This day in 1893, Lydia Kamaka‘eha Lili‘uokalani and her Hawaiian Kingdom was overthrown. American businessmen staged a coup d’état and imprisoned our Queen in her own palace. An illegal, provisional government, known as the Republic of Hawai‘i, was established in an effort to cede Hawai‘i to the United States. President McKinley later signed the Treaty of Annexation in 1898, initiating Hawai‘i’s admittance into the union as a Territory of the United States until 1959, when Hawai‘i became the 50th state (all illegally, of course!)
Despite all of the wrong doings and attempts to suppress the Hawaiian language, culture, and identity, I am proud to proclaim that today, our culture, our language, our traditions, and our people, still survives! Andd more important than merely surviving, we THRIVE! We are young, cultured, educated, successful Kānaka Maoli who are continuing the legacies of our kūpuna…and that is something that I know our kūpuna are extremely proud of!
