In the mid to late 1830s, a
phenomenon called Pacific Imperialism took over the world. Dominating
countries, such as Great Britain, America, and France took over lands in the
Pacific claiming them as their own. Kauikeaouli (Kamehameha III) was concerned
as to how Hawai’i would protect itself due to lack of military and modern
weapons. Histories have said that Hawai’i would be a constitutional monarchy
that would be imposed by missionaries, who sought to have a conversion to
Western culture, which was proven false. He decided to turn to a Western style
of government (constitutional monarchy) for sovereignty and protection,
becoming the first non-Western nation to gain sovereignty, in which Kanaka
Maoli participated in their government. He created a constitution for the
kingdom of Hawai’i, developed the Anglo-Franco Proclamation in 1843, and
sixteen countries began to recognize Hawai’i’s sovereignty.
Kauikeaouli created the privatization of lands, advised by missionary
descendants who sought to monopolize the sugar industry and appeal to the
United States for a possible move to annexation. The Hawaiian genealogy laid
out in the chant of the Kumulipo stated that land was the elder sibling and a
resource of all people living in the ahupua’a (district), so the idea of
capitalism was foreign to Hawaiians. In the 1840s, Kauikeaouli believed that land
titles and ownership would allow the land to be kept by its people, should any
foreign power question or attempt to take the land of their own. The Māhele was
developed as the private ownership and division of land. A board was
commissioned and created for land titles and is mostly comprised missionaries
or descendants of missionaries who saw capitalist opportunities here in Hawaiʻi.
If one owned a parcel of land, the owner had two years to claim the land so
that the board could give them a deed. The land had to be surveyed (many farmers
and natives did not know of surveys) and landowners paid a computation fee.
The king,
government, and people all have interests in the land. One could get rid of
this fee by deciding to pay fee simple. Native Hawaiians were displaced from
this proportioning of the land. Out of 88,000 Native Hawaiians in 1848, 14,195
claims are made. Only 8,421 awards, so 9% of Native Hawaiians are awarded land
through the Māhele. There are about 4.2 million acres of land in Hawaiʻi. The
Māhele divides the lands of Hawaiʻi into Crown lands, government lands, and
private lands and 1.3 million acres of land was set aside for private lands by
the commission. Out of these 1.3 million acres, 28,658 acres of land, or 2.2%
of the lands, were awarded to Kanaka Maoli. Land corporations and conglomerates
that were created by the members of the commission bought a vast majority of
these lands. Over the next forty years, a new system of competition and
capitalism is established. These corporations displaced the landowners,
disregarded the Natives’ titles, and Kanaka Maoli began to sell their land.
The lands
bought were used for a sugar trade industry. During the time of the Civil War,
the North was cut off from their sugar, which was supplied by the South. The
United States offers the Reciprocity Treaty, which guaranteed
a duty-free market for Hawaiian sugar in exchange for special economic
privileges for the United States
that were denied to other countries. Once the Civil War ended, the Reciprocity
Treaty also came to an end and sugar company executives were worried about
maintaining their exponential growth. Their solution was to continue the United
States tax-free goods for the use of Pu’uloa (Pearl Harbor) for a military
station. In 1877, King David Kalakaua was forced to sign the Bayonet
Constitution that stripped rights away from the monarch, added strict voting
requirements, and gave power to the elite businessmen. These businessmen, in power,
eventually pushed for annexation to ensure their economic prosperity with the
assistance of US Ambassador to the islands John Stevens to overthrow Queen
Lili’uokalani on January 19, 1893.
The revolution
that overthrew the monarchy was illegal and the ensuing Republic of Hawaii was
not internationally recognized as a nation. Therefore, they had no right to
offer a treaty of annexation including the ceding of Hawaiʻiʻs public lands to
the United States. It is against international law to land foreign troops in
another nation without the request of the reining ruler of that kingdom. There
was never a treaty of annexation adopted by the US Senate, which would have
required a 2/3 votes, which was not attained due to Southern statesʻ sugar
production competition and the opposition to gaining more minority citizens
(Kanaka Maoli and Asians). Kanaka Maoli submitted 37,000
signatures on a petition opposing annexation, also swaying some important votes
in the Senate. There never was a treaty of annexation ratified by the U.S.
Senate. A joint resolution is not valid because it cannot extend beyond the
borders of the U.S. Because Hawai’i was not a part of the U.S. at the time, any
measure of joint resolution could not be effective in the kingdom.
My Lego protestor represents the
illegal history of America and its imperialism in Hawaii. Currently, there is a
move for federal recognition in the Akaka Bill, which would label Native
Hawaiians as American Indians and allow the federal government continued
control of the lands that they illegally occupy. Instead of land-owning businesses to be involved,
there is a call for more “Hawaiian hands” or Kanaka Maoli to be involved in
promoting the use of cultural regeneration in their “Hawaiian lands”. America needs to take responsibility by
allowing a passage of power back to the restoration of the Hawaiian nation. As
Foucault would state, power needs to be rightfully exchanged, as it is not
effective in a heirarchy. Machiavelli also states that an effective leadership
would not take the peopleʻs land (property) or women. This stripping away of
land from the Kanaka Maoli also speaks to a theoretical political violation in
the United Statesʻ use in political power.
The protestor
also challenges the issue of cultural exploitation. Tourism is the biggest
industry that brings in economic growth for Hawaiʻi. With tourism comes the
concept of cultural exploitation in the utopia presented as “paradise”. There
are images of hula girls, tiki ornaments, and white, sandy beaches, with no knowledge
or stories to educate the people about our rich history. The protestorʻs hula
costume represents two aspects. One is the negative commercialization of
Hawaiian culture in the tacky costume. The second aspect is that hula and mele
(song) were known as forms of Native Hawaiian resistance. These forms of
entertainment would express opposition to the governmentʻs doings. Hula was
prohibited by the missionaries and Hawaiian laaguage was banned from all
schools starting in 1896, restricting the voice of the people. There
is a call for the United States to rectify the wrong and recognize their
occupation of the Hawaiian nation. There is a cultural responsibility to the
land, the indigenous peoples’ ancestor. Instead of allowing state or federal
control over these lands, there is a solution to allow the lāhui, or the nation of the Kanaka Maoli, to regain
lands that were previously taken away to restore cultural value to the land,
using these sites for Kanaka Maoli agriculture, education, and various other
social services. The restoration of sites and culture is a form of sovereignty to honor and respect the culture of the Kanaka Oiwi.
Lego Figure
Lego Figure
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