180 Years of Independence

180 Years of Independence
This year, 2023, is the 180^th anniversary of an historic moment for Hawaii. November 28, 1843 was the day the United Kingdom (Great Britain) and the Kingdom of France jointly proclaimed their recognition of the Hawaiian Kingdom as a sovereign nation — equal in status with the dominant powers of the world.

Immediately following this recognition, King Kamehameha III declared November 28 as Lā Kuʻokoʻa, Hawaiʻi Independence Day, a national holiday to be celebrated throughout the Hawaiian Kingdom. For 50 years, Lā Kuʻokoʻa and Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea (Sovereignty Restoration Day) were enthusiasticaly celebrated as the principle national holidays of the Kingdom.

But in 1893, a treacherous coup d’etat supported by U.S. armed forces, usurped the Hawaiian Kingdom. The next year, the self-proclaimed “Republic of Hawaii” replaced Lā Kuʻokoʻa with the celebration of the American Thanksgiving Day. This was a subversive tactic of the fake Republic (and, after 1898, the fake Territory of Hawaii) to denationalize Hawaiians — erasing the people’s identity and loyalty to the Hawaiian Kingdom — and replacing it with identity and loyalty to America. After 70 years of unrelenting indoctrination and coercion, most Hawaiians became staunch Americans.

However, in the 1970s, Hawaiians being evicted from their lands began to bravely stand and fight back. Major confrontations in the 70s were: Kalama Valley (1971), Kahoolawe (1976), Waiahōle-Waikāne (1977), Hilo Airport (1978), Sand Island (1979)… These major acts of resistance and many more skirmishes raised serious questions about the legality of the United States’ claim of sovereignty over the Hawaiian Islands.

Then on January 17, 1993, a huge, three-day event, ʻOnipaʻa, was held at Iolani Palace in protest of the criminal acts committed against Hawaiians over the hundred years since the US armed forces and a handful of insurgents seized control of our sovereign, independent, peaceful country.

Prompted by the growing unrest and this huge public outcry of ʻOnipaʻa, on November 23, 1993, US President Bill Clinton signed a Joint Resolution by the US Congress (USPL 103-150) apologizing for the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom. In the Apology the United States admitted that it did not lawfully gain possession of the Hawaiian Islands and that the sovereignty of the Hawaiian Kingdom was never extinguished.

The US Apology boosted the “Hawaiian Sovereignty Movement” into high gear and Hawaiians and their supporters began to work in earnest to restore the Hawaiian Kingdom as a sovereign, independent nation. To undo the years of American indoctrination and awaken the national consciousness of the Hawaiian people, Kekuni Blaisdell, Haunani Trask, Poka Laenui, Butch Kekahu and many more Hawaiʻi patriots began to make us aware of our history by reactivating our important celebrations and other sacred times and places.

Today, the holidays, Lā Kuʻokoʻa and Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea are proudly celebrated throughout Ko Hawaiʻi Pae ʻĀina… and in other places around the world where Hawaiians live.
“Love of country is deep-seated in the breast of every Hawaiian,
whatever his station.” — Queen Liliʻuokalani