01-09-2014, 08:17 AM
This thread began as a question about racism in the islands.
Then it was suggested that it is not so much racism as resentment toward non-Hawaiians for taking land from the Hawaiian people.
I mentioned before that the land transfer was a complex issue, much more involved than simple catch phrases can explain. Here's a little more about the Great Mahele, the time when the king agreed to allow ownership of land for the first time. (from pages 126-128 of Gavan Daws book Shoal of Time):
In the end something like 10,000 kuleana claims were awarded to commoners, for about 30,000 acres of good agricultural land, as compared with chief's land of 1 1/2 million acres, (Hawaiian) government land of about the same extent, and crown lands of not quite a million acres.
For the Hawaiian commoners it was the beginning of the end. In their first exercise of free choice they choose to uproot themselves. They were liberated at last from the burdensome tax payments to the chiefs that had kept them tied to the land, and most of them found more interesting things to do than grow taro, which required a long time and a lot of hard work. Once the commoner was free to buy land he was also free to sell it. So the great division became the great dispossession.
Then it was suggested that it is not so much racism as resentment toward non-Hawaiians for taking land from the Hawaiian people.
I mentioned before that the land transfer was a complex issue, much more involved than simple catch phrases can explain. Here's a little more about the Great Mahele, the time when the king agreed to allow ownership of land for the first time. (from pages 126-128 of Gavan Daws book Shoal of Time):
In the end something like 10,000 kuleana claims were awarded to commoners, for about 30,000 acres of good agricultural land, as compared with chief's land of 1 1/2 million acres, (Hawaiian) government land of about the same extent, and crown lands of not quite a million acres.
For the Hawaiian commoners it was the beginning of the end. In their first exercise of free choice they choose to uproot themselves. They were liberated at last from the burdensome tax payments to the chiefs that had kept them tied to the land, and most of them found more interesting things to do than grow taro, which required a long time and a lot of hard work. Once the commoner was free to buy land he was also free to sell it. So the great division became the great dispossession.
"I'm at that stage in life where I stay out of discussions. Even if you say 1+1=5, you're right - have fun." - Keanu Reeves