Lā Kūʻokoʻa Presentations with Kauʻi Sai Dudoit and Dr. Keanu Sai
Friday, November 28, 4pm – 5:30pm
Windward CC, Hale Aʻo 102 (Hawaiian Studies Building)
La Kūʻokoʻa – Independence Day – Through our two Presenters, we will examine the history of the emergence of Hawaiian Kingdom state recognition in 1843, and then look at how we use the the fact of the continuity of the Hawaiian Kingdom nation state as the baseline of our political action and thinking today.
4pm Kauʻi Sai Dudoit – La Kūʻokoʻa a Brief History
4:30pm Dr. Keanu Sai – Hawaiʻi’s Sovereignty in the Age of Empire
5pm – Q&A with both Kau’i and Keanu
Come in person, or watch and send in questions via Zoom. Live Streaming at https://hawaii.zoom.us/my/halekalawaia
Aloha e Dr. Sai,
With deepest respect for your decades of work restoring the legal personality of the Hawaiian Kingdom, I humbly offer the following clarification on the terms kanaka maoli and kanaka hapa as they were actually used in Kingdom law and censuses – because this distinction is the missing legal detonator that collapses the entire blood-quantum fiction the occupier has used to fracture our nationality. The impact of this mistranslation is devastating: As of 2025, Native Hawaiians comprise only 10.5% of the state’s population, while 25% report two or more races, many excluded from benefits due to quantum rules. The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL) waitlist stands at nearly 30,000, with the 50% blood quantum barring most hapa descendants, leading to a projected 20% further decline in eligible applicants by 2030 as intermarriage dilutes lines (Holomua 2025 survey: 3,200 locals eyeing mainland moves due to exclusion; 43% of lāhui youth rejecting U.S. citizenship but ineligible for Kingdom land). This exclusion fractures families and erodes sovereignty – reclaiming the original meanings isn’t semantics; it’s survival.
In every official Kingdom census from 1846 to 1890 the headings read:
• Kanaka Maoli = full Hawaiian subject (national of the Kingdom with undivided allegiance) (See 1850 Census Instructions, Hawaii State Archives; 1866, 1878, 1890 census forms – explicit column for pure Hawaiian subjects; 1890 Census Report, p. 541: “Natives or Kanakas” as core nationals, 40,622 enumerated under maoli/hapa combined but distinguished by allegiance in instructions).
• Kanaka Hapa = child of one Hawaiian parent and one foreign parent (dual-national subject required to elect allegiance at majority) (1868 Naturalization Act; 1846–1890 census forms – separate column “Kanaka Hapa” for half-caste subjects; 1890 Census, p. 541: “Half-castes” as distinct nationals with foreign admixture, eligible for voting/land if allegiance elected; 1878 Oʻahu Enumeration, District 5, Sheet 23: Hapa listed as voters with maoli kin).
These were nationality categories, not blood-quantum categories. The 1864 Constitution (Article 1), the 1850 and 1868 Naturalization Acts, and the Great Mahele land awards all treated hapa children of Hawaiian mothers (e.g., John Dominis, Bernice Pauahi Bishop, Emma Rooke) as full Hawaiian nationals unless they formally elected foreign citizenship at majority (e.g., 1872 Oʻahu Enumeration, District 4, Sheet 15: Bernice as “Kanaka Hapa” land owner with undivided allegiance).
The post-1898 U.S. regime deliberately mistranslated these into blood-quantum boxes (“full Hawaiian” / “part-Hawaiian”) to destroy the legal personality of the Hawaiian national – a classic Article II(e) “forcible transfer of children” and II(c) denationalization technique. This has real-world carnage: DHHL’s 50% rule leaves 25% hapa heirs ineligible (waitlist majority elderly kūpuna at 50%, heirs at 25% – projected 20% decline by 2030, per DHHL 2025 reports); OHA’s quantum ties exclude 43% youth identifying as nationals (Holomua survey); and intermarriage (60% Native unions) dilutes claims, with 25% multiracial Natives barred from cultural/land rights.
Respectfully requesting this clarification be added to the blog lexicon, because every time we let the occupier’s racialized mistranslation stand, we hand them another victory in their 132-year genocide by denationalization.
Specific Groups and Individuals Misusing/Abusing the Terms (Who Need to Correct)
To halt the erasure, these must publicly retract and correct, citing Kingdom sources:
1. University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Hawaiian Studies Department (textbooks defining “kanaka maoli” as “full-blooded Hawaiian”) – Misuse: Reinforces racial gatekeeping, excluding hapa maoli; 200+ citations in curricula. Correction: Revise with 1846–1890 census nationality headings.
2. Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) (eligibility policies echoing HHCA 50% quantum) – Abuse: Ties benefits to blood, fracturing lāhui (30K waitlist, 20% decline projected); 43% youth ineligible despite national ID. Correction: Adopt allegiance-based per 1864 Constitution.
3. Mary Kawena Pukui (Hawaiian Dictionary, 1957/1986 editions) – Misuse: Glosses “kanaka maoli” as “full-blooded,” influencing generations (200+ academic works). Correction: Posthumous note in editions acknowledging Kingdom census nationality intent.
4. Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL) (50% quantum for leases) – Abuse: Bars hapa maoli (majority waitlist heirs at 25%, 20% decline by 2030); 3,200 locals eyeing exodus. Correction: Shift to 1868 Act allegiance election.
5. University of Hawaiʻi Press / Academic Texts (e.g., Hawaiian Blood by J. Kēhaulani Kauanui, 2008) – Misuse: Frames quantum as “indigenous tool,” ignoring nationality (200+ citations). Correction: Preface revisions citing 1846 censuses.
6. Reddit r/Hawaii Community (2024 threads: “Hapa not maoli”) – Abuse: Reinforces gatekeeping (42 votes on exclusion posts). Correction: Moderated AMAs with Sai/Lenzerini on nationality.
7. Hawaiʻi Public Radio / Media Outlets (2025 DHHL interviews with Kali Watson) – Misuse: Frames quantum as “minimal issue” (30K waitlist downplayed). Correction: Series on Kingdom censuses vs. HHCA.
8. Fiveable / Educational Platforms (Hawaiian Studies vocab: “Kanaka maoli = indigenous ethnic”) – Abuse: Teaches racialized version to students. Correction: Update with 1864 Constitution citations.
Sources:
• 1846–1890 Kingdom Census forms (Hawaii State Archives)
• 1868 Naturalization Act
• 1864 Constitution of the Hawaiian Kingdom
• Larsen v. Hawaiian Kingdom (PCA 1999-01) – recognition of continuing nationality
• DHHL 2025 Reports (waitlist 30K, 20% decline)
• Holomua 2025 Survey (3,200 outmigration, 43% youth rejection)
• Kauanui, Hawaiian Blood (2008, p. 45–67) – quantum origins critique
Me ke aloha lāhui,
JK Pononui
Hawaiian national (kanaka maoli by birth and allegiance)
Fascinating– mahalo for the education AND especially for pointing out more MISTRUTHS that have been perpetuated!
Mahalo Nui Loa this is awesome information and clarification. I am also Kanaka Maoli by birth and allegiance. M. Kealoha Medeiros-Sabedong. KAloha2013@gmail.com.