August 20, 2010 Waikiki, Oahu, Hawaiian Islands

“Mahalo to the 20+ folks who showed up to support this action.  We had good fun.  Talked to a lot of tourists.  The Americans weren’t too happy, but everybody else was really supportive.  The live cam was up and running and the message was clear.  We must be hanging with a lot of comedians, because everybody was funny.  Mahalo, Mahalo!”

— Lynette Cruz

Most people in Hawaii and throughout the United States and the world believe Hawaii is the 50th state.  But all of us were taught a history that was revised for the benefit of thieves.

Today is the day the state of Hawaii celebrates itself.  In 1959 Hawaii was admitted into the union of the United States as the 50th state.  But what was the history behind that momentous occasion?  We invite you to join us on a journey of discovery and rediscovery by briefly examining Hawaii’s history and relationship to the United States.

In 1893, Hawaii, an independent country recognized by treaty by the U.S. and over 20 other countries, was taken by force by U.S. military troops acting in support of an elite, white oligarchy seeking to overthrow the constitutional government and sovereignty of the Hawaiian Kingdom.  Immediately this group sought annexation to the U.S.  A Treaty of Annexation was required for a legal merging with the U.S. because of Hawaii’s independent status.  A treaty was submitted by the newly formed Republic of Hawaii, but failed and, as a result, the U.S. Congress opted to take Hawaii in 1898 with a municipal law called the Newlands Resolution, internal to the U.S.  This resolution gave Americans a justification for taking Hawaii to use as a military outpost in their war against Spain in the Philippines, even though that action was illegal under both the U.S. Constitution and international law.

After 1898, American schools in and outside of Hawaii began to teach a revision of history relating to ‘annexation’ as both ‘legal’ and a ‘natural’ consequence of economics.  Annexation would be good for business.  Hawai, the military outpost, ensured military expansion from Pearl Harbor throughout Hawaii for future actions, including deflecting unfriendly activities away from the continental U.S.

Many settlers came to live in Hawaii between 1900 and 1950.  They began to promote a vision of ’statehood’ as benefiting the average, primarily Asian, citizenry of the territory of Hawaii, offering them opportunities to become first-class citizens of the U.S.  It was a concept that appealed to those who had come here to work on plantations but who labored under a system of unequal rights and poverty in their home countries.

Immigrants wanted equal treatment under American law and, in Hawaii, statehood provided them that access.  In the meantime, the history of theft that left most of the native people of these islands landless went unnoticed by the majority of new immigrants.

In 1959, Congress granted ’statehood’ to Hawaii the territory, and the State of Hawaii was born. Amid numerous noisy celebrations, Hawaii’s mixed heritage population prepared themselves for an era of economic prosperity, and those who remembered the illegality and injustice of the theft more than 60 years earlier, slowly died off.  The real history of Hawaii was forgotten.

Today, we remember. Due to academic excellence, commitment to truth, and broad-based research into Hawaii’s true history by scholars and researchers, more and more data are being recovered, written up, printed, and published; used as the bases of court challenges; introduced at the United Nations; and promoted in film, television and radio, both locally and abroad.  It is our time to remind others that we remember and that we are still here.  Hawaii is not the 50th state of the U.S.

Today, we call upon people of conscience to know and understand our history and to assist us with correcting the injuries of the past.

How you can help:
1) Google Hawaiian sovereignty and learn about Hawaii’s history and relationship with the United States
2) Share information with others
3) Join a Hawaiian sovereignty group or a Hawaiian Civic Club wherever you live and learn about Hawaiian history and culture
4) Join a discussion list on Hawaiian issues

About Ka Lei Maile Ali`i Hawaiian Civic Club and Hawaiian Independence Action Alliance, the sponsors of this project
Ka Lei Maile Ali`i (KLMA) Hawaiian Civic Club was formed in 2003.  The club’s mission is to honor the life and work of Queen Lili`uokalani, Hawaii’s last reigning monarch.  The club’s work relies heavily on educational and cultural programs, particularly the dissemination of information about the Queen and about the people who supported her efforts and her person during and after the overthrow, including in the present time.

The Hawaiian Independence Action Alliance (HIAA) was formed in December 2008 to call attention to Hawaii’s continued independence, to push for de-occupation of Hawai`i, and to oppose federal recognition by the United States.

For more information about this effort, email:  palolo@hawaii.rr.com

Source material at:
www.hawaiiankingdom.org

July 31, 2010 · Thomas Square

Photos: Dora Johnson / Pono Kealoha / Nathan Leo

Click here for more pictures of the event by Vivian Wong.

Approximately 1500 signs were displayed on July 31, 2010 to honor those men and women who, in 1897, following the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom, signed their names to a petition opposing the annexation of Hawai’i to the United States.

Hawaiian nationals throughout the Hawaiian Kingdom supported their Queen and country by signing the great petition against annexation in 1897. The petition was sent on to Washington DC later that year.  As a result, a second treaty of annexation before the U.S. Congress failed to pass.  The first attempt was withdrawn by President Grover Cleveland.  Without a treaty, how did Hawaii become part of the United States?

Queen Lili’uokalani was in Washington D.C. at the time, advocating against passage of the Treaty of Annexation submitted by representatives of the Republic of Hawai’i. She called for the citizenry of Hawai’i to make their voices heard via petition, and they responded nearly unanimously.  These petitions were then presented to the U.S. Senate in 1897 when the issue of the annexation of Hawai’i to the U.S. came to the floor.  Because of opposition voiced by the people, the treaty, in its second attempt, failed.

There was no Treaty of Annexation. Instead, several U.S. Congressmen drafted a municipal law titled “The Newlands Resolution” purporting to take possession of Hawai’i, an action contrary to the U.S. Constitution and to International Law.  The rest is the history all of us in Hawai’i have been taught:  we were ‘annexed’ to the U.S. but there is no Treaty of Annexation to document that action.

Two petitions were circulated during that time by two political action groups—Hui Kalai`āina, in support of the royalty, and Hui Aloha `Āina (both men’s and women’s branches), in opposition to annexation. The citizenry numbered approximately 40,000 at the time, and the two petitions together included more than 39,000 signatures, a huge testament to the desire of Hawaiians to maintain and support their Queen and country.

Overwhelmingly, our kūpuna did not want to be Americans. Their opposition was captured in these petition signatures and today we honor them for taking a clear and strong position.

The petitions were retrieved from the U.S. National Archives in Washington DC and brought back to Hawaii by Dr. Noenoe Silva in 1997. They were first presented to the public on January 17, 1998 during the Sovereign Sunday event at `Iolani Palace grounds.Subsequently, Dr. Silva took the petitions throughout ka pae `āina to introduce them to their descendants, and there begins our tale of how these name signs come to be here today.

We honor our kupuna today because of their (successful) protest in 1897 and because their signatures and voices remind us of our history of political and legal independence.

About the sponsors of this project.

Ka Lei Maile Ali`i (KLMA) Hawaiian Civic Club was formed in 2003. The club’s mission is to honor the life and work of Queen Lili`uokalani, Hawaii’s last reigning monarch. The club’s work relies heavily on educational and cultural programs, particularly the dissemination of information about the Queen and about the people who supported her efforts and her person during and after the overthrow, including in the present time.

The Hawaiian Independence Action Alliance (HIAA) was formed in December 2008 to call attention to Hawaii’s continued independence, to push for de-occupation of Hawai`i, and to oppose federal recognition by the United States.

About the project: Ku`e Name Signs

In 2009, KLMA introduced to the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs a resolution to have the document in the hand of the McKinley Statue recast to remove the words “Treaty of Annexation”. The resolution passed unopposed. In 2010, on American President’s Day, KLMA and HIAA co-sponsored the first display of the ku`e name signs (a total of 600) at McKinley High School in downtown Honolulu, with names laid out immediately around the McKinley statue in the circular area that the school refers to as “sacred ground” (but sacred for school-related reasons).

For the Kamehameha Day Celebration on June 12, 2010, the groups sponsored the display at `Iolani Palace grounds, this time laying out approximately 1100 individual name signs. Hundreds of passers-by came to view the signs, to ask questions, to create new signs with their own kupuna names and, in the process, honoring their ku`e and their memory. In participating with us, visitors learned about the petitions and about a history of Hawai`i that had been erased for over a hundred years.

The July 31, 2010 display is the third in a series. Future displays are planned for September 5, 2010 at `Iolani Palace and on November 28 (La Ku`oko`a – Hawaiian Independence Day) and December 30 (Memorial Day in the Hawaiian Kingdom), 2010.

Want to kokua? Palolo@hawaii.rr.com, (808) 284-3460

Posted in the Maui News Sept. 9, 2009 

http://www.mauinews.com/page/content.detail/id/523421.html?nav=18

In regards to Richard Hillman’s letter (Sept. 2), I find it amazing how people justify an illegal action with the mindset that if America didn’t take Hawaii then someone else would have. I know some people who really feel that way and that is why they think it’s a good thing that the Hawaiian people’s government was overthrown by the United States of America. This is how they justify stealing.

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!

The only downside was the removal of the tent covering the table with the Queen’s portraits by state law enforcement officers.  They had reminded us earlier of DLNR’s rules prohibiting the setting up of tents in the area.  This tent protected the Queen (via her portraits) from the elements, a sign of respect to the Queen and common sense.  DLNR’s rules purport to regulate cultural practice, but their hardline reminded us all that the point of cultural practice is to honor those who came before by celebrating their lives and honoring their memories, not as the rules permit, but as culture dictates.  Cultural practice existed long before those rules were put into place.  They’ll continue to exist, with or without some foreign entity determining how they should be carried out.

We did get photos and video footage of the event, including the taking down of the tent (which the cops took away) and the issuing of a summons to Kahumoku to appear in court/pay a fine.  The cops really looked silly.  Maybe one day they’ll be on our side and protest stupid rules that make them look silly.  I also heard that Laura Thielen was there, hiding behind some building and making sure the cops did their job!  Photos are posted below.  When the footage makes its way to youtube, I will post the link.

But other than that, it was all good!  Hauoli La Hanau o Liliuokalani!

Some photos are posted below.