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It's being made way too complicated. Suppose you write a will, because you live in a neighborhood, all your neighbors become heirs? Or do you go down the kinship?
The issue here is to accept the New Hawaiian Kingdom as either a return to a monarchy system with royalty or become a nation within a nation. The nation within nation is being called by the GOP as the Akaka tribe.
Think about this, the Republicans and Teapublicans are against this Akaka bill which more accurately is to recognize Hawaii as a nation within a nation.
The Lakota Souix never signed a treaty and never surrendered. They did capitulate. So, the first thing white man did was round them up into concentration camps called reservations. The choice of the reservation land was the worst farming, mosquito infected swamp that nobody wanted, until somebody wanted even that land. They were rounded up again and a reservation was set up in the Black Hills, where nobody could possibly want to live. Until there was gold found there. The Lakota were rushed out of the Black Hills and put in the flat plains, where there was no water, nothing could really grow. And there it was, oil in the form of shale oil, just ready for fracking. That is what is going on now and the Lakota Souix are becoming oil billionaires. They are seceding and they are converting their economy to Bitcoin.
A return to the royalty system means it doesn't matter who the maka'aina'na is, how much bloodline they have, since the only bloodline that matters is the royal bloodline and the ali'i own everything in the Kingdom, the maka'aina'na becoming serfs of the land.
By agreeing to become a nation within a nation and a parlimentary monarchy, the land is owned by the people. It seems the only ones that have any legitimate rights and claims are those that are still 100% Hawaiian as according to the roll of 1856. Considering those are now down to about 15,000 would make the issue a lot less mob driven.
*Japanese tourist on bus through Pahoa, "Is this still America?*
That doesn't sound right, pahoated.
A reversal of the wrongdoing should hail back to the state of the Kingdom at the time of annexation, which postdates the Great Mahele. The sovereign and the ali'i certainly did not hold title to everything at that time.
When the Supreme Court of Hawai'i ruled on the PASH decision, it ruled that certain legal rights in effect under the Hawaiian Kingdom still should have force of law as legal precedent, and those rights were to be enjoyed by descendants of the citizens of the Kingdom. The rights were not limited to a class or a bloodline. So there certainly is a precedent for inclusion of immigrants.
The analogy of a will is faulty, because the Kingdom of Hawai'i had a Constitution in force as law of the land at the time of the illegal overthrow.
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Wow this issue has more facets than any one mind.. and a haole mind at that.. could ever be expected to comprehend. All my life I have felt very passionate about this but because I am not among the many that can say they were grievously wronged by the actions of the US Government in this matter I reframe from having an opinion other than to know that the discourse itself is way important, verging on sacred. The one thing I would like to add to the discussion is it looks like many have been swept away with their emotions and have not noticed that for better or worse.. with good ideas or bad.. a state within a state or what have you.. that Barack did put the issue on the table! He did stand up and put the frickin opposition to the discussion in it's place and moved it forward. I believe this in itself is way cool.. monumental. And, I am way happy to be witnessing it.
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Hawaii was a constitutional monarchy at the time of the overthrow, several kings had been elected by the citizens, which included people of many of the ethnicities of Hawaii, although the rules on who could vote were different under different constitutions.
The Hawaiian Kingdom was not overthrown by the United States Government, it was overthrown by the sons and grandsons of missionaries whose families became plantation owners after the mission was closed by the sponsoring church (Congregationalists I think, but I could be wrong on that) with minor support from the US military whose commanding officer was acting without permission or orders from the United States Government. These guys had been educated in the United States and when they came home to Hawaii, they were offended that the taxes on plantations were funding the spending of the Hawaiian Kingdom and decided everything would be better if they and their friends just ran things. Hawaii was a "modern" sovereign nation, with formal diplomatic relations and treaties with other countries, a written constitution and a system of government. That is very different from most North American tribes, with the exception of the Cherokee, who had most of those things too, but whose government was also overthrown.
Carol
Carol
Every time you feel yourself getting pulled into other people's nonsense, repeat these words: Not my circus, not my monkeys.
Polish Proverb
From my friend Ken at Na Leo:
Dept. of Interior public meetings about Native Hawaiian self governance
Na Leo is airing the three meetings on this island on cable channel 55 (and 97-1). Last night was Keaukaha. RIGHT NOW, from 6 pm, is Waimea, and Sat. night is Kealakehe. All three meetings run almost 3 hours each. Should also be replaying later.
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Mahalo, Kathy, for the update. In this day and age, to not have live coverage from our island is perceived as a "black out" by many. This issue has gone worldwide, and Na Leo is getting calls from all over. Na Leo stated Olelo TV was coming to stream our meetings live, however, were told they would NOT be reimbursed. DOI has spent $100K+ on these meetings, one would think they could pay for live streaming.
Keaukaha has the highest percentage of Hawaiians, and our island has the highest percentage of all the islands. When OHA had their meeting regarding this issue, it was volatile. Notice none of the other island "regulars" attended the meeting in Keaukaha (ie. Bumpy Kanahele, Walter Ritte, Robin Danner, etc.) Allegedly/apparently they were told stay away from our meetings.
I attended the Keaukaha meeting and over 100 were not allowed to testify. Those who did were respectful, yet firm in the message. The energy in the room was indescribable. For once, our people came together and stood "onipa'a".
As we watch all of the festivities tonight, some of us are proud of both; being an American and being Hawaiian. Now, we may need to choose which is more important.
Listening to the Star Spangled Banner in Washington DC right now, and my father being a veteran of war, for the first time in my long life, I don't know if I'm allowed to celebrate Independence Day. I should be looking forward to the day kanaka maoli can celebrate our independence once again.
Can't we have both?
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P.S. For the record, I don't collect welfare, food stamps, nor any other "perk" given by the USA. In fact, from the County, the State, to the Federal Government, all have been difficult to deal with on various matters. If we don't play "politics", your land is at stake, and your livelihood. Wind biscuits for dinner, as it were.
We were taught, although born before statehood, be a proud American but never forget, you are a Hawaiian.
Hopeful there will be middle ground, without us kanaka maoli being a tribe.
JMO.
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When I was a child my parents came into a small inheritance and for the only time in their lives, instead of being prudent and saving the money, they took us on a nomadic camping tour all over Europe. We went to every palace, castle, historical site or museum, art museum, circus, zoo and amusement park that was anywhere near our path.
When I first saw Iolani Palace I was struck by how it was a perfect Victorian era Royal Palace, a palace in miniature, but still a royal palace, I had seen hundreds of royal palaces, this was what legitimate royalty of that era looked like. King Kalakaua was a sophisticated and educated man who read and wrote in many different languages, he corresponded with the many royals he had met on his travels. He knew exactly what he was doing when he built that palace, he was making a statement to the world: this is the Hawaiian Kingdom and we are equals on the world stage. I think that was why the plantation owners objected so strongly to the money he spent, they knew exactly what the symbolism was of that Palace, the crown jewels, and Kalakaua's coronation ceremony which incorporated both traditional Hawaiian elements and European.
For the United States government to try to pretend that the Hawaiian people are just another conquered tribe in the expansion of the American territory is to ignore the reality of the history of the Hawaiian Kingdom. I have no idea how the current state of affairs can be resolved, but I do know that the actual history and wishes of the Hawaiian people cannot be ignored in this process if there is to be a just resolution to this.
Carol
edited to fix typos
Carol
Every time you feel yourself getting pulled into other people's nonsense, repeat these words: Not my circus, not my monkeys.
Polish Proverb
opihikao, I much appreciate your presence and your patient efforts in explaining the kanaka maoli points of view to us.
Do you have any reading you recommend on the subject that you think states the points fairly and accurately?
oh, opihikao, somehow I missed your post about Na Leo and the Keaukaha meeting. Thanks so much for the moving report of the meeting.
I don't know much about how Na Leo operates. My friend Ken Okimoto who is on the board of Rural South Hilo Community Association works for Na Leo, and he sends our board emails on what will be airing. I don't know why it is not streamed live, but it does seem like the operation does not have a lot of resources -- I mean they like to train people and have them video meetings. For our community meetings it typically takes a week or two before they air.
Of course, these are not run of the mill meetings; they are historic.
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