Land Of Hawai Essay

1262 Words6 Pages

Ua mau ke ea o ka ʻāina i ka pono. The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness. This is the Hawaiʻi state motto that is supposed to be a representation of the beliefs of the people in the state. However, many of the actions of the people contradict that very statement. The United States government continuously pushes for development on the islands, which permanently destroys the land in the process. Native Hawaiian rights to the land have always been oppressed by the government, and it began with the illegal overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi, accelerated with the bombing of Kahoʻolawe, and progressed to the construction of the thirty meter telescope atop Mauna Kea. First, on January 17, 1893, the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi was illegally overthrown. The overthrow began with the Bayonet Constitution in 1887, which was forced onto Kalākaua and the people of Hawaiʻi. Kalākaua signed the document at gunpoint, giving away most of the power of the Hawaiian Kingdom to the legislature. Thus, leaving the Hawaiian monarchy with little to no authority. The new constitution also changed the voting rights of the people of Hawaiʻi such that they had to meet financial requirements and be of either American, European, or Hawaiian descent. This was an issue for the Hawaiians because many did not meet the …show more content…

The military began to use the island of Kahoʻolawe after annexation, before Hawaiʻi officially became a state. At the time, the island was leased and used as a ranch, holding many cloven-hoofed animals. The cattle ranchers, having access to the island until 1952, formed Kahoʻolawe Ranch. They then subleased part of the island to the U.S. Navy, granting them land until 1952, when the ranch’s lease expired. According to the sublease, the military was originally only supposed to have access to a fraction of the land. However, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, they took over the entire