Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 1, Number 1, 1 Pepeluali 1984 — Stolen Independence [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Stolen Independence

By Hayden Burgess O'ahu Trustee

Twenty-five years will soon have passed since Hawaii was declared a "State."Over these years, the U.S. continued to dictate all major policies affecting Hawaii. The U.S. controls our population through their immigration laws whieh allow an unlimited number of their people into our lands. Meanwhile, we suffer the ills of housing shortages, increased crime, joblessness and the battle for limited natural resources. They control our land policies allowing foreigners to buy our precious land. We find Makaha, Waikiki, Lahaina, Kihei, Kailua-Kona and other areas controlled by foreigners from Japan, China, Arabia, Canada or the U.S. Meanwhile, we find three bedroom houses in Kalihi keeping five families, people sleeping in cars or broken down

buses and others arrested for living on beaches. "How ean you survive militarily if the U.S. pulled out of Hawaii?" we often hear. The real question is; "How ean we survive if they don't?" They have nuclearized our peaceful Hawaiian archipelago and turned Hawaii into their strategic Pacific command fortress. As long as they remain, we are the first strike target of all their enemies. One nuclear att'ack will vaporize most of us and those unfortunate enough to escape will be burned to a crisp. Economically, we have no free trade. We are able to trade with only those nations the U.S. determines will not hurt their Amenean profit. We are a captured market, forced to support American merchants while we suffer a cost of living higher than the U.S.