KE AUPUNI UPDATE - MAY 2025
Adopted or Kidnapped?
They told us we were adopted, but then we found out we were kidnapped.
This analogy plainly describes the crime that was committed against multiple generations of Hawaiian people. It also reveals to the nature and severity of the abuse and injury of the crime. The taking of Hawaii by the United States is not a trivial misunderstanding in semantics; it is a monstrous crime.
In essence, we Hawaiians were stolen as children and raised in the house of our captors, believing for decades that the U.S., like a parent, had our best interest at heart.
It wasn’t until the 1970s that questions arose and the “adoption” narrative began to unravel. Why were Hawaiian families being evicted from lands that they had lived on and worked for generations? Why was the US Navy still bombing Kahoʻolawe? Why were Hawaiians still not receiving lands designated form them since 1920? Why was our language and culture disappearing, except for use as window dressing for the tourist industry? Why did we revere George Washinton and Abraham Lincoln and pledge our allegiance to America as our mother country? Why did we speak, think and act like Americans?
So, what happens to those who were told they were adopted, then found out they had been kidnapped? It is hard to believe at first. Then comes the sense of horror and revulsion; that what you thought was true was not real, and those you trusted had been deceitful and used you. Then come the questions of why? Then what to do about fixing it.
Many older Hawaiians struggled over the sense of allegiance. They had lived their lives believing in America and teaching their children to be Americans. Then, suddenly, they were confronted with a group of young Hawaiian activists questioning and challenging the very core of their identity as loyal Americans. For them it was a struggle…
Then there were those suffering with a condition that in the early 1970s phycologists identified as the Stockholm Syndrome, wherein a captive begins to identify closely with his or her captors, as well as with their captor’s agenda and demands.
As the truth became known, is it any wonder that Hawaiians became upset? Is it any wonder that Hawaiians were revulsed by the notion of going back to live under the same roof as their captor/abuser? Is it any wonder Hawaiians called out for justice?
Is it any wonder that many have a strong aversion to return to captivity, and saw those who are negotiating with the captors for tribal status under “(US) federal recognition” as betrayers and collaborators?
And as for those who were born in the 1970s and later, they grew up in a time when the truth of Hawaiʻi’s situation was not only exposed and openly debated, but the remedy hashed out and identified — Independence.
That is why Hawaiians have been insisting that the only acceptable solution to the unlawful, prolonged U.S. occupation of Hawaiʻi, and the path to true expression of Hawaiian identity — Aloha ʻĀina — is through the restoration of Hawaii as an independent country. Recent events are indicating this concept is starting to become mainstream.
Aloha ʻĀina —
“Love of country is deep-seated in the breast of every Hawaiian, whatever his station.” — Queen Liliʻuokalani
Ua mau ke ea o ka ʻāina i ka pono.
The sovereignty of the land is perpetuated in righteousness.
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For the latest news and developments about our progress at the United Nations in both New York and Geneva, tune in to Free Hawaii News at 7 PM, the first Friday of each month on ʻŌlelo Television, Channel 53.
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Malama Pono,
Leon Siu
Hawaiian National
