AKAKA BILL NOT THE ANSWER TO LAND CLAIMS
Hawaiian Kingdom Was Illegally Overthown, Not Conquered
Honolulu Advertiser - February 5, 2008
Sunday's editorial about the Supreme Court's decision to bar the sale of the ceded lands - the crown and government lands of the Hawaiian kingdom - pointed only to the process of reconciliation and the difficulties of negotiating that reconciliation with the United States and the state of Hawai`i.
From this the writer leaps to the conclusion that only the passage of the Akaka bill can provide a native agency that can negotiate a claim with the state and lead to a settlement that will close "the book on Hawai`i's turbulent past."
I can understand why Hawai`i residents would want this resolved as expeditiously as possible, but as one of the original plaintiffs in this case, I think there are other concerns about the state's control of these lands that are just as important, especially since Hawaiians are not responsible for the theft of their lands nor of the continued denial either of the right to self-determination or the restoration of their national government.
Theft is the most accurate description of the taking of the crown and government lands by the republic in 1894 and the cession of those lands to the United States.
The United States did not conquer Hawai`i, but it prevented the kingdom from extinguishing the insurrection in 1893, disregarded its own constitution by assuming an annexation even when it could not secure enough votes for a legal annexation and took possession of lands that the kingdom's legislatures and chiefs had reserved for its monarchs and national well-being before 1850.
Neither the state nor the United States has legal title or moral claim to the ceded lands.
I, too, would like to see a reconciliation, but our people did not create this pilikia (trouble) and we should not be admonished to hurry through the "settlement" just because it is inconvenient to the state.
Jonathan K. Osorio
Professor and Director
Kamakakuokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies
University of Hawai`i-Manoa
