Hawai’ian statehood was controversial for native Hawai’ian because the islands had a historical problem with foreigners, specifically Americans and the methods in which they were annexed and made it into a state. The history presented in the film “conquest of Hawai’i” is that the Hawai’ian government was influenced by westerners, specifically King Kamehameha who wanted to be an equal player in the world stage. His conquering of the Islands and reforms set him up as a great ruler, but in consequence it slowly changed the Hawai’ians way of life. There became a dependence on foreigner’s advisers and western culture and religion and it started replacing traditional Hawai’ian life and society. There was also economic repression by the rich White land owners who owned most of the …show more content…
From deposing the monarchy to annexation by the United States, native Hawai’ians had no say in the matter. The people who deposed the overthrown of the Monarchy were acting in an Orientalist mentality. They saw Queen Liliuokalani as not being able to rule, and it was their duty to overthrow her. The United States also took advantage of the situation and acted very imperialistic. At first through Grover Cleveland denounced the overthrow of the Queen as illegal, but during the Spanish-American wars president McKinley supported the new Hawai’ian Republic to maintain Pearl Harbor. With all of these actions the Hawai’ian people had no say, as they did not have a voice in their own government. The Hawai’ian people did support the Liliuokalani monarchy with petitions signed by the citizens that her overthrow was illegal. When the Hawai’ian people tried to make their voices heard in politics they were ignored by those in power. Even in the vote for statehood for Hawai’i transit and military were allowed to vote. There has been a feeling of lost sovereignty by a lot of Hawai’ians as they have not been independent for a long