Pono Kealoha, Donnie Camvel, and Kuumeaaloha Gomes as minister, Mrs. Campbell, and Mrs. Nawahi
Ka Lei Maile Alii Hawaiian Civic Club, a member organization of HIAA, sponsored today’s re-enactment titled, “Ka Lei Maile Alii - the Queen’s Women’ at the Kanaina Building in honor of Queen Liliuokalani’s birthday and as part of the Hawaii Pono’i Coalition’s larger remembrance of the Queen and her message to Onipa`a! The re-enactment was first performed on Sept. 2, 2001, in this same building, to honor the Queen on her birthday. Over the years a number of different people have taken the lead roles and brought each of the characters to life. Mrs. Emma Aima Nawahi and Mrs. Kuaihelani Campbell, friends of Queen and country, were members of Hui Aloha Aina o Nawahine, supporters of the Queen and instrumental in gathering signatures to protest the annexation of Hawaii to the U.S. Those petitions, with nearly 39,000 signatures, were successful in stopping annexation via treaty. And to this day, there is no treaty.
Kuumeaaloha Gomes and Donnie Camvel as Mrs. Nawahi and Mrs. Campbell
At today’s presentation, as in the past, Keanu Sai prefaced the re-enactment by providing a historic context–why the signatures were being gathered in the first place, and what the implications are for today. The successful signature petition campaign resulted in the failed passage of the treaty of annexation in Congress (there was/is NO treaty of annexation). This forced some members of Congress to devise a scheme to take Hawaii illegally via an internal (to the U.S.) document called the Newlands Resolution, thus a major theft occurred of Hawaii’s government, Hawaiian land, and Hawaiian nationals (the people themselves being transferred “like a flock of cattle”, as noted by Joseph Nawahi), but more seriously, a theft of our history. It was unsafe to talk about the theft, so people kept quiet and, through a concerted effort over generations, and with the help of an educational system imported from the U.S., the people of Hawaii were reprogrammed to accept a false history so as to easily assimilate them and get them ready for statehood. In 1900, the U.S. passed an organic act to create a territory of Hawaii. In 1920, the U.S. passed the Hawaiian Homestead Act, in the process creating an ethnic category called “Native” or “native” Hawaiian. In 1950, the U.S. signed into law the statehood act with a subsequent vote in 1959 that included members of the U.S. military in Hawaii.
Copies of petitions against annexation to the U.S.
In 1978, within the fake state of Hawaii, a constitutional convention created the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, which became operational in 1980. Thirteen years later, in 1993, a huge demonstration by Hawaiians (by blood) and supporters gathered at Iolani Palace grounds to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom. That same year saw the passage of PL 103-150, the so-called apology bill, whereby the U.S. apologized to the “native Hawaiians” they created in 1920 for the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom. Other Hawaiian subjects were unacknowledged. And finally, beginning in 2000, Senators Akaka and Inouye attempted to turn Hawaiians (by blood) into a native american tribe by making Hawaiians ‘indigenous’ to the U.S. via federal recognition.
The point of the Keanu Sai’s talk and the re-enactment today was to call attention to the struggle faced by the Queen and her supporters during that time of turmoil, all of whom understood the call to onipa`a and who signed the ku`e petitions. These are the ancestors of those of us Hawaiians (by nationality) living today. That struggle is not over as long as we remember our history and defend Queen and country until such time as our country is restored to us. E onipa`a kakou! Eo Hawaii!