Hawaiian Kingdom Independence Blog

Keanu Sai on KGMB Sunrise this morning

Life of resistance: Bumpy mā toiling for 20 years

From the Star-Advertiser today, for those with subscription here’s the link (which includes images), for those without here’s the text of the article…

Life of resistance

Activist “Bumpy” Kanahele and his Aloha First organization have been toiling steadily for 20 years

By Dan Nakaso

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Jul 06, 2014
LAST UPDATED: 09:10 a.m. HST, Jul 06, 2014

The bad boy of the Native Hawaiian sovereignty movement celebrated two recent milestones inside the 45-acre compound that serves as the Waimanalo headquarters for the Nation of Hawaii.

Dennis “Bumpy” Kanahele, a grandfather 12 times over, turned 60 on Tuesday. And last month, Kanahele and the 70 residents of Pu‘uhonua o Waimanalo — or “Refuge of Waimanalo” — celebrated the 20th anniversary of the date in June 1994 when Kanahele ended his 15-month occupation of Makapu‘u Beach Park in exchange for a lease on a spectacular swath of state-owned land that he continues to govern.

Continue reading Life of resistance: Bumpy mā toiling for 20 years

La Ho’iho’i Ea – Sovereignty Restoration Day

Umi Perkins interview on First Voices Indigenous Radio

‘Umi Perkins will be John Kane‘s guest tomorrow morning (July 3) on “First Voices Indigenous Radio,” WBAI 99.5 FM in New York City, 9-10 a.m. Eastern Time / 3-4 a.m. Hawai’i Time. The show will stream live at www.wbai.org. It will be available in the WBAI archive immediately following the broadcast.

Umi Perkins: New Research in Hawaiian History

Lynette Cruz interviews Umi Perkins on New Research in Hawaiian History

(He talks about being in a deep loʻi kalo as being “immersed in the land” … quite literally… I like that phrase. I always say there’s nothing more grounding then actually standing in the ground when you’re up to your thighs in lo‘i mud.)

Osorio interview on Radio Australia

Hawaiian independence activists won’t be silenced

Updated 27 June 2014, 9:27 AEST

Supporters of independence for Hawaii say a series of hearing conducted by the US Department of the Interior this week are an attempt by the Obama Administration to try to silence the independence movement.

Hawaiian independence activists won’t be silenced (Credit: ABC)

Campaigners claim as many as one thousand Hawaiians have taken the opportunity to speak at the hearings.

Jon Osorio, is a singer/songwriter and teaches in the Hawaiian Studies Centre at the University of Hawaii.

He’s is also a supporter of the continuing push for what campaigners call the de-occupation of the islands by the US.

Presenter: Brian Abbott

Speaker: Professor Jon Orosio, University of Hawaii

Listen to the interview here

Hawaiian recognition plan meets vocal opposition

Honolulu Star-Advertiser reports on the first DoI hearing:

The emotionally charged meeting, attended by several hundred people, lasted about 30 minutes longer than the scheduled three hours. It featured defiant, impassioned testimony mostly rooted in the grievances that have simmered in the Hawaiian community dating back to the 1893 overthrow of the monarchy.

Most of the several dozen attendees who testified Monday said they strongly opposed the Interior Department moving forward with the proposal. Citing various U.S. laws and statutes, they further argued that the agency has no jurisdiction to guide such a government-to-government relationship because the Hawaiian Kingdom remains the islands’ sovereign power.

“We are an independent, neutral kingdom,” testifier Kilikina Kekumano told the Interior Department’s panel. “We are still sovereign.”

The process “violates the human rights of our people,” Hawaiian activist Mililani Trask added. “We are not tribal and we are not continental. … We are not a domestic dependent nation. … We are not Indians.”

Update: AP article via Huff Post:

Dozens of Native Hawaiian speakers expressed anger and mistrust with the federal government Monday during the first of a series of meetings that could lead to the group being recognized similarly to an American Indian tribe.

[…]

“I’m hearing a lot of ‘No’s’ so far,” said Sam Hirsch, an Interior Department spokesman.

About 140 speakers opposed the move, with many saying it would be a barrier to their goal of returning the Hawaiian Islands to the indigenous community that ruled before Hawaii became the nation’s 50th state.

“We do not need you here. This is our country,” said Ao Pohaku Ku, of the Spiritual Nation of Ku Hui Ea Council of Sovereigns.

I must say that the writer gets it wrong it describing the “goal of returning the Hawaiian Islands to the indigenous community that ruled before Hawaii became the nation’s 50th state.” The kingdom was of course a multi-ethnic country, with subjects/citizens of many races and ethnicities having equal rights to vote and participate in government, all those born here being so automatically, and others following a process of naturalization; and some modern version of that is the only way it can be effectively independent again in the future. Kanaka o’iwi can have special roles and protections because most of us fully recognize the importance of that, but to describe “returning the Hawaiian Islands to the indigenous community that ruled before Hawaii became the nation’s 50th state” is factually incorrect and practically unhelpful.

The Real Question: By what authority DOI in Hawaii?

Highly recommend reading “By What Authority is the U.S. Department of Interior In Hawai‘i?” at HawaiianKingdom.org. For those planning to testify at the upcoming hearings, read the whole thing, but especially consider this conclusion:

So before the “five threshold questions that will be the subject of the forthcoming public meetings regarding whether the Federal Government should reestablish a government-to-government relationship with the Native Hawaiian community” can be answered by the community, the only question that should be posed to the DOI at the public meetings is:

“Since the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel did not respond with evidence to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs CEO Dr. Kamana‘opono’s questions dated May 5, 2014 that the Hawaiian Kingdom does not exist as an independent and sovereign State under international law, I have to presume the Hawaiian Kingdom continues to exist. Therefore, my question to you is by what authority is the Department of Interior claiming to be here in Hawai‘i, being a foreign sovereign and independent State, since the Department of Justice has already concluded that Congress could not have annexed the Hawaiian Islands by a joint resolution?”

DoI to host public hearings on Hawaiian recognition

Article from the Washington Post, “Feds take step toward Native Hawaiian recognition”:

The federal government announced Wednesday it will take a first step toward recognizing and working with a Native Hawaiian government at a time when a growing number of Hawaiians are questioning the legality of the U.S. annexation of Hawaii.

The U.S. Department of the Interior will host a series of public meetings during the next 60 days with Native Hawaiians, other members of the public and Native American tribes in the continental U.S. to discuss the complex issue, Rhea Suh, assistant secretary for policy, management and budget for the department, said during a conference call with reporters.

“This does not mean we are proposing an actual formal policy,” Suh said. “We are simply announcing that we’ll begin to have conversations with all relevant parties to help determine whether we should move forward with this process and if so, how we should do it.”

Update: Below the fold, here’s the full DoI press release, with hearing dates…

Continue reading DoI to host public hearings on Hawaiian recognition

Keanu Sai on ‘First Voices Indigenous Radio’

Dr. Keanu Sai will be John Kane’s guest on “First Voices Indigenous Radio,” from WBAI-FM this Thursday, June 19, 3-4 a.m. Hawai’i Time for the entire hour.

The show will air live. It can be streamed live at www.wbai.org and will be available in the WBAI’s station archives immediately following the broadcast. The show also will be aired by the 45 stations that carry FVIR around the U.S. and Canada and will be available shortly thereafter – in perpetuity – in the show’s archives at www.firstvoicesindigenousradio.org.

Update: The show is now available at WBAI archive to play or download. Later it will be available long-term in the FVIR archive.

Hawaiian Kingdom Independence Blog

Recent Posts

Categories

Archive