Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 15, Number 6, 1 June 1998 — SuGar game and went, but we're still here... [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

SuGar game and went, but we're still here...

By Manu Boyd Editor's note: In the 1997 'ĪUo'ulaokalani rally at the State Capitol, Pualani Kanaka 'ole Kanahele said, "Sugar eame, sugar is gone, and we (Native Hawaiians) are still here! " This profound statement tugs at the heart strings ofour entire island community which,for more than \60years, has been impacted by kō or sugar. Vestiges of the bygone sugar era dot the O'ahu landscape from Waimānalo to Kualoa to Kahuku to Waialua to Honouliuli. From the vast districts of Ka'ū and Hāmākua on Hawai'i to the dusty plains of Kekaha on Kaua'i, our islands were transformed from gardens of kalo and other subsistence crops to south-em-style plantations where eheap immigrant labor generated soaring profits for

non-native businessmen. Hundreds of thousands of Hawai'i residents trace their roots to early plantation laborers from China. Japan. the Philippines, Portugal, Puerto Rico and other points around the globe. Today, the mills are silent, and the dry, weedinfested fields have been abandoned. Butwe Hawaiians, perhaps one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse populations on earth, are still here. The recent demohtion of the Waipahu Sugar Mill stack generated mueh community reaction in that area, heavily populated by former sugar immigrant laborers and their descendants. As sugar culture in

Hawai'i wanes, it leaves in its wake museums and tourist shops such as the Waipahu Cultural Gardens and Kahuku Sugar Mill where a new generation of residents and visitors ean leam about what onee was. During the early years of Kauikeaouh's reign as Kamehameha III, the economy of the islands swiftly morphed from the traditional subsistence hfestyle to the foreign system of capitahsm where profit was the goal. Whaling, trading and the cultivation of sugar and smaller agricultural crops of sweet potato and coffee for export were shap-

ing the kingdom into a drasticahy different society where unsuspecting natives fell prey to foreign ambition, causing a long and painful separation from their traditional and customaiy practices. In 1835, Boston-born Wihiam Hooper was sent to Kaua'i by Ladd and Co., an Ameiiean mercantile trading business in Honolulu, to establish a sugar plantation at Kōloa. Ironicahy, an interpretation of the name Kōloa is "long sugar eane," referring to a native variety. The crop that would eventuahy prevail in Hawai'i, however, was an alien strain. The Kōloa Plantation successfully applied the capitalist formula of low overhead and high production for a net profit that prompted the establishment of dozens of similar plantations throughout the kingdom. Sugar was exported primarily to the United States, and, although heavily taxed, it proved to be a sweet deal for former traders, mis-

sionanes ana transientstumed sugar planters. Lands were leased ffom the government for nominal fees, and large plantations were built. Imported laborers and Hawaiians worked long hours for pennies a day. Tariffs were paid to sugar buyers and Hawaiian sugar filled an increasing demand. The 1848 māhele land division made it possible for foreigners to acquire land, and acquire they did. The Califomia gold rush of 1848 instantly created a convenient market for Hawaiian crops. During the Civil War when supplies from Louisiana and the Caribbean were cut off, the United States interest in Hawaiian sugar peaked. The "reciprocity treaty"

or t»/o catapuitea an aireaay successmi inaustry into a multi-million dollar boom for settlers from Europe and the United States. The treaty allowed for tax-free entry of Hawaiian sugar into the U. S. in exchange for the use of Pu'uloa, now called Pearl Harbor, as a naval base. This was the beginning of a courtship between the Hawaiian Kingdom, controlled by the foreign business-influenced legislature, and the United States government that would evolve toward the eventual illegal annexation of Hawai'i by the United States. ■

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"Hāpai kō" (eane hauling) and "holehole" (leaf stripping) was back-breaking work for laborers who feared the scrutinous eye of their "luna" (foremen). Above, a onee productive sugar mill stands in the foreground of Pearl Harbor. Images courtesy: Guava Graphics.