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Will Faulk<\/a>, a journalist for the San Diego Free Press<\/a>, has consented to the reprint of his article<\/a> that was published online today April 29, 2015.<\/p>\n In the first essay of my Protecting Mauna Kea series, I made a mistake. I wrongfully described\u00a0the ongoing, illegal American occupation of Hawai\u2019i as an \u201cannexation.\u201d<\/p>\n Hawaiian friends of\u00a0mine pointed this out to me and gave me a thorough history lesson. I was referred to documents,\u00a0books, and websites that tell the truth. For the last several days, I\u2019ve been reading everything I can\u00a0on the subject.<\/p>\n The more I read, the more convinced I become not only that the Thirty Meter\u00a0Telescope project lacks any legal right to build on Mauna Kea, but that international law, indeed\u00a0American law itself, demands that the United States end it\u2019s occupation of Hawai\u2019i.<\/p>\n I have two hopes for this piece. First, I want to give a history lesson for haoles. \u201cHaole\u201d is the\u00a0Hawaiian word for white person. I am specifically directing this lesson at white settlers \u2013 at haoles\u00a0\u2013 because the first thing haoles can do is understand the history of violence we benefit from.<\/p>\n This\u00a0history lesson will demonstrate that the current regime controlling Hawai\u2019i is illegitimate and as\u00a0such has no authority to enforce the construction of the TMT on Mauna Kea.<\/p>\n Second, I want to relieve Hawaiians from the responsibility of educating haoles. Hawaiians have\u00a0no responsibility to educate us. As a white settler hoping to stand in true solidarity with\u00a0Hawaiians, I am upset with myself for the mistake. I have seen how frustrating it can be for a\u00a0movement when valuable time must be spent coaching well-meaning settlers along.<\/p>\n I want to be\u00a0clear: I am not advocating for a \u201ccall-out\u201d culture on the front lines of resistance where resisters\u00a0perpetually attack each other for their choice of words. Many of us must go through our personal\u00a0experiences unlearning the lies we are taught and this takes time. The dominant culture, of\u00a0course, does an excellent job lying. That\u2019s why it\u2019s the dominant culture.<\/p>\n But, I am saying that\u00a0settlers need to take responsibility for educating other settlers. Leaving education to oppressed\u00a0classes, forcing them to do the work of spreading consciousness, is a form of oppression in itself.<\/p>\n Before I begin, it is necessary to explain that this essay represents my opinions and my personal\u00a0perspective of Hawaiian history stemming from the research I\u2019ve done and been directed to. I am\u00a0not a spokesperson for the Hawaiian people, neither am I spokesperson for the Mauna Kea\u00a0protectors. I understand that there is no One True History, but I refuse to abide by the relativism\u00a0I see perpetuating around me.<\/p>\n The complexity of a situation does not signify a lack of meaning. Rather, the complexity of a\u00a0situation \u2013 especially ones with real, physical\u00a0consequences \u2013 demands that we grapple with\u00a0information to take a stand. As the world disintegrates before our eyes, I see too many people\u00a0mired in the neutrality their belief in the relative nature of reality produces.<\/p>\n Make no mistake, if\u00a0the construction of the TMT project results in the spill of hazardous chemicals in the largest\u00a0freshwater aquifer on the Island of Hawai\u2019i \u2013 a very real possibility \u2013 there will be very real\u00a0consequences for life on the Island.<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n Milan Kundera famously stated the \u201cstruggle against oppression is the struggle of memory against\u00a0forgetting.\u201d I have found this to be shockingly true learning the history of Hawai\u2019i. It is my belief\u00a0that haoles have forgotten \u2013 or never knew \u2013 the history of Hawai\u2019i. If we did not forget, there\u00a0would be more of us supporting the Mauna Kea protectors and supporting true Hawaiian\u00a0sovereignty.<\/p>\n What have we forgotten?<\/p>\n It starts centuries ago when Hawaiians first arrived in Hawai\u2019i. Over the centuries, Hawaiians\u00a0developed a culture based on ecological balance that included communal land tenure. I am very\u00a0self-conscious that my attempts to explain a complex culture that existed for centuries before the\u00a0arrival of Europeans would amount to so much generalization. I cannot possibly do the Hawaiian\u00a0culture justice in a short essay, but so many discussions of Hawaiian history begin with the arrival\u00a0of Captain Cook in 1778 erasing Hawaiian history pre-European contact.<\/p>\n There are always those\u00a0that will accuse me of romanticizing Hawaiian culture, who will say \u201call human cultures are\u00a0inherently destructive.\u201d I do not mean to romanticize Hawaiian culture and it simply is not true\u00a0that all human cultures are inherently destructive. We know the Hawaiian culture before 1778\u00a0had it\u2019s own problems, but wide-scale ecological collapse was not one of them. In this era of total\u00a0environmental destruction, we would do well to empower cultures who lived in balance with their land base.<\/p>\n From 1826 until 1893, the United States government recognized the independent Kingdom of\u00a0Hawai\u2019i including full, complete diplomatic relations with the Hawaiian government. For all\u00a0intents and purposes, the United States viewed Hawai\u2019i as a nation just like Mexico, Canada, or\u00a0Great Britain. In fact, the United States entered into treaties involving navigation and commerce\u00a0with Hawai\u2019i in 1826, 1842, 1849, 1875, and 1887.<\/p>\n Then, in January, 1893, John L. Stevens, an American agent in Hawaii (his official title was\u00a0United States Minister), conspired with non-Hawaiians and members of the U.S. Navy to\u00a0overthrow the Hawaiian government. On January 16, 1893, Stevens and armed US naval\u00a0personnel invaded Hawai\u2019i and positioned themselves next to Hawaiian governmental buildings\u00a0including Iolani Palace to intimidate Queen Liliuokalani. Queen Liliuokalani, under threats of\u00a0bloodshed, yielded her authority to the government of the United States \u2013 NOT Stevens\u2019\u00a0provisional government \u2013 until the time the United States would undo the actions of its\u00a0representatives in Hawai\u2019i.<\/p>\n Grover Cleveland was the president in 1893 and he initiated an investigation into the actions of\u00a0Stevens and his cronies while calling for the restoration of the Hawaiian monarchy. The\u00a0investigation concluded that Stevens and other US officials in Hawaii had abused their authority\u00a0and had engaged in \u201can act of war.\u201d<\/p>\n Still, the provisional government sought annexation in\u00a0Congress, but was unable to rally the support of 2\/3 of the Senate needed for annexation. So, on\u00a0July 4, 1894, the provisional government that had forcibly invaded and overthrown the Kingdom\u00a0of Hawai\u2019i, declared itself the Republic of Hawai\u2019i.<\/p>\n In 1896, William McKinley replaced Grover Cleveland as president. Using the excuse of the\u00a0Spanish-American war and the need for a naval base in the Pacific, McKinley and the Senate\u00a0began to entertain the notion of annexing Hawai\u2019i, again.<\/p>\n In 1897, the Hawaiian people\u00a0delivered a massive petition where nearly 90% of Hawaiians alive at the time declared their\u00a0desire not to become part of the United States of America. Unable to secure a treaty of\u00a0annexation, Congress passed a joint resolution titled \u201cthe Newlands Resolution\u201d on July 7, 1898.<\/p>\n The illegality of this joint resolution is one of the most important things to understand about\u00a0Hawaiian history. This resolution had no legal basis, had no validity, and was possible simply\u00a0because of the armed might of the United States.<\/p>\n The resolution has no legitimate basis because\u00a0laws passed by Congress have no authority internationally. Congress can only pass laws that\u00a0apply within the United States.<\/p>\n Hawaiian legal scholar Dr. Keanu Sai explains it better than I can\u00a0in his blog-article \u201cInternational Law Prevents Construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope<\/a>\u201d\u00a0when he writes, \u201cThe underlying problem that Congressmen at the time knew was\u00a0that no law of Congress can have any force and effect beyond the borders of the United States. In\u00a0other words, the United States could no more annex the Hawaiian Islands by passing a domestic\u00a0law, than it could annex Canada today by passing a law.\u201d<\/p>\n As part of the Newlands Resolution, the Republic of Hawai\u2019i passed 1,800,000 acres of what had\u00a0been crown, government, and public lands of the Kingdom of Hawai\u2019i to the control of the\u00a0United States. Included in this land is Mauna Kea. Through the acquisition of Mauna Kea in\u00a0this way, the State of Hawai\u2019i has leased land on Mauna Kea for the TMT\u2019s construction. But, an\u00a0illegal state giving land acquired illegally can only give \u2013 you guessed it \u2013 an illegal lease.<\/p>\n Of course, you don\u2019t have to take my word for this history, because all of these facts were already\u00a0admitted and apologized for by Congress on November 23, 1993. You can read their apology\u00a0here.<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n So, can you see why we cannot call the occupation of Hawai\u2019i an annexation? No treaty of\u00a0annexation was ever signed. \u201cAnnexation\u201d implies consent on the part of those annexed and\u00a0clearly the Hawaiian people never consented.<\/p>\n To take this even deeper, the term \u201cannexation\u201d\u00a0hides the truth, softens the reality that Hawai\u2019i was invaded while the invaders still seek to assert\u00a0dominance over Hawai\u2019i. To use the term \u201cannexation\u201d is to forget and forgetting clears the wayfor oppression.<\/p>\n There\u2019s something, though, that bothers me about all this. How can the American government\u00a0and the American people after learning this history, after admitting the wrongs done to Hawai\u2019i\u00a0still allow something like the TMT project to happen? I think the answer is that learning the\u00a0history is only the first small step. Knowing the history, we must act.<\/p>\n One of the intentions behind my writing is to try to understand how so many people can\u00a0recognize problems in the world and then fail to act to solve those problems. I am a haole, so I\u00a0can only speak as a haole, and I believe too many haoles settle for pointing out their privilege\u00a0while the more important work involves undermining the forces that grants them that privilege\u00a0over others in the first place. The history is clear. Hawaiians are being wronged. Now, we need to\u00a0act.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Will Faulk, a journalist for the San Diego Free Press, has consented to the reprint of his article that was published online today April 29, 2015. In the first essay of my Protecting Mauna Kea series, I made a mistake. … Continue reading ![\"San](\"https:\/\/hawaiiankingdom.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/San-Diego-FP-Lili\u2018uokalani.png\")
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