Not all of Hawaii .......

[Carolann R]

I wonder how it would be had the Americans not come in...I mean, would the Japanese now be in power here? It's anyone's guess. Hawai'i is beautiful and apparently very strategic in her location. If no other country occupied, how would this country be?

Carrie

"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read." Groucho Marx

http://www.hellophoenix.com/art/dreamhawaii.Cfm

[Kelena]

I think Hawai'i would be occupied by others, but we will never know. World War 2 history buffs will know more about his than I do, but I think the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor as sort of "pre-emptive" strike against the US, whose expanding naval presence in the Pacific they viewed, rightly or wrongly, as a threat. I'm pretty sure someone would have occupied Eden, if it had not been the US.

It really isn't the Americans that changed Hawai'i in my view though-- it is the airplane. Here it was, the most remote place on Earth -- but not anymore. Millions visit now, and not all of them from America.

I think the best Hawaiians can hope for is to re-assert their culture --and not by assaulting haoles in parking lots, breaking into rental cars or through simmering resentment. That isn't your culture. That is an imported culture, much like the coqui. That very cool singer Sean Somebody sang "No Hawaiians, no Aloha". I would change that to say "No Aloha? then you aren't Hawaiian".

[Momi]

Hi Everyone,

I'm not saying breaking into cars and terrorizing people is right at all but our people have been through wars for generations before 1778. It is hugely part of our culture traditionally and the women would fight right next to the men. but we have evolved and hopefully using our minds will be our greatest weapons. I learned when I went on an ethnobotany expedition this past summer to Western Samoa that the Germans occupied them for a while. The chiefs didn't let that happen for long and they are still sovereign, (W. side) and their culture is very strong. No one is allowed to own land unless you have Samoan blood. Hawai`i looked good to many countries and again, the Hawaiian people paid. My moms sister who was standing right next to her watching bombs fall in Pearl Harbor was killed by shrapnell on Dec. 7th. My mom still cries about it when she sees her sisters picture which we were just looking at together yesterday. It was the last picture taken of her on that fatefull day. She looked so happy. She was 12 years old. Her whole family was standing on the stairs in Honolulu. The bombs shrapnell that killed my aunt was determined to be "Friendly Fire".If it wasn't for a car in the street that took most of the impact of shrapnell and killed all who were in it, my mothers family would have all been killed. It's devastating having to watch your sister or child die right in front of you and before my grandmother passed away. She talked to us all about how she took her into the house and she was gone already. How she had to tell my grandfather about it when he returned home, not knowing if he would since he worked at Pearl Harbor which ultimately killed him later in life due to asbestos poisoning from working their.
Thanks Fransesca, Kawika has a lot to learn and didn't like my activism work until he finally moved to Molokai for his senior year. He flat out, many times, asked me to stop my activism but now he is right next to me trying to learn more. He is working on a shrimp farm on the East End of Molokai and is paving his own independance so we are hoping he gains more knowledge from living in such wonderful area and learns how strong the cultural is and maybe he can be part of using our brains and not our fists to help our destiny, whatever it may be.

and thanks for putting up the edit button again so now I don't have to post three times in a row.



Edited by - momi on 02/27/2007 07:10:57

Edited by - momi on 02/27/2007 07:39:48