Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 34, Number 2, 1 February 2017 — Remembering past wrongs [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Remembering past wrongs

This month's Ka Wai Ola eommemoratesthe 124thanniversary of the Overthrow and

I features a guest writer, I Isma Mo'ikeha Hapai Paleka of Waipio. Paleka was born and raised on Moloka'i, where his 'ohana is from. Today is a remembrance, a memory that's been resonating within our koko (blood) of the wrongs that have been done to our Queen, our Kingdom, our people and our Country. We may not have been there physically that day, but our ancestors, our kūpuna that were witnesses are remembered in our koko today. It resonates in

our na 'au ! Immediately following the treasonous attempt to overthrow Queen Lili'uokalani in January 17, 1893, enemies of the Kingdom, the Big 5 calling themself the Provisional Government, departed for Washington D.C. to sign a treaty of annexation with the U.S. Their sole intention was to achieve annexation at any cost. However, before the U.S. Senate could ratify the proposed treaty, newly elected President Grover Cleveland, confronted with the facts of the overthrow, withdrew the treaty from further consideration and vowed never to allow the treaty of annexation to be resubmitted. Having failed at this first attempt of annexation, the Provisional Government declared itself to be the Republic of Hawai'i on July 4, 1894. They maintained opposition to the restoration of the Hawaiian Kingdom government as called for by President Cleveland. On June 16, 1897, with Cleveland now out of office, a second effort to annex Hawai'i to U.S. was attempted. A treaty was signed in Washington, D.C., between the self-proclaimed Republic of Hawai'i and newly elected President William McKinley who wanted Pearl Harbor for military power. The following day in Washington, our Majesty Queen Lili'uokalani submitted a formal letter of protest to President MeKin-

ley, asserting that this proposed treaty of annexation violated the existing Treaty of 1850 between the Hawaiian Kina-

dom andthe U.S. "Because said treaty ignores... all professions of perpetual amity and good faith made by the United States in former treaties...it is thereby in violation of international law...Therefore, I, Lili'uokalani of Hawai'i, do hereby eall upon the President...to withdraw said treaty...from further consideration. I ask the honorable Senate of the United States to decline to ratify said treaty." Anti-annexation petitions were signed all across Hawai'i,

led by the Ku'e Hui Aloha 'Āina between 1897-1898. These monster petitions were required documents, sufficient enough by U.S. laws to end the annexation treaty, but expansionists in U.S. Congress, led by Senator Morgan would not let the dream of annexation die. Within days they devised a plan to bypass the requirements of their own constitution in an effort to annex Hawai'i - by Joint Resolution. March of 1898 saw introduction of the Newlands Resolution. It was passed and signed by the majority in eaeh house of Congress and signed by President MeKinley on July 7, 1898. Now, the problem here is that a joint resolution is not a treaty. A joint resolution is a congressional act. A congressional act of the U.S. ean only affect American territory. We assumed we were annexed, and now we are finding out that never occurred. I believe more kanaka should be aware of the truth of the meaning why we stand against the U.S. It is not about racism, but about the abuse of authority and power, greed and most of ignorance. The injustice needs to be recognized. We stand against this injustice for our kupuna who have passed, for our passion for present we live in now, but most of all, for our next generation who we leave our uhane with. — Isma Mo'ikeha Hapai Paleka ■

Carmen 'Hulu" Lindsey TrustEE, Maui