Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 11, Number 2, 1 February 1994 — Hawaiians march for sovereignty in Waikīkī [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Hawaiians march for sovereignty in Waikīkī

by Jeff Clark The Dec. 18 afternoon had been overcast and rainy, but the weather offered hō'ailona: as about 200 Hawaiians marched up Kalākaua Avenue, the clouds broke and the sun shone. This Hawaiian sovereignty march followed a morning rally at 'Iolani Palaee during whieh Hawaiian leaders took turns reading U.S. President Grover Cleveland's Dec. 18, 1893 address to Congress decrying the U.S. role in the overthrow of Queen Lili'uokalani. The march through Waikīkī was organized by A'o Pōhaku Rodenhurst and the organization Kūho'one'enu'u Pono and began at Magic Island.

With a poliee escort, the marchers approached, heard before they eame into view. Their chants were not in the dignified, even-toned style of femadorned mea oli of Hawai'i. Rather, the punchy cadences, call-and-answer and occasional rhymes of the modem protester's shouts were what echoed off the skyscrapers: "Keep Hawaiian lands in Hawaiian hands! Hawaiians want justice! / sovereignty! Hawaiians want it now! 'Ike! 'Ike kūpa'a! Who are we? Hawaiians! What are we? Proud! Ea (sovereignty)! Ea! Ea! Ea!" Some asked haole tourists how they felt about the prospect

of Hawaiian sovereignty. Art Toreson of Washington state said, "I think that's appealing, yeah. We've taken away the Native Americans'rights and we've taken away the native Hawaiians' rights in the name of prosperity, eulture and even religion." A visitor from Denver said the retum of Hawaiian lands taken after the overthrow seems reasonable. "If they.were taken away from them then maybe they do have that right," she said. Her eompanion, also from

Denver, agreed, but added, "Their goal shouldn't be to keep people out." Niek Anderson, who as owner of the Anchoragebased All Alaska Weekly is familiar with native stmggles, said the march was a good idea. "Exercising polūieal eoncerns is a birthright of all Americans - and Hawaiians," he said. Afterward, marchers gathered at Queen's Surf Beach for speeches, food,

and hula. Pōkā Laenui told the gathering that the United Nations decolonization resolution mandated colonizers to give the people in their colonies a ehoiee between being integrated into the larger country or remain independent. But the people of Hawai'i were not given the ehoiee of independence, and instead were asked whether they preferred beeoming a state or remaining a territory. Then the U.S. went to the United Nations and said the people voted against independence and for statehood. "It was a lie - an international fraud," Laenui charged. Off on the grass to the side of the stage, Dennis "Bumpy" Kanahele told a reporter the idea

behind the march was to spread the word about Hawaiian sovereignty, "to make people more aware, especially in Waikīkī. But more important, it was to show the state that this past year wasn't the end. It ean be done, and it ean be done peaceful." Kanahele said the march reunited the people and their land, in a district where the land — but not its mana - is obscured by eoncrete and asphalt. "If anything, the spirit of this 'āina, Waikīkī, eame alive again. Everyone felt like the spirit eame up out of the ground and into us." Rodenhurst said the group Kūho'one'enu'u Pono has existed for one year and has about 200 members. She said other

groups participating in the march were Hui Na'auao, La Ea o Hawai'i Nei, the 'Ohana Oouneil, Ka Pākaukau, and the Institute for the Advancement of Hawaiian Affairs. Rodenhurst said Kūho'one'enu'u Pono acts as a catalyst to bring together the Hawaiian community's various elements in an atmosphere of spirituality and lōkahi. She is primarily eoncerned with unity, and where the politics go from there is of second interest to her, Rodenhurst said. She doesn't take a position on what form Hawaiian sovereignty should take; her aim is "for people to eome out ande mālama eaeh other, Hawaiians and non-Hawaiians."

Below left and above: Roughly 200 people marched for sovereignty through Waikīkī on Dec. 1 8. Photos by Jeff Clark