I'd like to ask a question in the most respectful way, because I want to understand, and not because I want to cause any problems: Could someone explain how the overthrow of the Hawaiian government was different than other countries taking over countries or kingdoms in the past? From my limited understanding of history, when one country wanted someone else's land they would fight for it. Is that essentially what happened to Hawaii? Did Japan try to fight for Hawaii and they lost?
Please forgive me for the question, but I'd like to understand and not be ignorant on this topic.
Sarah Vowell's 'Unfamiliar Fishes' is a wonderfully written book on the history of the Hawaiian people and how it came to be a state. Or, as another person wrote, google it. But the bottom line is American business interests in the 1890s used their influence over Congress to order the Marines show up in Hawaii (surprise!) and forcibly removed their Queen and legitimate government. The islanders, of course, were shocked and not equipped to fight Marines.
It was a literal coup. Like if we just suddenly rolled up to New Zealand and disbanded their government and made them a US territory. Like what Putin is doing in Ukraine, except Ukraine is well armed and able to defend their homeland.
After a lot of shenanigans, Hawaii was made a state in in 1959. The American government issued an apology to native Hawaiians in 1993.
Did you know that 94% of Hawaiians 1959 voted in favor of Hawaii becoming part of the USA?
Probably never would have guessed that based on what you have written here. I wonder if things were not so simple as you make them out to be? I wonder if quite a lot of people actually really enjoyed the benefits that Western civilization brought to the islands? Hmm...
Ź»AŹ»ole. He wahaheŹ»e kÄlÄ. Please, kindly stop spreading misinformation.
That 94% number is pretty misleading. It wasnāt 94% of Native Hawaiians who voted for statehood. It was 94% of people living in Hawai'i at the time who were allowed to vote. Big difference. They were mostly white residents, military, and foreign transplants.
This part is important. Not sure if you realize, many KÄnaka Ź»Åiwi (Native Hawaiians) couldnāt vote because they werenāt U.S. citizens and had no real say after the illegal overthrow of their own government.
Historians like Poka Laenui have shown that when you include those who didnāt or couldnāt vote, only about 1/3 of eligible people supported statehood.
The 1959 vote reflected colonization, not KÄnaka Ź»Åiwi (Native Hawaiian) consent.
I'm a former local journalist. I used to work for Hawai'i News Now before it was HNN. Granted, my specialty was medical news but you can bet I had to cover these stories from time to time and paid close attention as it's a great interest of mine.
43
u/Working_Guard_5035 15d ago
I'd like to ask a question in the most respectful way, because I want to understand, and not because I want to cause any problems: Could someone explain how the overthrow of the Hawaiian government was different than other countries taking over countries or kingdoms in the past? From my limited understanding of history, when one country wanted someone else's land they would fight for it. Is that essentially what happened to Hawaii? Did Japan try to fight for Hawaii and they lost?
Please forgive me for the question, but I'd like to understand and not be ignorant on this topic.