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Honoring Kupuna Exposes the Annexation Lie

The placards displayed here on the lawn of McKinley High School in Honolulu, represent just a snapshot of the names of nearly 39,000 Hawaiians who signed petitions opposing the forced annexation of Hawaii to the U.S.  The names here signify to the world that our grandparents, great-grandparents and great-great-grandparents had actively protested and resisted the U.S. Annexation of Hawaii. They had not stood by idly, apathetically, while their nation was taken from them.

In fact, Hawaiian diplomatic protests and organized, peaceful resistance actions succeeded in defeating annexation in Washington — twice — through international law in 1893 and in 1897, the time of the Ku‘e Petitions.  Their actions preserved our right and responsibility to carry on their endeavors today to Free Hawaii.

Here is the context…

“… on January 17, 1893, Queen Lili`uokalani was forced from her throne by American businessmen and business-minded missionary sons, with the help of John L. Stevens, the American Minister to the Hawaiian Kingdom, and the American navy. The overthrow was violent, unjustified, insulting, and in complete violation of international law. U.S. President Benjamin Harrison apparently gave unofficial encouragement to the conspirators in 1892 and after the overthrow he presented their annexation petition to the U.S. Senate. But incoming President Grover Cleveland was appalled. He withdrew the petition before the Senate could act, called for an investigation, and issued a powerful statement to reinstate the queen and the rightful government. But the treasonous provisional government refused to comply. President Cleveland was also opposed by powerful interests within the United States who were loathe to part with their juicy prize.

In 1897, approximately 21,000 Hawaiians — more than half the adult Hawaiian population — signed and presented a petition protesting annexation to the United States. Congress ignored them. Despite the petition evidence to the contrary, it was far more lucrative for Congress to accept the assurances of missionary lobbyists who claimed the Hawaiians were eager for annexation.

This “Ku’e Petition” of resistance to annexation — 556 pages long, and possibly one of the most significant documents of protest in American, as well as Hawaiian, history — was buried deeply in the U.S. National Archives until it was found by Noenoe Silva in 1998, over a hundred years later. The discovery of the petition, and the exhibition of this document by the Bishop Museum in Honolulu, had an enormous impact on the kanaka maoli, who searched the pages eagerly for the names of their grandparents and great-grandparents. As Silva puts it, “The petition, inscribed with the names of everyone’s kupuna, gave people permission from their ancestors to participate in the quest for national sovereignty. More important, it affirmed for them that their kupuna had not stood by idly, apathetically, while their nation was taken from them.”

Excerpted from The Independence Struggle Of Hawai’i, by Amy Marsh
08 December, 2005, Counter Currents (Countercurrents.org) and the UNPO Journal

MALAMA PONO,
Leon Siu
 
NOTE: More than 17,000 Hawaiians signed another similar petition, which was not submitted to Congress. Together they constitute 39,000 petitioners against annexation, a majority of over 80% of the entire population of Hawaii. (98% of Kanaka Maoli)

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