Free Hawaii?

FROM: Chris [E-Mail]
DATE: Monday February 23, 2004 -- 10:43:51 am

Please tell me you are kidding Ryan. That site is put up by or on behalf of some guy who claims to be a direct decendant of King Kamehameha. His interest is not in the sovereignty of the Hawaiian people, he thinks he should be king of the islands.

I quote from the site"Traditionally, The hawaiians have always been led by chiefs and high chiefs, the Monarchy is just an extension of that as the highest chief. A King who loves and respects his people is better than an elected official, who'll do anything to satisfy the 50.001% and maintain his personal power."

Although he may have a point about elected officials, I'd like the Ping readers to find one monarchy on this planet that has done a better job of protecting freedom than the elected officials of the US, even with the Patriot Act, DCMA, and other anti-freedom legislation coming from our suppossedly conservative administration)

FROM: aharris
DATE: Monday February 23, 2004 -- 11:10:16 am

I have to agree w/ Chris. ;)

I was in Maui last year and a tour guide/author/player piano restorer I met (very colorful guy :) talked about this same issue. There are a lot of Hawaiians who are decendants from the King who always talk about what will happen when Hawaii goes back to a monarch. About how when they (or their brother or their cousin or their...whatever) becomes King, they'll be set for life. Now...I'm not saying their reasons (whatever they may be) aren't valid. But...the sentiment seems to be more about greed than Hawaii's "freedom".

I learned some interesting things about Hawaii when I was there. But we can discuss it some other time. ;)

FROM: Ryan [E-Mail]
DATE: Monday February 23, 2004 -- 11:44:15 am

Clearly I didn't dig deeply enough into the site. But some of the rationale with regards to the legality or illegality of Hawaii's statehood is interesting, if nothing else -- but my knowledge of US history with regards to Hawaii is pretty much nil, so you could tell me that a pineapple used to be king of the country and I'd believe you.

I'm just amazed that an issue like this was on display at the 9:30 Club, of all places, on a giant banner.

FROM: dave
DATE: Monday February 23, 2004 -- 6:31:17 pm

Can we eject Texas instead?

FROM: Robert [E-Mail]
DATE: Monday February 23, 2004 -- 7:56:24 pm

Instead of going to all the trouble of "freeing" Hawaii, why not choose the cheaper alternative: Send me to Hawaii, free.

FROM: Matt
DATE: Monday February 23, 2004 -- 9:24:48 pm

If Hawaii were to go back to a monarch it would be an atrocity reminiscent of Emelda Marcos and the Phillipines.

FROM: Dave Walls [E-Mail]
DATE: Monday February 23, 2004 -- 11:34:32 pm

But think of it this way: All of Hawaii would have really, really nice shoes.

FROM: Mark
DATE: Saturday February 28, 2004 -- 11:17:26 am

Well I don't really agree with reinstating the monarchy, there would be too many people claiming to be in line for the throne. I do believe that a great injustice was done when the Monarchy was overthrown. I was born and raised in Hawaii. Unfortunately, the US representative there had overstepped his authority when the monarchy was overthrown, he used sailors off the USS Boston to "assist" the people who overthrew the government. They set up right outside the royal palace during the coup. They were landed to "protect" US citizens who lived in Hawaii, but they were deployed right across from the royal palace, miles away from where US citizens resided. Minister Stevens (the US representative there) was so sure of annexation that he authorized the US flag to be flown over the post office. I believe it was President Cleveland at the time that had the flag lowered and called for the reinstatement of the monarchy.

Don't get me wrong, I am a loyal US citizen, I have served my country, but an injustice was done to the soverign nation of Hawaii in the 1800s.

FROM: ABC
DATE: Wednesday March 17, 2004 -- 8:48:46 pm

Cleveland never approved of the annexation - he ordered the American-plantation owner government to return power to the Queen. However, President McKinley took a different hear to the matter, and annexed Hawaii (under the American-planation owner government, which was only created for annexation.)

Reinstating the monarchy or giving Hawaii independence is silly. There is no real popular independence movement. Almost all Hawaiians are proud Americans. The ones who support independence are simply an overrepresented and overshown minority which do not accurately reflect the positions of the average Hawaiian. Almost every single Hawaiian independence movement states that their goal is to create some sort of racist state where people of Native Hawaiian ancestry have advantages everywhere... In an island chain where 85% of the population has not a single drop of Hawaiian blood in them, these movements obviously could never succeed. Many ignorant "liberal-apologetic white people" feel that the American government is oppressing the state and fall victim to the trap set by the Native Hawaiian extremist. However, it seems that these same type of vulnerable people do not have a similar stance with people in the south advocating secession, when in reality both groups are the same. Both extremist groups with almost no popular support.

About the legal arguments: should we give back the land we took from Mexico? Who's up for giving up California, Nevada, Colorado, Arizona, Texas, and (this would actually be a good idea, Utah)? After all, only a minority of people of these areas are Mexicans, but their land was illegally stolen from them by means of war. Let's destroy the American economy by giving up several commerical sectors, as well as the region most Americans are migrating to.

FROM: teddy -g
DATE: Wednesday March 1, 2006 -- 9:34:18 pm

Ya know something, it truely is a sad story. the hawwians have a beautiful culture, and their largest industry is tourism. you know how much of the money that the tourism industry gives back to hawiians and preserving their amazing culture... less than 1%.. thats f-ed up!! if you have ever been to hawaii, than you know first hand that hawiian culture is a far cry from mainland culture. in my opinoin a free Hawaii may not be the best thing but hawiians should be able to claim their birth right. and the next time you in hawaii just remember that your a gest in a land that is not yours and the us gov. should act the same way!!!
mahalo