Part 2: A brief history of Hawaii
The Hawaiian islands have been at the center of Pacific commerce for nearly 1,600 years. Prior to the first contact with Europeans, the Hawaiian islands were home to an estimated 700,000 to 1 million people.
After the arrival of Europeans in 1778, Hawaiians were decimated by pandemics that killed most of the native population within a span of three generations. During this traumatic period, the Hawaiian government evolved from a counsel- and community-based system, to a Western Style constitutional monarchy. During the 19th century Hawaii established a political system and had treaties in place with all major world powers. The jostling for power is revealed in the State of Hawaii flag which adopted a British Union Jack on its flag as a sign of solidarity with Great Britain for providing it with the weapons that were used to consolidate power in the islands and provide national security.
Realizing how strategically important Hawaii is, colonial powers aggressively encroached on the islands, ultimately resulting in the United States Navy putting Queen Lili’uokalani of Hawaii under house arrest and illegally taking over the country in 1893. The Queen advocated for a peaceful resolution to the crisis, but the United States followed through with the hostile takeover of the country, the Queen passed away, and Hawaii eventually became America’s 50th state in 1959. Many people who live in the state of Hawaii, and Hawaiian diaspora do not accept the categorization of Hawaii as a State within the United States. Rather, they see it is a country that has been under military occupation for nearly 130 years.
To this day, Native Hawaiian people continue to suffer degradations at the hands of the United States government. Two of the largest economic sectors in Hawaii are tourism and the military. Profits from the industries do not benefit the people of Hawaii as they are largely distributed to investors outside of Hawaii. So while Hawaii has one of the highest individual tax rates in the United States, and the beautiful weather and lack of pollution translates into the longest life span in the United States, Hawaii ranks last in education. And while the life of a wealthy “mainlander” who moves to Hawaii is undoubtedly wonderful, native Hawaiian people have extraordinary levels of poverty, health issues, and homelessness. For many Hawaiians, the paradise of Hawaii that we see in movies and television is an illusion that sharpens the injustice of their day to day reality.
True to history, the State of Hawaii ensures that most people of Hawaiian ancestry remain marginalized even though the state of Hawaii spends millions of dollars each year on programs to provide housing assistance through its Office of Hawaii Affairs (OHA) and other government agencies. While most of the people that work and are elected to these agencies are generally well intentioned, the systems in which they operate are inherently designed to fail. A recent audit of these programs revealed that funds provided to OHA never reached their intended recipients. The FBI has been called in to investigate. State-run programs have been largely ineffective due to political gridlock, poor execution, and graft.
In 1993 the United States recognized the grave injustices it had committed against the Hawaiian people and passed the 1993 Apologies Law. Among other important proclamations, the Apologies acts rectified the illegal and unjust actions of the United States, recorded the genocide of Hawaiian people and culture, and outlined the need to restore 1.8 million acres of the 4 million acres in the Hawaiian archipelago to Hawaii people via its sovereign government.
In 1994 the Nation of Hawaii reorganized to perfect the land claims of the Apologies Law and restore the Nation of Hawaii sovereignty. That same year the Governor of the State of Hawaii provided the Nation of Hawaii with a lease for lands in the Waimanolo, Oahu, which was designated as their sovereign territory. In 2009 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Apologies Act allows all the State to sell lands to any qualified party. Under this ruling, a buyer could purchase all of the State owned lands in Hawaii, which account for most of the 1.8 million acres contemplated in the Apologies Act of 1993. A ProPublica investigative report found that this ruling was used to help the State and Federal government quietly sell lands to business rather than using the land for native Hawaiian housing.
The most difficult part of self-governance and true independent sovereignty has been the creation of a financial system for the Nation that is not reliant on the United States or the US Financial system. The advent of decentralized technology has made it possible for the Nation of Hawaii to accelerate the creation of a central bank, digital currency, decentralized land registry, and sovereign bond offering. This financial infrastructure will empower the Nation of Hawaii to raise capital to fund the creation of housing, clean energy, sustainable agriculture, and the creation of a tax-friendly commercial zone.
The Nation of Hawaii is preparing to launch the Hawaii Dollar (HI) and sell Hawaii Bonds to fund the redevelopment of a sustainable economy in the islands for the benefit of Hawaiians and Hawaiian citizens. The Hawaii Dollar should enter the financial system in Q4 2022. The first bond offering is slated on or before January 16, 2023, the 130th anniversary of the overthrow of the Hawaiian government by the United States.
The basis for the Nation of Hawaii begins with the reclamation of the aina, which is the word for land in Hawaiian. That is the focus of our next article which addresses Hawaii’s new decentralized land registry.
