Hawaiian sovereignty movement
The Hawaiian sovereignty movement (Hawaiian: ke ea Hawaiʻi) is a grassroots political and cultural campaign to reestablish an autonomous or independent nation or kingdom of Hawaii out of a desire for sovereignty, self-determination, and self-governance.[2][3]
Some groups also advocate some form of redress from the United States for its 1893 overthrow of Queen Liliʻuokalani, and for what is described as a prolonged military occupation beginning with the 1898 annexation. The movement generally views both the overthrow and annexation as illegal.[4][5]
Palmyra Atoll and Sikaiana were annexed by the Kingdom in the 1860s, and the movement regards them as under illegal occupation along with the Hawaiian Islands.[6][7]
The Apology Resolution the United States Congress passed in 1993 acknowledged that the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom was an illegal act.[8]
Sovereignty advocates have attributed problems plaguing native communities including homelessness, poverty, economic marginalization, and the erosion of native traditions to the lack of native governance and political self-determination.[9][10]
The forced depopulation of Kaho'olawe and its subsequent bombing, the construction of the Mauna Kea Observatories, the Red Hill water crisis caused by the US Navy's mismanagement, and participation in human trafficking of Hawaiian women by U.S. servicemen[11] are some of the contemporary matters relevant to the sovereignty movement.
It has pursued its agenda through educational initiatives and legislative actions. Along with protests throughout the islands, at the capital (Honolulu) itself and other locations sacred to Hawaiian culture, sovereignty activists have challenged U.S. forces and law.[12]
History[edit]
Coinciding with other 1960s and 1970s indigenous activist movements, the Hawaiian sovereignty movement was spearheaded by Native Hawaiian activist organizations and individuals who were critical of issues affecting modern Hawaii, including the islands' urbanization and commercial development, corruption in the Hawaiian Homelands program, and appropriation of native burial grounds and other sacred spaces.[13] In the 1980s, the movement gained cultural and political traction and native resistance grew in response to urbanization and native disenfranchisement. Local and federal legislation provided some protection for native communities but did little to quell expanding commercial development.[10]
In 1993, a joint congressional resolution apologized for the 1893 overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy, and said that the overthrow was illegal.[13][8] In 2000, the Akaka Bill was proposed, which provided a process for federal recognition of Native Hawaiians, and gave ethnic Hawaiians some control over land and natural resource negotiations. But sovereignty groups opposed the bill because of its provisions that legitimized illegal land transfers, and it was criticized by a 2006 U.S. Commission on Civil Rights report (which was later reversed in 2018)[14] for the effect it would have on non-ethnic Hawaiian populations.[15] A 2005 Grassroot Institute poll found that most Hawaiian residents opposed the Akaka Bill.[16]
Sovereignty and cultural rights organizations[edit]
ALOHA[edit]
The Aboriginal Lands of Hawaiian Ancestry (ALOHA) and the Principality of Aloha[39] were organized sometime in the late 1960s or 1970s when Native Alaskan and American Indian activism was beginning. Native Hawaiians began organizing groups based on their own national interests such as ceded lands, free education, reparations payments, free housing, reform of the Hawaiian Homelands Act and development within the islands.[40] According to Budnick,[41] Louisa Rice established the group in 1969. Charles Kauluwehi Maxwell claims that it was organized in 1972.[42]
ALOHA sought reparations for Native Hawaiians by hiring a former U.S. representative to write a bill that, while not ratified, did spawn a congressional study. The study was allowed only six months and was accused of relying on biased information from a historian hired by the territorial government that overthrew the kingdom as well as from U.S. Navy historians. The commission assigned to the study recommended against reparations.[43]: 61
Ka Lāhui[edit]
Ka Lāhui Hawaiʻi was formed in 1987 as a local grassroots initiative for Hawaiian sovereignty. Mililani Trask was its first leader.[44] Trask was elected the first kia'aina (governor) of Ka Lahui.[45] The organization has a constitution, elected offices and representatives for each island.[46] The group supports federal recognition, independence from the United States,[47]: 38 and inclusion of Native Hawaiians in federal Indian policy.[43]: 62 It is considered the largest sovereignty movement group, reporting a membership of 21,000 in 1997. One of its goals is to reclaim ceded lands. In 1993, the group led 10,000 people on a march to the Iolani Palace on the 100th anniversary of the overthrow of Queen Liliuokalani.[48]
Ka Lāhui and many sovereignty groups oppose the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act of 2009 (known as the "Akaka Bill") proposed by Senator Daniel Akaka, which begins the process of federal recognition of a Native Hawaiian government, with which the U.S. State Department would have government-to-government relations.[49] The group believes that there are problems with the process and version of the bill.[50] Still, Trask supported the original Akaka Bill and was a member of a group that crafted it.[51] Trask has been critical of the bill's 20-year limitation on all claims against the U.S., saying: "We would not be able to address the illegal overthrow, address the breach of trust issues" and "We're looking at a terrible history.... That history needs to be remedied."[52] The organization was a part of UNPO from 1993 through 2012.[53]