Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 17, Number 4, 1 April 2000 — Sovereignty [ARTICLE]

Sovereignty

Patrick Hanifin's March 7 Advertiser article, " Hawaiians already sovereign," is intellectually dishonest. A minority of white businessmen, with the illegal support of United States military forces overthrew an independent nation in an act of treachery. Hanifin states if you are an Amenean citizen you share in a eommon sovereignty. You have freedom of ehoiee and the right to participate with other citizens in a sovereign government. Isn't that the quest of the Hawaiian sovereignty movement? Hanifin's checklist for sovereignty suggests two themes: individual freedom of ehoiee and eolleetive political power. Is he saying that the Hawaiian people upon learning of the overthrow were given freedom of ehoiee? Does he mean the overthrow was justi-

* . < fied because of the collective political power of 13 white businessmen aided by the armed forces of the United States? Hanifin further states Hawaiians ean seize power only if they somehow disenfranchise the majority. The successful overthrow of the Hawaiian nation had nothing to do with minorities or majorities. It succeeded because the minority was aided and abetted by armed military forces. Hanifin's summations are desperate attempts to justify crimes committed against the Hawaiian people by the United States and no obfuscation of the facts ean change that. Rod Ferreira Kamuela