This Day in 1893

On January 17, 1893, the Kingdom of Hawai’i was illegally overthrown by a group of American business men more interested in profit than people. This meant stripping away the dignity of the people of Pae’aina O Hawai’i, starting with the imprisonment of their last reigning monarch, Queen Lili’uokalani. Present Hawai’i is a reflection of this complicated history. Beyond the beautified image is a land and it’s people still healing from intergenerational wounds.

I am a product of these islands, a mix of ethnicities and cultures that reflect the multicultural history of Hawai’i. It is through traveling that I’ve realized my positionality and the immense privilege/power I have to educate people on these histories. And it doesn’t escape me that this privilege to travel and to question is largely because of my status as a citizen of the U.S.

I am able to reconstruct an image of Hawai’i beyond a tropical vacation, to shape a new narrative. Replacing peoples preconceived notions of Hawai’i with one that reflects the impact of the sugar plantations on food, culture, and the arts of present Hawai’i. To explain about the revitalization of Hawaiian traditions from Olelo Hawai’i to revolutionary worldwide voyages that utilize traditional star navigation practices. To discuss the impact of bombing practices on the ecological processes of places like Kaho’olawe. To explain the impact of corporations like Monsanto on the health of local communities and traditional farming practices dating back generations. To the mass amount of poverty within the Hawaiian community and the years of displacement of Hawaiian people from places like Sand island and Waiahole Valley in order to build more vacation villas. At the core of each story, I get to reveal the hurt that is felt by Kanaka Oiwi, my people, in the wake of mass industrialization and tourism. To explain that through the years of struggle and battles, both in the courtroom and on sacred land, my people continue to stand strong as a community. Standing up to say, we are no longer allowing others to tell our histories, our stories, our narratives. We are re(writing) our own.

I face these conversations with a sadness in my heart but with a smile on my face because we have persevered through a dark history to make way for a stronger future. Not only am I proud of being Hawaiian and the place I call home but because I know there are many from my community paving new paths for the next generation. I hope people see the fire in my eyes when I share these stories, and that these embers spark a shift in their thinking, not just of Hawai’i but of all the places in this world that we have misconceptions about.