Yes, kanaka maoli were harmed by the loss of their nation, but so were many non-aboriginal subject/citizens of the Hawaiian Kingdom: Asians, Caucasian, Polynesians and so forth.
This is a crucial point. When a nation is stolen, all the citizens of that nation are deprived of their country, not only the aboriginal people.
Both occupying governments, the US Federal and its puppet, the state of Hawai`i, either assert or presume in their laws and policies, that the takeover of 1893 affected only “Native Hawaiians.”
By purposefully limiting their culpability to “Native Hawaiians,” the US carefully conceals the true scope of the problem, presenting it as a domestic, localized, racially defined problem, rather than the violation of the unalienable rights of the citizens of a recognized sovereign foreign nation.
If you were of Japanese ancestry and was born in Canada your nationality would be Canadian. If you were Chinese and born in California, you would be an American national. One’s nationality is determined by the nation of birth or of choice, by a willful act of naturalization. Nationality is not determined by one’s race, ethnic background or bloodline.
At the time of the takeover, there were many people from different origins and ethnic groups who called Hawai`i home. Many of them were naturalized citizens and enjoyed the benefits and responsibilities as citizens/subjects of the Hawaiian Kingdom.
All who were citizens of Hawaii in 1893 were injured when their nation was summarily taken and eventually occupied by a foreign government, without the consent of the people and, in fact, over their vociferous protests.
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