from members of Congress, but from some of our Alaskan and tribal friends,” Ah Loo said. “There’s always a concern that if our program expands that means there will be fewer opportunities for them. So there’s an education process that has to happen. We’re not trying to take away their work.”
Hawaii’s congressional delegation has been trying to expand contracting opportunities for NHOs for at least the past two years.
In 2022, then-U.S. Rep. Kai Kahele was successful in getting an amendment in Congress’ annual defense authorization bill for fiscal year 2023 that would have allowed for sole source parity, but it was stripped out during closed door conference negotiations with the Senate.
Kahele pushed the amendment despite his own worries about the 8(a) program and whether it was truly benefitting the Native Hawaiian community.
Kahele’s concerns stemmed from a 2021 labor dispute at the Pacific Missile Range Facility Barking Sands on Kauai involving unionized employees of Koa Lani JV, which was awarded a contract worth up to $854 million through the 8(a) program.
In a letter to a top Navy commander, Kahele said he was worried that potential labor law violations involving Koa Lani JV could lead to a strike at a critical military installation.
He was also concerned whether the joint venture, which was benefitting from its status as an NHO, was truly “fulfilling its intended purpose in serving the Native Hawaiian community.”
Among his concerns were that Koa Lani and other subsidiaries of the Alakaina Foundation were not actually based in Hawaii, but instead headquartered in Florida.
He also raised questions about Koa Lani’s top executives and managerial employees, many of whom were not Native Hawaiian, which he said “circumvents the spirit and intent of the program.”
“This is highly concerning on many levels,” Kahele said. “From a cultural perspective, the conduct exhibited by the leadership of the joint venture is certainly not what one would expect from a longstanding and reputable Native Hawaiian Organization.”
Whether the delegation can convince its colleagues to expand contracting preferences for Native Hawaiian-owned businesses is another matter.
Native Hawaiian issues in general face unique hurdles in Congress due to the lack of federal recognition, which would make it easier to make the argument that they deserve the same benefits as Native Americans and Alaska Natives.
“The fact that Native Hawaiians are not fully recognized is always a handicap in these types of situations,” Case said.
There are still some in the Republican Party who push back against any program that they deem to be race-based rather than affiliated with an indigenous, sovereign people. It’s a long-standing issue for Hawaii’s delegation.
For example, when Donald Trump was president, Schatz, who sits on the Senate Appropriations Committee, often had to re-insert money into the federal budget for Native Hawaiian health care and education programs that the administration had zeroed out.
Another issue, Schatz said, is just a general lack of knowledge about the islands and the dynamics at play there.
So far, this year’s bill to expand sole source parity for Native Hawaiians has yet to gain much traction, although delegation members are hopeful it can be added as a last minute addition to the National Defense Authorization Act or an upcoming appropriations measure.
The fact that it has yet to find a home, however, does not bode well for its immediate future
“It’s always going to be difficult, but there are opportunities,” Case said. “You have to look for those vehicles and glom onto the vehicles when you can.”
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http://freehawaii.blogspot.com/2023/07/ke-aupuni-update-july-2023-180-years-la.html
Free Hawaii blog Saturday July 29, 2023
Ke Aupuni Update
180 Years – Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea
July 31st marks the 180th Anniversary of Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea - Sovereignty Restoration Day! On this day in 1843, King Kamehameha III was restored to his rightful position as the ruling King of the Hawaiian Islands by Admiral Richard Thomas of the British Royal Navy, ending “the Paulet Affair”, a four-month-long unlawful occupation of the Hawaiian Islands instigated by British naval officer Lord George Paulet.
Upon being restored, King Kamehameha III declared Lā Hoʻihoʻi a national holiday and all over the realm, a massive celebration of sovereignty that lasted for 10 days.
Four months later, on November 28, 1843, the United Kingdom and the Kingdom of France issued a Joint Proclamation officially recognizing the Hawaiian Kingdom as an equal, sovereign state and Lā Kuʻokoʻa – Independence Day also was declared a national holiday.
Other countries jumped on board, confirming Hawaii’s sovereignty and entering into treaties, agreements and diplomatic exchanges with the Hawaiian Kingdom. By the end of the 19th Century, Hawaii had 46 treaties with other countries and 137 diplomatic posts (embassies and consulates) all over the world.
Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea, the trigger Hawaiian sovereignty was a testament to the brilliance and foresight of Kau'ikeaouli, Kamehameha III. A year before the Paulet Affair, and unbeknownst to Paulet, Kamehameha III had sent diplomatic envoys from Hawaii — Timoteo Ha’alilio, William Richards and Sir George Simpson — to Europe to negotiate with the governments of Britain and France for formal recognition of the Hawaiian Kingdom as a sovereign nation. The diplomatic team was already in London when word arrived that Paulet had seized Hawaii for the British Crown. In fact, by that time, British officials had already decided to recognize Hawaii’s sovereignty, but had not yet prepared the formal proclamation. Thus, the dispatching of Admiral Thomas to return control of the Hawaiian Islands to the Hawaiian Crown, was an ideal opportunity to demonstrate the British Crown’s recognition of the sovereignty of the Hawaiian Kingdom.
Thomas Square was dedicated commemorating Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea. Even through times when the holiday was forgotten, the place has been living, physical evidence and testament to the fact that the Hawaiian Kingdom is a sovereign state in continuity. Then, on July 31, 2018, the City and County of Honolulu unveiled the statue of King Kamehameha III at Thomas Square, honoring our great king and his great accomplishments.
Then last year, the State of Hawaii Legislators passed a resolution acknowledging Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea as a national holiday of the Hawaiian Kingdom. At the ceremony for the legislation, Imai Winchester, one of the organizers of the annual celebration at Thomas Square said:
"I offer the challenge for the people of Hawaiʻi to learn and to understand our deep and nuanced history, to challenge the state to continue to seek to do what is right on behalf of the Hawaiian people of all ethnicities.
So on behalf of Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea, who celebrates not just here in Honolulu but celebrates around ko Hawaiʻi pae ʻāina and around the world and all the communities who rise in solidarity for peace and for justice, we accept this as a noble step forward in our path towards liberation."
The celebrations of Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea and Lā Kuʻokoʻa and other holidays of the kingdom are not only reminders of events past, they serve as proof and affirmations that, standing on those firm foundations, the Hawaiian Kingdom still lives today.
“Love of country is deep-seated in the breast of every Hawaiian, whatever his station.” — Queen Liliʻuokalani
Ua mau ke ea o ka ʻāina i ka pono. The sovereignty of the land is perpetuated in righteousness.
For the latest news and developments about our progress at the United Nations in both New York and Geneva, tune in to Free Hawaii News at 6 PM the first Friday of each month on ʻŌlelo Television, Channel 53.
"And remember, for the latest updates and information about the Hawaiian Kingdom check out the twice-a-month Ke Aupuni Updates published online on Facebook and other social media."
PLEASE KŌKUA
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
• Other – To contribute in other ways (airline miles, travel vouchers, volunteer services, etc...) email us at: info@HawaiianKingdom.net
“FREE HAWAII” T-SHIRTS - etc.
Check out the great FREE HAWAII products you can purchase at
http://www.robkajiwara.com/store/c8/free_hawaii_products
All proceeds are used to help the cause. MAHALO!
Malama Pono, Leon Siu, Hawaiian National
------------------
https://www.oha.org/news/oha-board-chair-carmen-hulu-lindsey-statement-on-maui-wildfires/
OHA Board Chair Carmen “Hulu” Lindsey statement on Maui wildfires
August 9, 2023
Today we offer pule for our beloved Kanaka ʻŌiwi o Maui, knowing that their loss is personal, physical, emotional and spirtual. Our prayers and aloha go out to ‘ohana who have lost loved ones, and to those who have lost their homes, property, and livelihoods. The Office of Hawaiian Affairs is currently assessing community needs, and we stand ready to assist our lāhui.
As kānaka, there are truly no words to describe the devastation and immeasurable losses in Lahaina, a national historic landmark, historic district, and former capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom. Lahaina holds some of the most historically significant cultural properties and highest-ranking sacred remains of our ancestors. There is so much history that will be forever lost, a history that tethers all of us, young and old, not only to the ʻāina, but to ourselves and to each other.
The fires of today are in part due to the climate crisis, a history of colonialism in our islands, and the loss of our right to steward our ʻāina and wai. Today we have watched our precious cultural assets, our physical connection to our ancestors, our places of remembering – all go up in smoke. The same western forces that tried to erase us as a people now threaten our survival with their destructive practices.
As Maui is my home island, these events have struck a particularly painful chord. But I have no doubt that the Maui community, and the entire state of Hawaiʻi, will come together to aid in the recovery efforts. We will persist. We are connected through mana that nothing can break. Our love for ‘āina, and for one another, is a model that can change the world.
Today, more than ever, let us aloha kekahi i kekahi, love and take care of one another. Ke Akua pū.
-------
** Ken Conklin has CAPITALIZED race-hatred and/or race-focused elements in this statement, and [INSERTED A FEW INTERJECTIONS]
WE OFFER PULE FOR OUR BELOVED KANAKA ʻŌIWI o Maui, knowing that THEIR LOSS IS PERSONAL, PHYSICAL, EMOTIONAL AND SPIRITUAL. Our prayers and aloha go out TO ‘OHANA who have lost loved ones, and to those who have lost their homes, property, and livelihoods. The Office of Hawaiian Affairs is currently assessing community needs, and WE STAND READY TO ASSIST OUR LĀHUI. [*"Lahui" is a well-known code-synonym for "race" or "tribe" or "nation"]
AS KĀNAKA, there are truly no words to describe the devastation and immeasurable losses in Lahaina, a national historic landmark, historic district, and former capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom. Lahaina holds some of the MOST HISTORICALLY SIGNIFICANT CULTURAL PROPERTIES AND HIGHEST-RANKING SACRED REMAINS OF OUR ANCESTORS. There is so much history that will be forever lost, a history that tethers all of us [*ethnic Hawaiian lahui], young and old, not only to the ʻāina, but to ourselves and to each other.
The fires are in part due to the climate crisis, A HISTORY OF COLONIALISM IN OUR ISLANDS, AND THE LOSS OF OUR RIGHT TO STEWARD OUR ʻĀINA AND WAI. WE HAVE WATCHED OUR PRECIOUS CULTURAL ASSETS, OUR PHYSICAL CONNECTION TO OUR ANCESTORS, OUR PLACES OF REMEMBERING – all go up in smoke. THE SAME WESTERN FORCES THAT TRIED TO ERASE US AS A PEOPLE NOW THREATEN OUR SURVIVAL WITH THEIR DESTRUCTIVE PRACTICES. [*So go ahead and be angry, bitter, hostile toward the haoles, steal their stuff as reparations, beat them up because they have it coming]
Now, more than ever, let us aloha kekahi i kekahi, love and take care of one another. [*Ethnic Hawaiian "lahui"]
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https://www.staradvertiser.com/2023/08/10/hawaii-news/lahainas-historic-and-cultural-treasures-go-up-in-smoke/
Honolulu Star-Advertiser Thursday August 10, 2023
Lahaina’s historic and cultural treasures go up in smoke
By Timothy Hurley
The fire that rampaged through Lahaina on Tuesday delivered a devastating blow to Hawaii’s historical and cultural resources.
The area in and around Front Street — designated a National Historic Landmark since 1962 — was leveled by the massive overnight blaze, and so were its historic buildings, landmarks and sites.
A spokesperson for Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen wasn’t ready late Wednesday afternoon to list the landmarks that were destroyed by the fire, saying access to the area was still restricted and crews were still actively fighting the fire.
But Tamara Paltin, who represents Lahaina on the Maui County Council, didn’t hold back while delivering food and supplies to West Maui via boat.
“Basically everything from Safeway to the Chart House is gone,” she said in a brief phone interview.
Some of the lost historical sites, she said, include:
>> Waiola Church, established in 1823 by High Chiefess Keopuolani.
>> Maria Lanakila Catholic Church, which was established in 1846 by the Rev. Aubert Bouillon of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, and officially dedicated in 1858.
>> Lahaina Jodo Mission, which was established in a private house in 1912 to propagate Buddhism in Lahaina. The temple moved to its present location in 1931.
>> Na Aikana Cultural Center, which occupies a building that once served as a soup kitchen for plantation workers during an ILWU strike against the Pioneer Mill.
>> Pioneer Inn, built in 1901 by George Alan Freeland.
Other structures that appear to be lost include:
>> The Old Lahaina Courthouse, which opened in 1860 as a customs house for whaling and trade ships as well as a center for government offices and court functions during the monarchy period.
>> The Baldwin Home Museum, the oldest home on the island, built between 1834 and 1835 for missionaries Dwight Baldwin and Charlotte Fowler Baldwin.
Outside the courthouse was a massive banyan tree, which was more than 150 years old. It was still standing Wednesday but it was heavily charred and a likely victim. The Emma Farden Sharpe Hula Festival was supposed to be held Saturday under the tree, but the event’s fate is now uncertain.
Kumu hula Roselle Bailey of Wailuku said she hopes the event will go forward so that it can help uplift the people of Lahaina.
“It was sad to see the town get demolished,” Bailey said, adding that the destruction included her childhood (Lindsey family) home south of Lahaina Town at Kamani and Polanui. “It holds all of our history and spirit.”
“Our family is fine,” she added. “The ornaments on the land are burned down. It leaves time to regroup and rebuild and think anew.”
This was not the first time Lahaina was destroyed by fire.
In the early morning of New Year’s Day 1919, fire swept through the town, destroying more than 30 buildings, according to historical accounts, before it was stopped by the townspeople.
The devastating fire led to the organization of Maui’s fire department and the implementation of other fire safety measures.
“We absolutely will come back,” said Theo Morrison, the longtime executive director of the Lahaina Restoration Foundation. “We have a history of doing that.”
Morrison, who didn’t know the fate of her own Lahaina home Wednesday morning, said the town’s history can be divided into six separate but sometimes overlapping eras: pre-contact, monarchy, missionary, whaling, plantation and tourism.
The different eras, she said, brought a different group of people who recognized a community blessed with calm ocean waters and fertile grounds. Each era ended with a slump, she said, but the town always reinvented itself.
These eras left a mosaic of history, artifacts and landmarks scattered throughout the town, but now most of them may be lost.
The Lahaina Restoration Foundation was in the middle of several restoration projects, including the just-completed $20,000 repainting of the Baldwin Home Museum, part of a $500,000 effort that was set to get underway soon.
“The shingles (for a new roof) are sitting on Oahu right now,” Morrison said.
Foundation workers also were preparing a $500,000 exhibit to be installed at the Old Lahaina Courthouse. The exhibit was going to describe Moku‘ula, the 1837-1847 home of King Kamehameha III that was rediscovered under a baseball field at Lahaina’s Malu‘ulu o Lele Park.
With the fire, however, the projects are in limbo.
“This is the biggest blow we’ve ever had as a community. It’s beyond comprehending,” she said. “With the lost homes, jobs, a big chunk of the economy, it’s a game-changer.
“But we’re resilient, and we will come back.”
Kiersten Faulkner, executive director of the Historic Hawai‘i Foundation, called Lahaina’s historic significance vast, crossing many periods of time. Its buildings reflect its past as the capital of the Hawaiian kingdom, the early days of western contact through whaling and shipping, followed by the influence of the early American missionaries and the sugar plantations.
“We are heartsick at the reports of the incalculable losses to the people of Lahaina and all of Maui,” Faulkner said in a statement. “Our best wishes go to those who have lost family and friends, homes and businesses. The impact to Hawai‘i’s historic fabric is devastating and leaves us reeling with the depth of the loss.”
Office of Hawaiian Affairs Chair Carmen “Hulu” Lindsey, who represents Maui on the board of trustees, said OHA is praying for those who lost their homes, property and livelihoods.
OHA, she said in a statement, is assessing community needs and is prepared to help.
“As kanaka, there are truly no words to describe the devastation and immeasurable losses in Lahaina, a national historic landmark, historic district, and former capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom,” she said. “Lahaina holds some of the most historically significant cultural properties and highest-ranking sacred remains of our ancestors. There is so much history that will be forever lost, a history that tethers all of us, young and old, not only to the ‘aina, but to ourselves and to each other.
“The fires of today are in part due to the climate crisis, a history of colonialism in our islands, and the loss of our right to steward our ‘aina and wai. Today we have watched our precious cultural assets, our physical connection to our ancestors, our places of remembering — all go up in smoke. The same western forces that tried to erase us as a people now threaten our survival with their destructive practices.”
-----
** Ken Conklin's online comment
OHA chair Lindsey said “The fires of today are in part due to a history of colonialism in our islands, and the loss of our right to steward our ‘aina and wai ... The same western forces that tried to erase us as a people now threaten our survival with their destructive practices.”
Oh yeah. Blame the haoles. Blame colonialism. If they hadn't built wood houses, Christian churches, libraries, schools, etc. then the only things that would have burned are grass huts, wooden idols to the gods, and canoes. Lindsey has a great opportunity now to lead OHA to get Hawaii's leaders to refuse any help from the colonizers (U.S. government), do not rebuild wooden houses & buildings & harbor docks for ocean-going ships. This is OHA's big chance to "keep Hawaii for the Hawaiians" and restore precontact culture. Lindsey thinks: We now have a chance to erase "the same western forces that tried to erase us as a people." Chee-HOO!
** Other online comments after Ken's:
Sums up the modern racist attitudes:
“The fires of today are in part due to the climate crisis, a history of colonialism in our islands, and the loss of our right to steward our ‘aina and wai. Today we have watched our precious cultural assets, our physical connection to our ancestors, our places of remembering — all go up in smoke. The same western forces that tried to erase us as a people now threaten our survival with their destructive practices.”
If Westerners hadn't shown up there would be no Lahaina to burn, so OHA should welcome the fire.
Given OHA's attitude, I won't colonialize them with an emergency donation to help. Helping would be racist, colonialist, destructive, and disrespectful.
A despicable statement by OHA. Why be offensive to the majority of Maui citizens and Lahaina residents at a time like this? No, the US nor "colonialism" did not cause this fire. Ancient Hawaii experienced natural disasters and wildfires and ecocide on a selective basis as much as today. Ideologues subsidized by the docile public come and go and are a dime a dozen.
“The same western forces that tried to erase us as a people now threaten our survival with their destructive practices.”
Yeah, yeah, yeah- Always somebody else's fault, except the local bums in the homeless camps with untended fires, locals tossing lit cigarettes out their car windows (see that here every DAY!), and a 3rd world banana republic that cannot keep it's infrastructure a priority, such as strong, above ground power poles.
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http://freehawaii.blogspot.com/2023/08/ke-aupuni-update-august-2023-aloha.html
Free Hawaii blog Friday, August 11, 2023
Ke Aupuni Update
Aloha Lāhainā, Aloha ʻĀina
Words cannot express the shock, horror, dismay and grief over the catastrophic destruction of the ancient, historic town of Lāhainā on the Island of Maui. Our aloha and prayers go out to all who are being impacted by this great tragedy.
People all over the islands are showing their aloha by mobilizing to send aid and comfort to those devastated by the fires on Maui. Yesterday, I was at Hui Mahiʻai ʻĀina, the houseless camp at Aunty Blanche Kahalewai McMillanʻs place in Waimanalo, where the residents were sorting and stacking onto pallets piles of donations from a steady stream of cars dropping off supplies to kōkua the thousands of suddenly houseless people of Maui.
By mid-day, there was already enough to fill two forty-foot shipping containers! They will be at the docks today ready to ship to Maui. Aunty Blanche says the drive will continue for as long as it takes...
And this is just one small community. The spontaneous outpouring of aloha is coming from many other individuals, groups, businesses, organizations and communities throughout Hawaiʻi nei, adding their kōkua to the dedicated aid organizations like the Salvation Army and the Red Cross... and the mobilization of government emergency agencies by Maui County, the State of Hawaii and the U.S.
Aloha Lives! I am also receiving many expressions of concern and solidarity from friends in the international community — Europe, Africa, Asia, the Americas, Oceania… Their hearts ache with ours.
Tomorrow, I leave for two months of back-to-back conferences and meetings in Asia, the South Pacific, Europe and America. I will share that the restoration of Lāhainā and the restoration of the Hawaiian Kingdom, will be driven by the same resilient spirit of the people of Hawaiʻi, rooted in Aloha.
Whether facing and responding to the devastation of tsunami, hurricanes, floods, wildfires, or the 130-year-long foreign usurpation, subjugation and abuse of our nation, we will prevail by being the people who embrace Aloha... Aloha ke Aukua (love of God) — Kapu Aloha (sacred love) — Aloha kekahi i kekahi (love for one another) — and Aloha ʻĀina (love for our land, our country).
“Love of country is deep-seated in the breast of every Hawaiian, whatever his station.” — Queen Liliʻuokalani
Ua mau ke ea o ka ʻāina i ka pono. The sovereignty of the land is perpetuated in righteousness.
For the latest news and developments about our progress at the United Nations in both New York and Geneva, tune in to Free Hawaii News at 6 PM the first Friday of each month on ʻŌlelo Television, Channel 53.
"And remember, for the latest updates and information about the Hawaiian Kingdom check out the twice-a-month Ke Aupuni Updates published online on Facebook and other social media."
PLEASE KŌKUA
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
• Other – To contribute in other ways (airline miles, travel vouchers, volunteer services, etc...) email us at: info@HawaiianKingdom.net
“FREE HAWAII” T-SHIRTS - etc.
Check out the great FREE HAWAII products you can purchase at
http://www.robkajiwara.com/store/c8/free_hawaii_products
All proceeds are used to help the cause. MAHALO!
Malama Pono, Leon Siu, Hawaiian National
----------------------
https://www.staradvertiser.com/2023/08/12/editorial/letters/letter-an-exhibit-on-u-s-leap-into-pacific-imperialism/
Honolulu Star-Advertiser Saturday August 12, 2023, Letter to editor
An exhibit on U.S. leap into Pacific imperialism
* Photo caption
CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARADVERTISER.COM
People marched during the commemoration Onipa‘a on Jan. 17, 2020.
Regarding the “1898-2023 Project: August 12, 2023 – August 12, 2024”: In the tradition of the 1993 Onipa‘a, the 100-year observance of the overthrow, and the 1998 Ku‘e observance of the illegality of annexation, we are initiating a community-based educational project in observance of the 125th year of the U.S. government’s leap into Pacific imperialism.
In response to the National Portrait Gallery’s exhibit, “1898: U.S. Imperial Visions and Revisions,” in Washington D.C., we are creating our own traveling exhibit, reinforced by documentary film showings, social media, panels, lectures, community outreach and next-generation scholarship.
Our working group — including former Gov. John David Waihe‘e III, Amy Agbayani, Ikaika Hussey, Craig Howes, Maile Meyer and Colin Moore — hopes to generate wide participation in understanding a pernicious history that is still with us today.
This is history not only of Hawaii but of Guam, the Philippines and far-flung islands throughout the Pacific.
Meleanna Meyer
Artist and filmmaker
Tom Coffman
Writer
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Ethnic Hawaiian sovereignty activist "explains" that the refusal to release water to fight the fires in Lahaina was righteous because ethnic Hawaiian taro farmers have hardwon special rights by law to ensure their taro patches have adequate supply of flowing water.
https://www.hawaiipublicradio.org/local-news/2023-08-17/lahaina-fires-reveal-ongoing-power-struggle-for-west-maui-water-rights
Hawaii Public Radio August 17, 2023
By Kuʻuwehi Hiraishi
* Excerpts by Ken Conklin to focus on race-based water-rights issue
Lāhainā fires reveal ongoing power struggle for West Maui water rights
Lāhainā was formerly the “Venice of the Pacific,” an area famed for its lush environment, natural and cultural resources, and its abundant water resources in particular.
But recent wildfires have prompted a deeper dive into the history of West Maui's water management and the long-running dispute over water use in the area.
University of Hawaiʻi law professor Kapuaʻala Sproat, an expert in Native Hawaiian water rights, said this history matters.
“You know part of the reason this was the capital and the seat of governance and power was because of its abundance. Everyone knows about Mokuʻula and Mokuhinia, the famed island and fishpond where aliʻi resided and where they would sail in on their canoes, where the Declaration of Rights of 1839 and the Constitution was promulgated,” Sproat said.
“But that is really something that happened in the past tense because it was these same plantations who sucked these water resources dry,” she said.
“Streams were diverted, groundwater was tapped through their skimming wells and there are drought conditions now exacerbated by climate change that only made things worse.”
Fresh water began to be diverted in the late 1800s. First came the sugar plantations — then pineapples — and later resorts and other developments.
How water diversions impacted West Maui taro farmers and kuleana landowners
Kauaʻula Valley tucked in the foothills of Mauna Kahālāwai just upland of Lāhainā has been home to taro farmers like Charlie Palakiko for generations. Today, he farms anywhere from 10 to 12 active loʻi kalo, or taro patches. Fresh water from Kauaʻula Stream is cycled through his loʻi and returned further downstream. But the availability of water for taro production was impossible because water was diverted for use by plantations.
“The river was dry. There was no running water in this stream for I don’t know how long. I like say hundred years,” Palakiko said.
It would take nearly two decades to restore mauka to makai streamflow in Kauaʻula Valley after the town’s largest plantation Pioneer Mill sugar plantation closed in 1999. The return of water to the valley brought with it the return of kuleana landowners like Palakiko.
Water rights lawyers react to controversial reassignment of state water official
Kuleana landowners are descendants of individuals who were originally awarded property during the Great Mahele of the mid-1800s. These kuleana users have a protected right under the State Water Code to access water for cultural practices and taro farming.
Despite these protections, it wouldn’t be until March 2018 that streamflow in Kauaʻula Valley was restored by the state Commission on Water Resources (CWRM), which is attached to the Department of Land and Natural Resources. But the West Maui Land Co., a successor to the Pioneer Mill and its subsidiary the Launiupoko Irrigation Co., initially refused to comply with the CWRM decision.
This had a profound impact on the kuleana landowners in Kauaʻula Valley, with an estimated population of 70, who found themselves with little if any water available to fight the 2018 wildfire linked with Hurricane Lane.
“Every house on our property was lost except two houses. The only two houses that stood after that fire was my house and my dad’s house,” Palakiko said. “Our water lines were burnt, so we had to scoop water with buckets from the ‘auwai. So that’s how important this water was to us. If we didn’t have this water that is running, our house would have burnt just like everyone else's.”
The West Maui Land Co. is asking the CWRM to temporarily halt stream restoration to free up water for fire suppression.
Glenn Tremble, an executive at the company, said access to more water in streams from Ukumehame to Kahoma in West Maui may have made a difference in fighting the Lāhainā fire. That claim has been disputed by Sproat and others.
On Aug. 8, the day of the fire, Tremble sent a letter to former CWRM Deputy Director Kaleo Manuel at 1 p.m. asking to divert more water than the company is allowed under the law. Manuel advised Tremble to ensure downstream users and others who depend on these West Maui streams would not need that water themselves to fight the approaching wildfire.
By around 3:30 p.m., a flare-up had shut down the Lāhainā Bypass and Tremble said the company could not make contact with those who may be impacted by the increased diversion. At around 6 p.m., Tremble received CWRM’s approval to divert more water.
“We followed the process. The process failed us,” Tremble said in an emailed statement to HPR, referring to the need for the private water user to seek permission from CWRM before taking more water than it is allowed to under the law.
“Plantation disaster capitalism”
Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke issued the first of five emergency proclamations on Tuesday, Aug. 8, in response to the West Maui wildfires. This allowed CWRM Chairperson Dawn Chang to temporarily suspend the requirement for private commercial users like the West Maui Land Co. to keep a certain amount of water in the stream for public trust purposes. These include stream life, taro farming, kuleana use and more.
“So the emergency proclamations went out and before the week was out, here were the plantations, and West Maui Land Co., in particular, asking for suspension of the interim instream flow standards, including in places where that weren't affected by the fire to the same degree as Lāhainā, places like Ukumehame and Olowalu,” Sproat said.
“So part of what's happening in Maui Komohana right now is plantation disaster capitalism at its worst, right? Where folks are taking advantage of this tragedy to continue or even expand their water diversions, something that wasn't possible before the governor's emergency proclamation," she said.
Gov. Josh Green in a press conference Tuesday was quick to cast blame on communities like Kauaʻula who are fighting to keep water in their streams.
“One thing that people need to understand especially from far away is there has been a great deal of water conflict for many years. It's important that we are honest about this. People have been fighting against the release of water to fight fires. I’ll leave that to you to explore,” Green said.
“We have a difficult time on Maui and other rural areas getting enough water for houses for our people for any response. But it's important that we start being honest. There are currently people fighting, still fighting in our state giving us water access to fight and prepare for fires even as more storms arise," he said.
Green’s comments sparked outrage from some within the state’s Native Hawaiian community, especially those who have for decades been fighting to restore mauka to makai streamflow.
“The audacity!" Sproat said. "Blaming stream restoration for what happened, brah. If Maui Komohana had been the 'Venice of the Pacific' like it was, we wouldn't have had the wildfires to the extent that we did, because having water in the stream from mauka to makai cools that whole area, creates these riparian corridors. You know we wouldn't have had all these dry, invasive grasses.
"But we need to learn the lessons for the future on a going-forward basis, right? We cannot keep repeating the sins of the past. Like pau already," she said.
Green’s comments also resulted in media reports both in Honolulu Civil Beat and in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser placing blame for the lack of water for firefighting in West Maui on former CWRM Deputy Kaleo Manuel. He served nearly four years on the commission as the first ever Native Hawaiian in that position.
In a statement sent to media Wednesday night, the state Department of Land and Natural Resources announced it was “re-deploying” Manuel to a different division within the agency. It went on to say “this does not suggest Manuel did anything wrong” and that this would be DLNR’s final word on the matter.
Palakiko and his wife Lauren say Manuel’s removal from the CWRM deals a huge blow to the progress made toward stream restoration in communities across the islands.
“Deputy Kaleo Manuel was a breath of fresh air and gave us renewed hope for the state and the future health of our water, island and way of living as kanaka,” Lauren Palakiko said. “We feel this assignment is truly unfitting and a nasty backlash from certain entities getting in the ear of our governor. In fact, I’m losing faith in the new governor as well.”
Uncertainty over water access under emergency proclamation
Aside from the request for increased stream diversions, West Maui Land Co. is asking the CWRM to suspend and ultimately modify the Water Management Area Designation for West Maui. This designation adds a layer of permitting and allows the CWRM to revisit water allocations to ensure there is enough water in the streams for public trust uses before private commercial use.
Water policy consultant Jonathan Likeke Scheuer, co-author of the book “Water and Power in West Maui” said rolling back designation in West Maui would return us to a time when large landowners alone working with government staff behind closed doors made decisions about West Maui’s water future.
It would take two decades to restore mauka to makai streamflow in Kauaʻula Valley after the town’s largest plantation Pioneer Mill sugar plantation closed in 1999. The return of water to the valley brought with it the return of kuleana landowners like the Palakiko family.
“In the close to 30 years that I've been working on water issues around Hawaiʻi, especially on Maui, I've never seen where a fundamental lack of water was a cause for not being able to build housing, not being able to have water for prevention of fires, not to be able to have water for streams,” Scheuer said.
"We need to, especially in the changing climate, make sure that we require people to use water with great care and efficiency before starting to cast blame on the very communities who've stepped up to say that we should have a balance in our water management in Hawai'i rather than having water solely go to whoever has the most money and power," he said.
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https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2023/08/buried_news_what_was_with_that_hawaii_water_official_getting_showered_with_leis_from_supporters.html
American Thinker Monday August 21, 2023; Buried News
What was with that Hawaii water official getting showered with leis from 'supporters'?
By Monica Showalter
* Excerpts by Ken Conklin to highlight sovereignty-related political topics
Kaleo Manuel, the now-"redeployed" Hawaiian state water commissioner who delayed the release of water for five hours to Lahaina's firefighters as the town burned, is no ordinary bureaucrat.
He's got "supporters."
Here's a buried-news picture-story from the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, showing about 30 "supporters" gathered around him, showering him with about 15 leis, which went up to his chin as he grinned. There were hula dances, and from a hula master who teaches at the Univerity of Hawaii at Manoa, no less. There were a couple of older people wearing "808 Cleanups" t-shirts, representing an Oahu-based beach-cleanup and Native Hawaiian advocacy NGO, sponsored by foundations from Starbucks, Target, Patagonia, Atherton, and other wokester outfits.
There was no story to the picture sequence, but the Star-Advertiser included these captions:
Kumu hula Vicky Holt Takamine dances a hula during a rally in support of the state water deputy, Kaleo Manuel, seen with lei in front of the doorway at middle, on Thursday.
...and...
Kaleo Manuel, right, becomes emotional while gathering with supporters inside the Kalanimoku building on Thursday. Late Wednesday DLNR said it was "re-deploying" Manuel, DLNR's first deputy, from his role at the Commission on Water Resource Management. "This deployment does not suggest that First Deputy Manuel did anything wrong," a statement from DLNR said. "DLNR encourages the media and the public to avoid making judgments until all the facts are known."
This is kind of mysterious. What kind of bureaucrat has "supporters"? Politicians have supporters, but bureaucrats? And why are they stepping up to the plate now, particularly with news coming out that he delayed the release of water to save Lahaina? Are they happy he apparently stuck it to Lahaina? This doesn't seem to be the time to applaud this guy, let alone shower him with leis and dance the hula in his honor. But they are.
Specifically, according to accounts of four people with knowledge of the situation, M. Kaleo Manuel, a Native Hawaiian cultural practitioner and DLNR's deputy director for water resource management, initially balked at West Maui Land Co.'s requests for additional water to help prevent the fire from spreading to properties managed by the company.
According to the sources, Manuel wanted West Maui Land to get permission from a taro, or kalo, farm located downstream from the company's property. Manuel eventually released water but not until after the fire had spread. It was not clear on Monday how much damage the fire did in the interim or whether homes were damaged.
Seems the taro farmer (or farm collective) he had to get permission from first needed five hours to make up his mind about whether to save Lahaina.
And based on what's known about Manuel, given his youthful age of 39, his involvement with Native Hawaiian "collectives," as well as his statements about water "equity," he seems to have thought he represented only Native Hawaiian activist groups in his state job, and not the county of Maui or the entire state of Hawaii.
So the taro farmer or farmers, who were likely Native Hawaiians with their own interests, came first. Not surprisingly, they are defending him. His water maneuver was part of a collectivist permission process, which created a delay, and his unwillingness to muscle them for their immediate "yes" in the face of conflagration may have been more about thwarting the taro farmers' hated and "greedy" landowners whose properties he seemed content enough to let burn. After all, they just wanted water for their swimming pools, according to some of the activists he was affiliated with. Apparently, Manuel didn't notice that once the wildfire went across the landowners' land, the fire would be ready to take Lahaina next.
Lahaina, the royal Hawaiian city, by the way, was loaded with Native Hawaiians who died in the flames. Way to stand up for Native Hawaiians, Marvin.
Manuel's background seems to be distinctly political.
First, he's an Obama Leader, and not just any Obama leader, but one of two leaders who were designated the leaders of the leaders in 2019. His bio reads:
Kaleo is passionate about elevating native and indigenous ways of knowing in all spheres of discourse and dialogue.
His connection to Vicki Holt, the hula master who danced for him, seems obvious enough: she runs the Pa'i Foundation and has Manuel on the board of directors.
His qualification for job seemed to be his activist background. After all, the education portion of his résumé reads that he's got a major in Native Hawaiian culture, another in urban and regional planning, plus a certificate in Native Hawaiian historical preservation, which is quite a credential for the guy who let Lahaina burn.
His agency is now trying to shield him by "redeploying" him "to focus on the necessary work to assist the people of Maui recover from the devastation of wildfires," meaning he's not up to the job.
But they also seem to be protecting him
Where'd he get these supporters, and why does he have them? Should someone in charge of managing water resources for the state have "supporters" from one group that is constantly at odds with another?
Something doesn't quite ring right here. It does point to greenie and Native activists calling the shots here and a tremendously politicized system, potentially protecting him and thwarting investigations — to Lahaina's destruction.
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https://www.civilbeat.org/2023/08/denby-fawcett-show-respect-for-lahaina-by-restoring-its-once-lush-wetlands/
Honolulu Civil Beat Tuesday August 22, 2023
Show Respect For Lahaina By Restoring Its Once Lush Wetlands
It is too early to focus on rebuilding, but cultural advocates already see an opportunity to return to a Lahaina of the past.
By Denby Fawcett
I heard a Maui resident on Hawaii Public Radio Friday refer to Lahaina as a “living graveyard.”
A raging wildfire that blasted down the mountains on Aug. 8 left behind a somber place of suffering, a hallowed cemetery to be treated forever with quiet respect.
It is clear Lahaina never again can be the rowdy tourist mecca it had become where mai tais abounded at sunset as crowds of visitors combed the streets in search of cheap T-shirts, and “traditional luaus” featured skinny women dancing the Tahitian tamure in coconut bras.
I am certain that even the most fun-loving visitors would feel uncomfortable to return to the same boozy touristic experience of the past — the beer and burger stands, the cheesy art galleries — if they knew it had been resurrected atop the ashes from a fire that killed more than 100 people.
Many of the dead were hard-working service employees who toiled at two and three jobs to provide the vacation fun for outsiders.
It is too early to focus on the specifics of how Lahaina will be rebuilt. But Maui cultural advocates are already talking about how this will be an opportunity to return to a Lahaina of the past when the seaside area was known by its original name “Lele.”
“That is our legacy,“ says Keʻeaumoku Kapu, a longtime West Maui activist who has fought for decades to get formerly Hawaiian-owned farmland back into the hands of Hawaiians.
“No ka noho ʻāina, no ka ʻāina,” says the Hawaiian proverb, meaning the land belongs to the people whose ancestors have dwelled upon it. They determine what happens to the aina.
Thatʻs what Kapu and a group of community advocates expressed in a news conference Friday: no rushing ahead with Lahaina redevelopment without taking a pause for the survivors to heal and without giving the residents a strong say in how the incinerated village will be restored.
“We feel the government is steamrolling the process without consulting the community,” Kapu said at the news conference.
‘The Venice Of The Pacific’
Kapu told me in a phone call Saturday he sees an opportunity to return Lahaina to what it was, before the sugar plantation, before the tourism, before the banyan tree — something exponentially better than the touristy town it became.
“Lahaina was once considered the Venice of the Pacific. It was a living, viable place,” he said.
Lahaina, which means “merciless sun” in Hawaiian, then was cooled by irrigation canals, some wide and deep enough to be traversed by canoes, and spring-fed wetland ponds. Shading the waterways were massive groves of ulu, large canopy breadfruit trees that stretched as far as Olowalu.
A Hawaiian proverb: “Halau Lahaina malu i ka ulu” says “Lahaina is like a large house shaded by breadfruit trees.”
Free flowing water abounded,” said Kepā Maly, a cultural ethnographer.
Maly says a registered title map shows as late as 1884 the stream system coming from the West Maui mountains spread water across what today is a burned wasteland.
“We have the opportunity to rebuild from ground zero.”
What we know as Lahaina town today was up until the late 19th century dotted with taro loi and loko (fish ponds), Maly says.
The ponds, fed by underground springs, were home to fish so plentiful all you had to do was walk in the shallow water and scoop them out with a hand net.
Abundant water rushed down from several streams behind Lahaina — among which were Kahoma, Kanahā and Kauaʻula — to create an extensive wetland that attracted a large population of Native Hawaiians with places of worship and chiefly residences.
King Kamehameha IIIʻs royal residence Mokuʻula was at the south end of Lahaina on an island in the 7-acre freshwater pond called Mokuhinia.
“Kauikeaouli (Kamehameha III) was at the end of a long line of divine, illustrious ancestors. His home at Mokuʻula served as a bridge between the dying light of Hawaiian antiquity and the challenges of a rapidly westernizing society,” wrote P. Christiaan Klieger in the book “Moku’ula: Maui’s Sacred Island.”
Mokuʻula was built over the grotto of the auburn-haired lizard goddess Kihawahine who protected the royalty living there.
Water Diverted
It had served as the spiritual and political home of Maui’s chiefs since the 1400s and became the seat of Kamehameha dynasty until Kamehameha III moved the capital to Honolulu in 1845.
Much of the upland water that fed the sacred pond, other nearshore canals and fishponds and the mauka taro loi disappeared when it was diverted to irrigate what became the 14,000-acre Pioneer Mill sugar plantation.
The end of Kamehameha IIIʻs sacred pond and island was initiated with a 1918 executive order from the territorial government of Hawaii giving Maui County permission to drain the area, which was then turned into a baseball field. Now the remains of the wahipana, or sacred place, are buried 3 feet under the asphalt and dirt of the defunct sports field.
In the 1990s, kumu hula Akoni Akana formed the nonprofit Friends of Mokuʻula, set up an office on Front Street from which he worked until his death in 2011 to try to restore the pond and kingʻs mausoleum and residential island to their former glory.
At the request of Kamehameha Schools and Makila Land Co., the land development successor to Pioneer Mill, Maly and his wife, Onaona, have written a two-part study using primary source accounts written in Hawaiian language to detail how Lahainaʻs Native Hawaiians lost control of their water to sugar and other development interests.
As the water was increasingly redirected to the plantation, the Hawaiians suffered famines.
“The worst part is when the sugar plantation closed in 1999 it did nothing to remediate the scarred land it had exploited for more than a century,” Maly says.
Going forward, any proposal for rebuilding Lahaina is certain to set off a war for water use.
But Hawaiian scholars say the need for a wiser allocation of the water is obvious to face the future challenges posed by climate change. They see the aftermath of the Lahaina fire as a time of hulihia — defined as a turning, a change to return to the natural cycle that has been deeply disturbed — to build new expectations for the future.
“I would like to see the land restored and made productive again. It is the right thing to do. I would like to see Mokuʻula and Mokuhinia Pond revived. The land is out of balance. It is time for hulihia,” says Davianna McGregor.
McGregor is a professor and a founding member of the Department of Ethnic Studies at the University of Hawaii Manoa.
It wonʻt be easy. The scorched West Maui uplands will have to be reforested to generate more rain, especially if water is to be directed to restore nearshore Lahaina into the wetland it once was.
“We have the opportunity to rebuild from ground zero,” legendary surfer and Lahaina native Archie Kalepa said Friday at the Na ʻOhana o Lele news conference.
It is a time to ponder seemingly impossible ideas such as restoring Lahainaʻs landscape to when it was rich in water. As Kalepa put it, “to go back to the values that allowed Hawaiians to thrive in this place.”
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https://www.leftvoice.org/the-imperialist-history-behind-the-maui-fires/
Leftvoice online Tuesday August 22, 2023
Left Voice is a revolutionary socialist news site and magazine dedicated to fostering a sustained and strategic struggle against every form of capitalist exploitation and oppression. As part of an international network of news sites published in eight different languages, Left Voice is able to provide a truly internationalist perspective on revolutionary politics, and to examine the movements of the U.S. working class within the larger framework of global revolution.
The Imperialist History Behind the Maui Fires
At the center of the latest climate change disaster is the long and ongoing struggle for water and land rights for Native Hawaiians.
by Emma Lee
Emma is a special education teacher in New York City.
On August 8, a wildfire began in Lahaina, Maui, that spread to affect over 3,200 acres of the island. As the former capital of the Hawaiian kingdom, Lahaina is a significant historical and cultural site for Native Hawaiians (Kanaka Maoli). So far, over 110 people have been killed by the wildfires, at least 20 people have been injured, and over a thousand people are still missing. At the center of this disaster is the long and ongoing struggle for water and land rights for Native Hawaiians.
These fires are the latest catastrophic event driven by climate change and made worse by generations of ecological mismanagement. In these conditions, wildfires like the one in Lahaina are becoming increasingly deadly and common, exacerbating the impacts on Indigenous communities who have deep ties to the affected land.
Climate change and other disasters are directly linked to capitalism in general, and the particularities of how colonization and imperialism played out in Hawaiʻi.
In the first hundred years of contact with the Western world, beginning with the British in the late 18th century, the population of Hawaiʻi was brutalized by disease, violence, and environmental degradation caused by the exploitation of the islands’ natural resources. Missionaries came from New England to attempt to convert the native population to Christianity, suppress traditional cultural practices, open religious schools, and assert political sway in the Western-influenced government. By 1840, Census records estimate that at least 84 percent of the native population was wiped out or left the islands.
Throughout the 19th century, the United States took considerable interest in Hawaiʻi for its raw natural resources and strategic geographic location for U.S. imperialist and military interests in the Pacific. Sugarcane became a primary resource, especially during the Civil War when the Northern states were cut off from the sugar grown in the South. Capitalists from the United States established sugar plantations and mills and shipped their products to sell in the United States. In the 1870s, the U.S. and the Hawaiian Kingdom signed a treaty that eliminated U.S. tariffs on sugar and rice, paving the way for plantation profits to nearly double.
As the native population declined, the sugarcane companies needed more and more laborers to tend to the sugar plantations, which led to Chinese, Japanese, and Portuguese workers arriving on the island looking for work. Meanwhile, the military brought more white Americans and their families.
In 1893, the “Hawaiian League,” a secret society of white businessmen assisted by the U.S. Navy, overthrew and jailed Queen Liliuokalani, the head of the sovereign Hawaiian government, and the U.S. officially annexed the islands as a colony in 1898.
As the military base and industries grew, so did settler-colonialism; eventually so many U.S. citizens were living on the islands (approximately 90 percent of their residents) that the territory was granted statehood in 1959. For Native Hawaiians, this statehood has never been welcome; it represented the corporate interests and settler-colonial stronghold in their rapidly changing home.
These corporate interests also produced Hawaiʻi’s water crisis, which set the stage for the tragedy in Lahaina. Before western intervention, Native Hawaiians sustained extensive regenerative agriculture and aquaculture systems that nourished its population and maintained the natural environment.
According to Uahikea Maile, who is Kanaka Maoli from Maunawili, Oʻahu, and an assistant professor of Indigenous politics in the department of political science at the University of Toronto, “pre-colonial Lahaina was a wetland ecosystem abundant with life … But … in the late 19th and early 20th centuries white-owned sugar plantations on Maui started to illegally divert water to their crops, drying up the wetlands. … These plantations also introduced non-native plant species for animal grazing that have helped fuel the Maui fires.”
Even long after the industry left the island, the dams were left behind, neglected by the capitalists who built them — and posing an ongoing hazard to the local communities.
The U.S. military has also been a major reason for the water crisis in Hawaiʻi, going back over a hundred years. The Pearl Harbor naval base was built on what had previously been a thriving sustainable fishpond, which, combined with the other nearly 360 fishponds around Hawaiʻi, fed around half a million people. By 1985, only seven of those fishponds remained. Today, the Pearl Harbor Naval Base is a designated superfund site on a federal list of polluted areas prioritized for cleanup.
In recent years, Hawaiʻi’s water crisis has worsened. Though the military has attempted to cover it up, Navy jet fuel contamination by the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility built during World World II in Honolulu has threatened the water supply and posed health risks to the local population. These injustices have been met with the resistance of local water protectors, who demanded that the Navy shut down the fuel storage tanks — and won. However, less than a month later, the Navy reneged on its vow to shut down the fuel facility and the struggle has resumed. The deleterious social and environmental impact by the military is by no means felt on Hawai‘i alone — the U.S. military is driving environmental collapse around the planet.
On top of the military, the tourism industry guzzles water at an unsustainable rate while maintaining low wages for Hawaiian workers. And it is the Hawaiian people who pay most dearly for the water crisis. Last year, mandatory water restrictions were put in place in West Maui and Upcountry for locals with up to $500 fines, while no such restrictions were placed on the tourism industry, though it accounts for nearly half of the Big Island’s water consumption. The injustices are palpable, and many Native Hawaiians have been urging tourists to choose other locations as their vacation destinations as the crisis has worsened. Climate change is exacerbating the situation even further, and the dry conditions from years of capitalist water mismanagement and increasing temperatures laid the groundwork for the fires in Lahaina.
On top of the process of rebuilding, rescuing missing people, and healing, residents of Lahaina now have other dynamics to worry about — what people like Naomi Klein and Kapuaʻala Sproat are calling “plantation disaster capitalism.” Amid the ongoing search-and-rescue process, real estate developers and investors are already swooping in to try and profit off of the devastation.
Many fear that the fires will result in an exodus of the Native population from Lahaina, many of whom are already being contacted by real estate developers to buy their homes for tourism. From post-World War II Europe to Hurricane Katrina, the bourgeoisie uses catastrophe for the working class as a fertile source of “regeneration” for their own profits.
President Biden, who wants to position himself favorably on issues of climate change and Indigenous rights with the upcoming elections, traveled to Maui on Monday to meet with communities affected by the wildfires. But for most Native Hawaiians who do not consider themselves to be American and have no identification with the imperialist empire that has ravaged its population and natural resources and violated its nation’s sovereignty, this visit is unwelcome.
As part of its response to the Maui wildfires, Biden promised a one-time payment of $700 per household to applicants who were displaced from their homes, an amount far from adequate to meet the needs of residents in the wake of the disaster. Meanwhile, the U.S. government has sent nearly a hundred billion dollars to engage in a proxy war in Ukraine.
While Biden promised to be a “climate president,” he has been far from it, approving oil drilling projects, like the Willow project in Alaska, and auctioning off drilling projects in the Gulf of Mexico. These projects continue the burning of fossil fuels, directly contribute to climate change, threaten water and land, and undermine Indigenous sovereignty and self-determination. But this is not an aberration — Biden ultimately answers to capitalists and the market, which demand the continued burning of fossil fuels to secure profits.
In the wake of this disaster, it’s essential to put forward a perspective of self-determination for the Native Hawaiian people, whose labor, cultural, land, and water rights have long been degraded for the sake of capitalist profits. Lahaina must be rebuilt under the leadership of Native Hawaiians and the working class — not the disaster capitalists who hope to continue the cycle of exploitation of the islands’ rich natural resources and human labor. A clear first demand must be to end the militarization of Hawaii by demanding U.S. troops and bases out of Hawaiʻi and to restore the natural environment under the leadership of Hawaiians themselves.
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https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/hawaiian-sovereignty-undeniable-context-maui-fires-rcna100972
NBC News Thursday August 24, 2023
Why Hawaiian sovereignty has undeniable context for the Maui fires
Scholars and activists say Native Hawaiians have ultimately been seeking their right to self-determination — an issue they say touches on the cause of the fires and affects Hawaii's healing.
By Kimmy Yam
As those in Maui try to make sense of the wildfires that left behind a trail of loss, experts and activists say the devastation has highlighted the issue of Hawaiian sovereignty.
Those involved in discussions around sovereignty, or the right of a nation-state to govern itself, spoke to NBC News to underscore that the issue has undeniable context for the fires. They include advocates and scholars fighting for international acknowledgment of the Kingdom of Hawaii as an existing nation-state to others working toward complete independence from U.S. interference.
The experts also spoke about the island’s fraught place in American history, which they say allowed corporations to expand and dry out the land in Lahaina, the town most severely devastated by the wildfires in the state. The U.S. claims that a congressional resolution passed in 1898 declared that the Hawaiian islands were “officially annexed.” But some scholars argue the resolution, an internal American law, has no legal standing in the Hawaiian Kingdom and makes American presence an illegal occupation.
But scholars and activists say that Native Hawaiians have ultimately been seeking their right to self-determination, or decision-making power, on their lands — and that the lack thereof is a root cause of the wildfires. And gaining agency and decision-making power, they add, is critical to healing.
“Lahaina is not America. But that fire is American. And it was really lit as far back as 1893,” said Keala Kelly, a filmmaker and sovereignty activist, referring to when U.S. troops illegally overthrew the Hawaiian queen. “Once the system of governance in Hawaii was stolen from us, everything about land and water became … this never-ending abusive system of theft.”
What do sovereignty and the movement around it mean to you?
Ron Williams, archivist at the Hawaii State Archives: It’s evolved. When Haunani-Kay [Trask, the late leader of the Hawaiian sovereignty movement] was arguing for it, it was a kind of a recognition of Hawaiian sovereignty and breaking away from America. What we’ve come to understand is … how illegal the proposed annexation was. It’s really clear that in 1898, annexation never happened. So if that’s true, then we are left with sovereignty remaining with the Hawaiian Kingdom, which means we’re under occupation.
Keanu Sai, political scientist and founding member of the Hawaiian Society of Law & Politics: I’m not part of the sovereignty movement. That’s a political movement made up of diverse groups of Native Hawaiians. And what they’re doing is they’re pursuing their version of sovereignty, and that is viewing sovereignty as an aspiration, not a reality.
The United States claims that it passed a law in 1898 called a joint resolution, purporting to annex Hawaii. The problem is, an American law could no more annex the Hawaiian Kingdom than the United States Congress passing a law today.
Keala Kelly, activist, filmmaker and journalist: Sovereignty is Hawaiians being self-determining, which is to say we decide our form of self-governance. The U.S. is the perpetrator of the crimes against us, so the U.S. deciding what Hawaiians can and cannot do is like asking the thief if he wants a side of fries to go with everything he just stole from us.
Kaniela Ing, sovereignty activist and national director of the climate organization the Green New Deal Network: Everything needs to be done with an eye toward “ho’omana lahui” — power building, rebuilding the power of our nation, not just a legal status. Questions like, “Who recognizes us as a sovereign kingdom?” That’s less important than that we have self-determination.”
Why are the history and discussions around Hawaiian sovereignty necessary context to the tragedy in Lahaina?
Kelly: This isn’t just a climate change issue, is it? It’s about the destruction of the land and the water, over a century of it, and setting it up for a terrible drought and some hurricane winds, 500 miles away. If that’s going to be discussed, it has to be understood in the context of the theft of our nationhood, which enabled the theft of that land and water.
Will the fires in Lahaina have an impact on action around sovereignty? Will we be seeing a greater thirst to engage in this topic?
Kelly: My sense is, when there is a tragedy here or anywhere else, Hawaiian rights to self-determination are the first thing to be thrown aside, even when it is the most relevant. You can never underestimate the power of fear.
Either we Hawaiians will pull our movement out of the ashes of Lahaina, or our movement for justice will be buried in those ashes, possibly forever.
Williams: The movement towards some sort of reconciliation of what President Cleveland called “An Act of War” by the United States against the sovereign nation of Hawaii has been gaining steam over the past decade, often highlighted by specific issues of injustice like the attempt to build the worldʻs largest telescope atop Mauna Kea. This recent tragedy will undoubtedly offer a significant opportunity for millions to become more educated about the truth of the theft of nationhood, and the truth is the most powerful weapon we have.
Is the topic of sovereignty and self-determination, or decision-making control, critical to Maui’s ability to grieve, mend and move forward?
Ing: When we talk about returning to the old ways, we mean reinstating a sustainable value system, where our nation’s wealth is measured by the health of our land and air and water.
The systems of capitalism and colonialism caused a disaster, and the values of sovereign Hawaii, once exemplified, is the solution to carry us forward.”
Sai: The United States, through the state of Hawaii, as the occupant in effective control of the majority of territory of the Hawaiian Kingdom, is obligated to establish a military government to provisionally administer the laws of the occupied state — the Hawaiian Kingdom.
Right now, there is no centralized control. It’s very decentralized and fragmented between the federal, state and county governments. They’re operating on their own. Maui county has got to deal with the blowback on the recovery. So when you talk about people who are there as victims, the first thing they’re looking at is survival.
The state of Hawaii will be forced to comply with international law by transforming itself into a military government in order to bring centralized control to the crisis that reaches across all the islands and not just Lahaina. Lahaina could be the flash point to drive compliance.
Kimmy Yam is a reporter for NBC Asian America.
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https://www.lewrockwell.com/2023/08/thomas-dilorenzo/hawaiis-bayonet-constitution/
LewRockwell.com Friday August 25, 2023
Hawaii’s “Bayonet Constitution”
By Thomas DiLorenzo
News reports of how Hawaiians greeted Biden’s motorcade in Maui on August 21 with middle fingers and shouts of “F_ _ _ You!” “F_ _ _ You!” was especially appropriate – if not a century or so too late – in light of the history of how Hawaii became a U.S. government possession.
Twenty-two years after the Lincoln regime proclaimed to have saved American government “of the people, for the people, by the people,” by slaughtering nearly half a million fellow citizens in the Southern states, the Republican party of Lincoln disenfranchised the native people of Hawaii with what was known as the “bayonet constitution.” At the time, the American crony capitalists who essentially ran the Republican party (as they had from its inception) wanted Hawaii to be declared an American province under U.S. control (aka, their control). As historian Gregg Jones wrote in Honor in the Dust, Hawaiian Queen Liliuokalani attempted to stave off the American crony capitalist imperialists by creating a new constitution. The crony capitalists responded by creating a laughingly named “Committee of Safety” that plotted to overthrow the Hawaiian monarchy.
They got the U.S. government to appoint one John Stevens as an “envoy” to Hawaii, whose job was to arrange for American troops to land there, take over, get rid of the Monarchy, and create a puppet government with one of their own as the head of the government. Sound familiar?
A Judge Sanford Dole, whose family had long Puritan/Yankee roots in the state of Maine, was put in place as the new head of government. A paramilitary organization known as the Honolulu Rifles forced the Hawaiian king at gunpoint with the threat of being stabbed to death with bayonets to sign off on a new constitution that came to be known as the “bayonet constitution.” This was “the party of Lincoln” in all its glory, having just two decades earlier forced the Southern states at gunpoint to accept a new constitutional order that essentially destroyed the system of federalism of the founding fathers and replaced it with a consolidated, monopolistic, bureaucratic Leviathan in Washington, D.C. run by “rich men north of Richmond,” as a popular new country music song describes it.
The ”bayonet constitution” disenfranchised all Asians living in Hawaii as “an inferior race” as well as most native Hawaiians.
Voting rights were preserved for the relatively wealthy American land and business owners. James Dole, the cousin of Judge Sanford Dole, then founded the Dole Fruit Company.
But before the annexation of Hawaii was completed the great Grover Cleveland, the last Jeffersonian president and the last good Democrat, became president in March of 1893 and killed the deal, denouncing the “lawless landing of the United States force at Honolulu.”
Greg Jones writes of how, two years later Teddy Roosevelt, the biggest blowhard politician in American history, informed a cheering Boston audience that “I feel it was a crime . . . against the white race that we did not annex Hawaii three years ago.” Annexation finally did occur in 1898; Hawaii became an American territory in 1900 and achieved statehood in 1959.
Who knows, maybe the “greeting” that those Hawaiians gave Biden and his imperial motorcade is the beginning of a de-annexation movement, or at least a movement that will lead to the increased nullification of federal micromanagement of the lives of Hawaiians.
Dr. Thomas DiLorenzo is a senior fellow of the Ludwig von Mises Institute. His latest book is The Politically Incorrect Guide to Economics (Regnery, August 2022).
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http://freehawaii.blogspot.com/2023/08/ke-aupuni-update-august-2023-food.html
Free Hawaii blog Monday August 28, 2023
Ke Aupuni Update
Food Sovereignty
The tragedy in Lāhainā continues to unfold. A century and a half of reckless resource management, especially land use and water allocation, in favor of commercial greed — first, massive plantations, then massive tourism, then massive developments and land speculation — have put much of Hawaii in grave danger of not only what transpired in Lāhainā, but in other serious ways as well.
Add to that the real-time bureaucratic mentality of state officials who put strict obedience to rules and orders before common sense and people’s lives, and you have a formula for disaster.
Under the U.S. system, money is the measure of importance. Corporations and companies that generate money are highly favored and receive first priority, even when it comes to law. Ordinary people like you and me are not seen as living, breathing human beings. We are taxpayers, whose labor and energy are revenue streams to feed the system.
In that system, nature is something to be exploited, not cared for. Original languages and cultures are only allowed if they have commercial value. (Ironically, our songs, the hula, and our language, like the word Aloha, survived because they were money-makers for the tourism industry)
This is the colonial system that has permeated practically every nook and cranny of the world. Not only has it disrupted, polluted and disfigured native habitats, destroyed native economies and social systems, it has altered what we eat — unhealthy processed and ʻjunkʻ food causing catastrophic health problems among native people. Then there is the perilous dependency on importing what we eat.
Ninety percent of the food consumed in Hawaii is shipped in from the States. That means, only ten percent is grown in Hawaii. If shipping was to stop, after two weeks, Hawaii will run out of food and things will get very ugly.
Hawaii will never be truly independent, unless we can feed ourselves.
For the past 20 years those who have been aware of Hawaii’s vulnerability have been sounding the alarm and some progress is being made in planting more food crops. There are many who are answering the call of back to the ‘aina to plant for our future.
But there needs to be a concerted effort to not only grow more food, but to change the diet habits of our people to eat the fantastically nutritious traditional foods that our ancestors brought in their canoes, like Kalo (Taro)...ʻUlu (Breadfruit)...Maiʻa (Banana)...ʻUala (Sweet Potato)...Niu (Coconut)...
“Love of country is deep-seated in the breast of every Hawaiian, whatever his station.” — Queen Liliʻuokalani
Ua mau ke ea o ka ʻāina i ka pono. The sovereignty of the land is perpetuated in righteousness.
For the latest news and developments about our progress at the United Nations in both New York and Geneva, tune in to Free Hawaii News at 6 PM the first Friday of each month on ʻŌlelo Television, Channel 53.
And remember, for the latest updates and information about the Hawaiian Kingdom check out the twice-a-month Ke Aupuni Updates published online on Facebook and other social media.
PLEASE KŌKUA
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
• Other – To contribute in other ways (airline miles, travel vouchers, volunteer services, etc...) email us at: info@HawaiianKingdom.net
“FREE HAWAII” T-SHIRTS - etc. Check out the great FREE HAWAII products you can purchase at
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All proceeds are used to help the cause. MAHALO!
Malama Pono, Leon Siu, Hawaiian National
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https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/just-recovery-maui-wildfires
Common Dreams August 30, 2023
A Just Recovery for Maui Must Center Native Hawaiians
by DR. MARCUS KAWIKA IWANE and DR. NICOLE MAHEALANI LUM, D.O.
As we look forward to how we not only rebuild, but work to reduce the threat of these climate change-fueled disasters, we have to change who is leading this work.
In the wake of the Maui fires, Governor Josh Green moved to prevent the sale of land to outside investors in an effort to prevent disaster capitalism, a common pattern we’ve seen play out in the wake of disasters from Hurricane Katrina to the tsunami in Thailand. This is an important first step to prevent further displacement of Native Hawaiians, but it only scratches the surface of a deeper issue.
In the days after the devastating wildfires on Maui, we saw patients with burns, wounds, infections, chronic disease flare-ups, displacement and, overwhelmingly, mental health crises. Neither of us would have ever imagined experiencing such a tragic crisis as a physician or seeing the amount of devastation right here at home. Treating these patients—and hundreds of Native Hawaiians in our careers—brings to life what research shows: When Native Hawaiians’ connection to land is severed, we suffer.
This is because when the land is sick, so are we.
Centuries before European settlers arrived in Hawai‘i, Native Hawaiians developed an elaborate and highly sophisticated public health system based on socioreligious tenets to ensure equitable access, availability, and distribution of natural resources to help minimize, if not eliminate, starvation and illness across islands with finite resources.
Human-triggered climate change is the latest environmental injustice threatening Native Hawaiian health and wellness. The Maui fires make this clear. The causes of the fires are complicated, but climate change played a key part. Climate change causes stronger, more frequent storms and droughts, and we see that in Hawai‘i, which is suffering worsening drought conditions, despite being surrounded by ocean. Dry conditions and dangerous wind changes produced by Hurricane Dora fueled the fires.
In responding to this disaster and charting a path forward, we need to look to those with the greatest commitment to acting as stewards of Hawai‘i. Centuries before European settlers arrived in Hawai‘i, Native Hawaiians developed an elaborate and highly sophisticated public health system based on socioreligious tenets to ensure equitable access, availability, and distribution of natural resources to help minimize, if not eliminate, starvation and illness across islands with finite resources.
Colonization changed Hawaiʻi’s natural landscape, through deforestation for sugarcane, pineapple, and cattle. Water from mountains was redirected from natural streams and aquifers to flow instead through concrete irrigation ditches, feeding golf courses and hotels. Fire-prone invasive grass species replaced native vegetation.
As we look forward to how we not only rebuild, but work to reduce the threat of these climate change-fueled disasters, we have to change who is leading this work. An important solution is stewardship of land by Native people. Indigenous peoples maintain sustainable relationships with their environment and recognize and respond to environmental changes in creative ways, drawing on traditional knowledge and science to find solutions that can help society at large. When Native communities have sovereignty to take care of the land, it helps everyone.
This work of respecting Native Hawaiian leadership is already happening. We are both kiaʻi (stewards) of sacred places, like Loko Iʻa Pāʻaiau, a 400-year-old royal fishpond at Pearl Harbor that was contaminated with fuel from military operations. Restoration of Pāʻaiau is one example of how allowing Hawaiians to practice aloha ʻāina—to honor and advocate for land so it will sustain all inhabitants—leads to increased community well-being and resilience, as demonstrated by the return of healthy native plants, animals, human descendants, and relationships in the area. Restoration remains incomplete until the flow of freshwater from the mountains is restored, but stewardship efforts persist forward, through a collaborative community-based partnership with the U.S. Navy, Native Hawaiians, and the larger community, centered around a practice of aloha.
There is a lot of blame going around right now; we do need to look at how the Maui fires happened, but we must focus on moving forward. That can only happen when Native Hawaiians are central to the decision making surrounding how our land is treated.
Tradition teaches that Hawaiians descend from nature gods; thus, to heal Native Hawaiians, we must heal the 'āina that sustains us. Like our connections with those who love and nurture us, our relationship with ʻāina dramatically influences overall health and wellness. If we are able to progress with centering land practices around Indigenous knowledge and rights, Hawai‘i can model how to recover from climate-related disasters in ways that build safer, healthier futures for our children and future generations.
Preventing outsiders from buying land in Lāhainā is important, but only preserves a troubled status quo. We need to build a better future, one that is informed by Native Hawaiians’ shared history, knowledge, and connections with the land. We need Native Hawaiians on the land, and at the table.
Dr. Marcus Kawika Iwane, of Oahu, is board certified in internal medicine, belongs to the American College of Physicians, Hawaii Chapter, and serves as president of ‘Ahahui ‘o nā Kauka, the Association of Native Hawaiian Physicians. Dr. Iwane is the chief of the Kaiser Permanente West Oahu Medical Office at Kapolei, known as Kīpukaoha, where he leads a collective effort with community organizations to create innovative programs and partnerships that promote Native Hawaiian health and healing. Dr. Iwane completed the Climate and Health Equity Fellowship in 2023.
Dr. Nicole Mahealani Lum, D.O. from 'Aiea, Hawaii, is a board-certified geriatrician and family medicine physician. She is the medical director of Ke Ola Mamo Native Hawaiian Health System and serves on the Board of Directors for 'Ahahui o nā Kauka, the Association of Native Hawaiian Physicians. Dr. Lum completed the Climate and Health Equity Fellowship in 2022.
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https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/08/30/hawaii-news/native-hawaiian-leaders-others-plan-statewide-vigil-for-maui/
Hawaii Tribune-Herald Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023
Native Hawaiian leaders, others plan statewide vigil for Maui
By Tribune-Herald staff
Lahaina, Hawaii, residents, who are affected by a deadly wildfire that devastated the community, hold Hawaiian flags a news conference in Lahaina, Hawaii, Friday, Aug. 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Native Hawaiian cultural practitioners will lead a one-day, statewide vigil Friday to aid the emotional and spiritual healing of those on Maui who suffered devastating loss from wildfires that swept through Lahaina and other areas of the island.
Native Hawaiian ceremonies will be conducted on all islands at sunrise, noon and sunset.
To unify the islands in support of Maui, the vigil will be rooted in traditional Native Hawaiian practices and ceremonies and streamed live in partnership with ‘Olelo, Akako Community Media, KAKU 88.5 FM, Maui Stream, Na Leo TV, Ho‘ike TV, Hawaii News Now, KHON-2 and KITV-4, and online on HawaiiSoul.org/Maui and on YouTube.
Individuals, businesses, and places of worship are encouraged to stream the 6 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. sunrise ceremony, the 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. noon ceremony, and the 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. sunset ceremony, which will be taking place concurrently across the islands.
The public is invited to attend the following ceremonies on Hawaii Island:
• Pu‘u Huluhulu on Saddle Road, all day. Kumu Noenoe Wong-Wilson will lead the daylong vigil with the Kanaka‘ole ‘Ohana and cultural practitioners. The sunrise, noon, and sunset vigils will be streamed live through Na Leo, ‘Olelo and other media partners.
• Four Corners at Kumukahi in Puna at sunrise, with pule by Uncle Keone Kalawe.
• Lili‘uokalani Gardens at the corner of Lihiwai Street and Banyan Drive in Hilo at noon. Ceremony led by Rabbi Rachel Short in partnership with Interfaith Communities in Action.
• Old Kona Airport Pavilions 3 and 4, 75-5500 Kuakini Highway in Kailua-Kona at Sunset. Ceremony led by Kumu Ka‘ea Lyons.
Places of worship, hotels and businesses are encouraged to hold their own in-place vigils and to stream the ceremonies at their venues and share a link to it on their social media.
The vigil also will be featured in Friday’s University of Hawaii vs. Stanford football pregame segment.
Hokulani Holt-Padilla, a Maui-based kumu hula and revered Hawaiian cultural elder, explained that while financial assistance and other resources are being provided to support the physical health of Maui families, many respected kupuna and Hawaiian cultural practitioners said emotional healing is also a need that must be addressed.
“There’s an urgent need for prayer, cleansing, and reflection so that together, we can help Maui and Hawaii heal,” Holt-Padilla said. “This vigil will help to create a space for grief and healing and the opportunity for Hawaii to be united.”
A member of the Rediscovering Hawaii’s Soul initiative supported by the Hawai‘i Executive Collaborative, Holt-Padilla worked with HEC’s chairman Duane Kurisu and RHS executive lead Kamana‘opono Crabbe to enlist support for the vigil among leaders in the Native Hawaiian, faith-based, business, and nonprofit communities and state and county government, including Gov. Josh Green and all four county mayors.
** Ken Conklin's note added to this webpage on September 1: The hourlong melange of ceremonies broadcast on television 6-7 AM on Friday September 1, 2023 was entitled “Kipuni Aloha no Maui,” meaning “embrace beloved Maui.” It is available on YouTube at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aT1mHlKUrA
** See Ken Conklin online comment following the Star-Advertiser content, below
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https://www.staradvertiser.com/staradvertiser-poll/will-you-be-participating-engaging-in-fridays-vigil-to-provide-spiritual-healing-over-the-maui-wildfires/
Honolulu Star-Advertiser online poll posted daily around 1 AM: THE BIG Q:
Thursday August 31, 2023
Will you be participating/engaging in Friday’s vigil to provide spiritual healing over the Maui wildfires?
A. Yes, participating at in-person site
B. Likely will view online at HawaiiSoul.org
C. No, unlikely
** Poll results as of 5:45 PM:
C. No, unlikely (319 Votes)
B. Likely will view online at HawaiiSoul.org (51 Votes)
A. Yes, participating at in-person site (3 Votes)
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** Ken's online comment(s) to the Big Q at Honolulu Star-Advertiser and also same online comment to the news report in Hilo Hawaii Tribune-Herald (above): Neither newspaper allows online comments to contain internet links, so it was necessary to cite titles of webpages so that dropping the titles into Google would allow a reader to find the webpage.
Ever since the Lahaina wildfires, ethnic Hawaiian sovereignty activists have demanded that they must be in control of government and private efforts to rebuild or restore Maui in general and the town in particular. Even though ethnic Hawaiians are a minority among the people of Maui and Lahaina, their ethnic leadership has pushed hard for political control of government and private funding for restoration. They have also insisted that flowing water is so precious for growing their genealogical ancestor taro, that water should not be kept in reservoirs or made available for fighting fires. This religious/cultural belief is incorporated into Maui's laws regulating water; and there have been news reports that a major cause of the destructiveness of the wildfires in Lahaina was a lengthy delay in getting "permission" and overcoming resistance from taro farmers to divert water for firefighting. Let the town burn, we must protect water for our beloved kalo.
Somehow ethnic Hawaiian political leaders have gotten public acceptance of their claim to be not only the best scientific experts on the environment but also the righteous group to exercise leadership on environmental policy. The old Hawaiian religion has been revived and is the established religion controlling government environmental policy -- despite the Constitution prohibiting any such "establishment of religion." Whenever a new government building or program gets activated there's a Native Hawaiian priest or "cultural practitioner" to give a "blessing", always in Hawaiian language. When Biden visited Lahaina we could not miss seeing how closely he was accompanied everywhere by an auntie who was somehow designated to be his cultural advisor and political "minder" very much like the way important visitors to Russia or China are closely controlled by "minders": communist commissars who explain (propagandize) and report back to headquarters about what the visitors said and did.
Does anyone doubt the importance of invoking the old Hawaiian religion as justification for demanding race-based political leadership? On August 30 we were blessed by publication of an authoritative essay by two medical doctors who are undisputed leaders in the "Native Hawaiian healthcare system" (yes, we have systematic racial supremacy and segregation in medical treatment).
To read their essay blending religion with claims of historical victimhood and demands for race-based political control, and to see their credentials, drop the title into Google including quote marks:
"A Just Recovery for Maui Must Center Native Hawaiians"
And read my own webpage explaining the religious basis and great danger of such demands. (Remember how the German government asserted Aryan racial supremacy in the 1930s). Google
"Hawaiian Religious Fascism"
** Ken's note added to this webpage on September 1: The hourlong melange of ceremonies broadcast on television 6-7 AM on Friday September 1, 2023 was entitled “Kipuni Aloha no Maui,” meaning “embrace beloved Maui.” It is available on YouTube at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aT1mHlKUrA
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