American Colonization in Hawai’i and Guam and the Ongoing Fight for Autonomy
For hundreds of years, the United States has heralded itself as a beacon of freedom around the world, following its independence and decolonization from Britain. These moral values outlined in the Constitution have been taught as necessary to enjoy a civilized, democratic lifestyle, causing the United States to push its values on various places around the world. However, it has rarely considered the wishes of the people living in the places which it has interfered and forced its doctrine on people who don’t wish for it. In doing so, the United States is doing exactly what it so often celebrates breaking away from- colonization and exploitation. This is evident in Hawaii, in which Queen Liliuokalani’s democratic government was usurped by the United States in 1893 before eventually being coerced into statehood, and Guam, which remains an “unincorporated territory” of the United States and is subjected to American colonization without representation in its government. Hawaii has tried, and failed, to claim its rights through the means the United States government gives it, proving that in Hawaii and Guam, both must gain independence if they want to break free from American imperialism. The struggles of American colonization and how to counteract them can be viewed through the works of Hawaiian writer Haunani-Kay Trask and CHamoru writer Craig Santos Perez.
In Trask’s essay, “Womens’ Mana and Hawaiian Sovereignty,” she makes it clear that statehood has not answered Hawaii’s colonization-based problems, but instead made them worse. Trask makes this attitude clear by saying, “the lesson of statehood is a lesson of loss and despair: the loss of land, of self-government, of language; the despair of political powerlessness, of cultural prostitution, of economic exploitation (Trask 89).” Clearly, Hawaiian statehood has only reduced the liberty of native Hawaiians, instead of delivering the liberty that the American Constitution promises for all its citizens. But how has statehood stripped these things from Native Hawaiians? For one, the United States government’s use of Hawaii for military purposes has contributed to loss of land, as the military is able to use much of the native land how it likes, despite any potential sacredness the land may have to Native Hawaiians. Trask points out the importance of Hawaii to the United States’ military goals, stating, “Our islands have become the premier military fortress from which the United States patrols and nuclearizes the Pacific (Trask 89).” This has been evident throughout history, with the United States heavily relying on Hawaii’s location in the Pacific Theater during World War II, and regularly utilizing various Pacific islands as nuclear testing sites. In the same vein, there have been telescopes built on sacred Hawaiian island Mauna Kea, despite protests against doing so, proving further how Hawaiians have lost control of their land by being a U.S. state.
Mass tourism to Hawaii has also led to the exploitation of Hawaii. Trask reflects this sentiment, saying, “Hawaii is a tinsel paradise for six and a half million tourists a year and a living nightmare for our impoverished, marginalized Native people. (Trask 89).” With many claiming that Hawaii’s tourism industry is keeping the state’s economy afloat, and is in the best interest of Hawaiians, how has tourism negatively impacted Hawaii? In Trask’s article, “Corporate Tourism and Prostitution of Hawaiian Culture,” she points out how the ratio of Native Hawaiians to tourists has changed from 2 to 1, to 1 to 6 since Hawaii was made a U.S. state, pointing to how tourism is leading to an erasure of Hawaiian culture (138). In the same article, Trask provides damning evidence towards how the tourism industry has impoverished Native Hawaiian people. According to Trask, Hawaiian tourism has caused, “a rapidly expanded population that receives lower per capita income.” Additionally, “Hawaii has by far the worst ratio of average family income to average housing costs in the country,” and 20% of Hawaii’s population is classified as near-homeless (Trask 138–139). Clearly, Hawaiian tourism has driven up housing prices while causing wages to stagnate, creating a deathly combination which prices Native Hawaiians from living comfortably on their own land. Only by stemming mass corporate tourism to Hawaii will Native Hawaiians regain sovereignty and access to their own homelands.
Another main problem creating an erasure of Hawaiian culture is that Hawaiians are educated in another culture, further fostering the disappearance of their Native culture. Trask shares this sentiment in her women’s mana article, writing, “The right to a public education has not led to the creation of an educational system in the Hawaiian language, but rather to an education in a foreign language (Trask 89).” This is so crucial because language is the very bedrock of any culture. If children aren’t learning their own language, that language is at large risk of dying out. When a language dies out, stories written and told in that language are lost, as are many of the vital customs surrounding that language. And when you lose your stories and your customs, your culture is largely vanished. Similar battles have been seen throughout American history regarding Native Americans, as Native American children were sent to American boarding schools and taught how to be “civilized” by American culture, to complete colonization of the United States by stripping Native Americans of their language and customs. Through dogged determination to preserve their language and customs, Native Americans fought back against the repression they faced, and were mostly able to beat their colonizers to retain their cultures. Hawaiians must follow a similar blueprint, as by an emphasis on retaining their native Hawaiian culture, Hawaiians will be able to fight back against colonization from the United States to claim the rights which are due to them.
While the American public is all familiar with Hawaii, many do not know of the tiny Pacific Island territory of Guam. Like Hawaii, Guam remains under United States control mainly due to its strategic military location. Craig Santos Perez points this out in his book, Navigating CHamoru Poetry: Indigeneity, Aesthetics, and Decolonization, when he writes, “(Guam’s) ‘strategic’ location and topography has made it one of the longest continuously colonized places in the world (Perez 9).” Indeed, Guam has been a colony since the Spanish arrived in the 16th century. The island changed hands from the United States to Japan in 1941 and back in 1944, and has been used for communications and to monitor satellites and missiles (Perez 9). Much like Hawaii, if Guam can not free itself from military usage, then the island’s sacred lands will continue to be exploited by the United States government. Also like Hawaii, Guam is facing a disappearance of its culture because of the American education system. Perez points out that, “the (United States) navy attempted to remake CHamorus according to a colonial conception of productive, disciplined, educated, and sanitary Americans… by teaching American history and geography, health and hygiene, reading and writing in the English language, industrial and agricultural skills, and even baseball (Perez 12).” This shows how the United States was trying to strip CHamoru culture through schools, much as with Native Americans and Hawaiians. The spelling “CHamoru,” referring to a person from Guam, is the word from the native language, which includes “CH” as one letter. This is just one example of how preserving the native language is vital to preserving culture, and Perez implements it throughout his writing with the use of the term, “CHamoru”. By preserving its language, Guam will be able to retain its culture and stand up to American colonization.
Despite the strong forces of American colonization, Native Hawaiians and CHamorus continue to fight for their rights and their cultures. In many cases, they are already claiming their rights. This attitude can be seen in Trask’s Women’s Mana article, when she argues, “Native practices are not ‘rights’ that are given at the largesse of colonial governments (Trask 88).” By saying this, Trask demonstrates the sentiment that Native peoples can claim their rights with the idea that they don’t have to do so- that they are rights which don’t need to be bargained for. Trask also highlights the idea of mana in the struggle for Hawaiian sovereignty and the preservation of its culture. In Trask’s words, mana is, “more than ‘charisma’… the actualization or achievement of mana in terms of political leadership requires more than genealogy, it requires specific identification by the leader with the people (Trask 91).” She later describes the role mana plays in Hawaiian culture, as leaders possess a natural pull that nobody titles them with. Those with mana lead by example, and people naturally follow. This idea provides the blueprint for fighting back against colonization- just do, don’t ask, and people will follow. The idea of mana is also key to Native Hawaiian culture, so the exercising of it roots Native Hawaiians in their culture while also actively fighting to preserve their culture. While mana is a Native Hawaiian idea, there is no reason to limit the idea to Hawaii, as Guam can follow the same blueprints to take what belongs to them and fight colonization. While Guam doesn’t face the unique challenges that Hawaii has regarding statehood, it shares many effects of American colonization with Hawaii, and thus can exercise its rights the same way Native Hawaiians can.
Throughout this article, it is clear most of Hawaii’s and Guam’s problems can be traced back to American colonization. The fight to preserve native culture will be most effective if it is striving for a specific goal. The goal: the United States must relinquish its control for Native Hawaiians and CHamorus to assume their full rights and to ensure the survival of their native cultures. Hawaii and Guam must be made independent. American democracy is incompatible with the Native cultures of Hawaii and Guam, and thus must have no influence on those islands.
Works Cited:
PEREZ, CRAIG SANTOS. Navigating Chamoru Poetry: Indigeneity, Aesthetics, and Decolonization. UNIV OF ARIZONA PRESS, 2022.
Trask, Haunani-Kay. “Corporate Tourism and the Prostitution of Hawaiian Culture .”
Trask, Haunani-Kay. “Women’s Mana and Hawaiian Sovereignty.”
