Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, 1 March 1983 — A THIEF IN JUDGEMENT OF ITSELF [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

A THIEF

IN JUDGEMENT OF ITSELF

by Trustee Hayden Burgess

There is no error more eommon than that ofthinking that those who are the causes on occasions of great tragedies share in thefeelings suitahle to the tragic mooā. Oscar Wilde Do not ask a thiefto judge his own conduct and to decide his own penalty. Panelist on Hawaiian Affairs, Univ. of Hawaii Both statements point to the error we constantly repeat, the belief that the U.S. government possess that quality of "enlightened justice" to admit its role in the theft of Hawaii's sovereignty and to invoke the appropriate remedy. Lili'uokalani was the first to fall victim to this error, followed by the Hawaiian Patriotic League and others. All were betrayed when the U.S. found it more expedient to overlook the conspiracy between the American Minister and American residents in Hawaii. Let us never forget that the U.S. invaded our nation

and wrested the powers of government from the legitimate ruler, Lili'uokalani. lt placed into power its puppet, the "Provisional Government," proclaimed by American citizens to exist until terms of annexation with the U.S. could be achieved. It protected that puppet government and its child, the "Republic of Hawaii" through armed troops. When American public opinion overlooked the theft four years later, the U.S. formally occupied us, accepting the fruits of its conspiracy in the "treaty of annexation." Through the years, the U.S. has controlled Hawaii's immigration and trade policies, ran Hawaii's politics and recycled Hawaii's people into believingtheir myth that we were a defeated people and that the life of the nation was extinguished. lt colonized us and branded us "Americans."

Today, thousands of our people plead their hearts out believing that this U.S. government's latest creation, a "Study Commission", will truly review the tragedies wreaked upon our people and nation and offer up the appropriate remedy. And again, we see that the American thief will not judge its own theft mueh less invoke the appropriate remedy. lt is time we broke this mental shell of "American Protectionism" and entered the world of reality. The theft of Hawaii's national independence should not be contained within the United States: it is a matter of international stature. There is no essential difference between this occupation of our independent Hawaiian nation from any other occupation. Indeed, this is more blatant than the recent Soviet Union's incursions into Czechoslovakia and Poland. The appropriate forum to address this matter is not the U.S. Congress but the international courts. The U.S. ean not be expected to judge its own acts for that would be asking a thief to sit in judgment of itself. Think about it.