KE AUPUNI UPDATE - MAY 2026
We Live in the Hawaiian Kingdom!
In my 26 years serving as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Hawaiian Kingdom, I have often talked about thinking like a Hawaiian instead of an American. That is important because it helps to reorder our minds, so we can better understand our situation and adjust our actions accordingly.
But because it took years of indoctrination and training to acquire the habits of an American mindset, you can’t just tell yourself to change to a Hawaiian mindset. You have to consciously and purposefully retrain your mind. Some things are not that hard. Others, take more work.
There are simple things we can do like, instead of using the word “mainland” when referring to the United States, use “the US” or ‘the states” or “the continent” or “America”. After a few times of consciously catching yourself, your mind will reset and you’ll find yourself not saying mainland anymore.
Some phrases like, the “State” when referring to the Hawaiian Islands take a little more work. But again, if you catch yourself as you’re saying it, after a while, you’ll find yourself doing it less. The good thing is that it changes not just the words you use, it changes your mindset as well.
For some reason, it gets harder to change the concept of where we live — the State of Hawaii or the Hawaiian Kingdom? That one takes more effort.
To get my mind to grasp and express that I live in the Hawaiian Kingdom took more effort because of being daily faced with the ubiquitous reality of the operations and institutions of the State of Hawaii all around us.
Everywhere we look, everything we read, watch, travel on, interact with, services we receive, regulation of our activities, etc., tells us — no, they scream at us — This is the State of Hawaii! And yet the truth is, we are in the Hawaiian Kingdom.
What we have learned over the past 33 years since the US Apology clearly admitted that we the Hawaiian people never relinquished our sovereignty or our lands, means just that: the Hawaiian people never relinquished their sovereignty or their lands! If you don’t relinquish it, it is still yours.
That means all that we see around us that looks like the State of Hawaii is really the Hawaiian Kingdom! That’s the truth!
Yes, we know this intellectually, but we still have to convince ourselves that what our eyes, ears and our minds have told us all these years is not what’s really there. It’s an illusion.
So how do we change our minds about this embedded image? I found what worked for me was to constantly tell myself: “I live in the Hawaiian Kingdom.” I told myself, I woke up in the Hawaiian Kingdom, I brushed my teeth in the Hawaiian Kingdom, I ate my breakfast in the Hawaiian Kingdom… I breathe the air of the Hawaiian Kingdom. I look around me and everything I see is in the Hawaiian Kingdom. The house I’m in is in the Hawaiian Kingdom; all the roads I drive on are in the Hawaiian Kingdom; the places I shop are in the Hawaiian Kingdom. You get the drift?
Yes, I live in the Hawaiian Kingdom. So does everyone else living in these islands whether they believe it or not; whether they consider themselves Hawaiian nationals or not; whether they believe in sovereignty or not; we all live in the Hawaiian Kingdom. What looks like the State of Hawaii is a façade that will disappear in a few years. So, we might as well get used to the fact that those of us who are living in the Hawaiian Islands, are actually living in the Hawaiian Kingdom.
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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"Remember, for the latest updates and information about the Hawaiian Kingdom, check out the twice-a-month Ke Aupuni Updates published online on Facebook and other social media."
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Malama Pono,
Leon Siu
Hawaiian National
Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Hawaiian Kingdom (since 2001)
