Scattered Thoughts on Hawaiian Soveriegnty
by Ed Puntin
As a haole Hawaiian off and on since 1967, here's my .02. Yes, certainly Hawaii was stolen. So was most of the rest of the US in various ways, many far more nasty than what happened here in 1898. Doesn't make it "right", but I think I can make a clear case for its being perfectly "normal". Every people of the world has been subjugated. It happened here plenty before whites arrived. We have the proof right here; there are pali on every island with the impacted remains and oral stories of the losers being pushed off as a "final solution" to some local tiff, or to Kamehameha's "uniting". When the whites first arrived there was still plenty of resentment among Hawaiians about Kamehameha. A lot of people didn't want to be part of a larger group, instead feeling that their valley or island was best left alone. So should we also be shooting for Molokai's sovereignty? How 'bout Ka'u, especially since we down here are fond of saying that we have never been subjugated by anyone? We could arm wrestle to be chief of Kahuku. In the illnesses and mass death that followed whites coming, Hawaiians united. Same with all tribes anywhere that used to fight among themselves when threatened with a larger "outside" force. When there are only a few left, you unite for survival and bury the local hatchets. The same thing happened on Rapa Nui when they were down to around 100 people. Before that, killing each other was "normal". Just like here. Those sacrificial Heeau were not built by IG Farben in WWII, but by those ancient Hawaiians-the same people so peacefully remembered in gentle song. Many Hawaiians lament our urbanization, and assert that "Hawaiian leaders" wouldn't have done that, that there would be no condos, freeways etc". That hauntingly beautiful Izzy song is famous for asking "how would they feel"? Well, let them talk for themselves; the Iolani palace was the first seat of ANY government in the WORLD to have electric power. Yeah, before The White House or 10 Downing St. It was put there by those same royals some Hawaiians rosily say would have rejected it as "not Hawaiian enough". Seems the facts don't agree with the assertions. They like technology just fine. Folks, we are ALL guilty of transgressions like this if you go back a few generations. But what do we do now is the SOLE question. Are we going to be better off without the US? And I do mean "we", you aren't getting me off of this rock alive. I've been here longer, cleaned up as much of it as any of you have, and consider myself native, only a little paler than most. Which brings up the final point, what is a Hawaiian? Is it someone blond and blue eyed, like the lovely girl in Ka'u who earnestly told me last month how "her people" had been robbed? Well which ones robbed who, sweetie? The Hawaiians who gave you those beautiful cheekbones and lithe shape, or the Nordics who donated your equally lovely hair and eyes? Exactly who took what from whom? Personally I feel happy to be a Hawaiian, and while I don't like the US government much right now, its still the best one I've seen and I've been pretty nearly everywhere. So when we create this new monarchy do I just get pushed off the pali? Does the blond girl? Do YOU?
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