Kavitakanitkar’s Weblog

The Native Hawaiian Struggle for Sovereignty

People would normally see Hawaii as a tropical paradise with beaches, fancy real estate and hula dancers – but they have no clue what goes on behind the scenes.

First off, Hawaii never wanted to become part of the United States. They were annexed – so they’re a colony at best, not a state – you might want to rethink the lyrics of Fifty Nifty United States. The natives have been driven out of their land, and they have been forced to live in makeshift shelters on the beaches. The Hawaiian government is clearly embarassed by the homelessness and are eager to move the natives off the beaches and shove them someplace else. These people have nowhere to go.

All they recieved was the 1993 Apology Resolution from President Bill Clinton, which admitted that Hawaii did not willingly become a US state. The natives didn’t want a stupid apology for crying out loud! They wanted their land back! To put it simply, the Apology Resolution was nothing more than empty words. Why hasn’t there been any action to enforce that point?

The US military bases in Hawaii also cause damage to the environment, as well as the people. The chemicals released by all the nuclear weapons pollute the water, and the fish are poisoned by it. The homeless natives, who have to hunt for their next meal end up eating dirty, contaminated fish.

As if this isn’t enough, the native people in Oahu have their water supply cut off because the water flows through a steel grate and collects in a basin underground. It then flows through a pipe to provide a water supply for real estate in Honlulu.

You see, Hawaii might be a tourist magnet that got all these nice things from the US, but hey – it was at the expense of the natives and they wanted none of it.

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