Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 3, Number 2, 1 February 1986 — An American Illusion [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

An American Illusion

By Hayden Burgess Trustee, Oahu

Again, the issue of Hawaiian reparations arise in public circles. One proposal calls for equating Hawaiians with American lndians, tossing us some coins, return lands the U.S. doesn't want and making reforms at Hawaiian Homes. Of course, the U.S. Congress will decide what to give us and what to keep.

The trade off — the U.S. wip>e their conscious elean, they keep what they want and close the door on the Hawaiians to any further elaim to self-determination. Simple, eheap, permanent. Too often, we forget who and what we are. We are not merely a gang of indigenous people who onee occupied a territory, dancing and singing our lives away. We are not a tribe, a band, or a group of p>eople who had one or two peaee agreements with the Yankee. We are a nation. Before the 1893 U.S. invasion, whieh constituted the most blatant breach of international laws, the nation of Hawaii was no different in legal rights, in international integrity, in territorial and political sovereignty as any other nation whieh today exists. Since Kamehameha I's reign (1779 - 1819), Hawaii was a recognized sovereign nation by international standards. Hawaii was first to salute Argentina's independence, was trading with China, England, U.S. and others on a regular basis. By 1887, Hawaii had treaties and conventions with Belgium, Bremen, Denmark, France, German Empire, Great Britain, Hamburg, Hong Kong, ltaly, Japan, the Netherlands, New South Wales, Portugal, Russia, Samoa, Spain, the Swiss Confederation, Sweden and Norway and Tahiti. With the U.S. we had The Treaty of Commerce (Dec. 24, 1826); of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation (Aug. 24, 1850); Rights of Neutrals at Sea (Mar. 26, 1855); Commercial Reciprocity (Sept. 9, 1876); and another Commercial Reciprocity (Nov. 9, 1887). Hawaii was a member of the Universal Postal Union, the forerunner of the League of Nations and later the United Nations. We had approximately 100 diplomatic and consular posts around the world. On Nov. 28, 1843, Great Britain and France joined in a declaration recognizing Hawaii's independence and pledging never to take possession of Hawaii. When the U.S. was invited to join, J.C. Calhoun, Secretary of State, replied that the President adhered completely to the spirit of disinterestedness and self-denial whieh breathed in the declaration, so it was no need to join. Let us not fall to the illusion that we are something less than the U.S., that we are nothing more then miniature yankees, that we are nothing before their grand theft. As we consider any program of Hooponopono between ourselves and the U.S. government, we must always keep in mind our proper stature, not as a conquered people but as victims of an international crime whieh span 93 years and continues.