Hawai’i: A tale untold

I have spent a little more than two months in Honolulu, Hawai’i, now. It has become my second home. I like the place, its food and beyond doubt its impeccable beauty. What intrigues me the most is its culture, traditional and people. The rich cultural heritage of the native Hawaiian has many stories to tell - stories of good and bad, of hope and despair.  

Getting to know more about this place and its people have made me realize that ‘all that glitters is not gold’. Although Hawai’i is one of the most expensive cities to live in US, the local Hawaiians, however, are struggling to make their ends meet.  Social injustice, economic disparity, and lose of land and sovereignty are some of the burning factors threatening the very existence of native Hawaiians and their age-old culture. The story goes back to 1778, when the arrival of Captain Cook, a British explorer, took an unimaginable toll on the lives of native Hawaiians. Contact with Westerners brought disastrous effect, exposing them to many diseases that they were never exposed to before. This led to wiping out of almost 90 percent of the native Hawaiian population. In a span of few years, their population was reduced to around 40,000 individuals. 

Land is scared for the native Hawaiians. They connect with every element of nature as a part of their being. Land provides a sense of belonging for native Hawaiians. The sacred act of burying their umbilical cord after birth and interning the body in the soil is symbolic of this. This sense of place induces a sense of responsibility (kuleana).

Land in Hawaiian society was always owned collectively and economic transaction on land was an alien. However, land for the westerners was a definite means of productive asset. The sugarcane plantation was one of the first capitalist businesses to start in Hawai’i in 1830s. This opened up options for change in land ownership on the island. The white westerners brought in cheap labour from Japan, China and Phillipines to work in the sugarcane plantations. Slowly and steadily, not only the ownership of land changed, but also changed the ethnic profile of the island.

The Iolani Palace of Hawaiian Monarchy in Honolulu

The economic greed led to political ambitions. Over the years, westerner plantation owner’s hold over land increased which alienated native Hawaiians from their own land.  The shift started in the mid 19^th century, when the rich plantation owners were successful to influence the monarchy to convert the tradition use-rights over land to fee simple system (mahele) wherein land came under stewardship of the King, chiefs and the people but the essence was that land was held in stewardship for the people. Eventually, in 1893, the monarchy was overthrown, with ownership of most land being lost resulting in economic exclusion and loss of political authority. Sadly, when Queen Liliuokalani sought to amend the Constitution to restore land ownership for the Hawaiian people, the plantation owners facilitated the overthrow of the monarchy of Hawai’i. When Hawai’i was annexed as the 50^th state of US, the Federal government acquired 1.8 million acres of Hawaiian public, government and Crown land. 100 years later, the then US President Bill Clinton, issued a formal apology acknowledging and apologizing US’s role in the overthrow of the Monarchy.

Today, survival of Hawaiian people in their own land has become a critical challenge. With Hawai’i being ranked as one of the most expensive cities of US, the native Hawaiian is struggling to make their ends meet. Currently, only 20 percent of the State’s population comprise of native Hawaiians and they also constitute 30 percent of the homeless population in their own land.

History trying to stand tall against modernity

Although history cannot be undone, I sincerely hope that native Hawaiian in the near future receives their due. They are in a constant struggle in preserving their culture and traditions, and also in attaining the economic equality. I strongly believe that when we as ‘travelers’ travel to new places, we should make an effort to learn the history, struggles and stories of the native population. For all we know that we might unearth stories and events which we wouldn’t have known otherwise.