Increasing the Safety of Native Hawaiian Women
The Indigenous peoples of the United States have a unique history and common experience of colonization. Native Hawaiians share with American Indians and Alaska Natives a struggle to remain sovereign and maintain their beliefs, practices, culture, language, and society.
Native Hawaiians, while having a strong foundation as a spiritual people, now suffer from high rates of domestic and sexual violence. Recognizing the linkage of colonization of the United States to domestic violence is important in understanding how such violence has become so common. The violence perpetrated against Native Hawaiian women, and other social issues, are linked to the trauma of colonization by the United States. In developing programs and services for Native Hawaiian survivors and abusers, reliance on traditional culture, beliefs, and language is viewed as most appropriate.
Queen Lili’uokalani and the Hawaiian Government
On January 16, 1893, the United States invaded the sovereign Hawaiian nation by positioning themselves near the Hawaiian government buildings and Iolani Palace to intimidate Queen Lili’uokalani and her government. When informed that resistance would bring the risk of bloodshed, Queen Lili’uokalani issued the following statement yielding her authority to the U.S. government. The overthrow of Queen Lili’uokalani changed the future of Native Hawaiian people and is widely recognized to have negatively impacted the health, well-being, and lives of Native Hawaiian women. The specific history of the United States and the Kingdom of Hawaii is documented and recognized by a joint resolution of Congress passed in 1996, which concludes with the following three acknowledgments:
- Whereas the health and well-being of the Native Hawaiian people is intrinsically tied to their deep feelings and attachment to the land;
- Whereas the long-range economic and social changes in Hawaii over the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries have been devastating to the population and to the health and well-being of the Hawaiian people;
- Whereas the Native Hawaiian people are determined to preserve, develop, and transmit to future generations their ancestral territory, and their cultural identity in accordance with their own spiritual and traditional beliefs, customs, practices, language, and social institutions.
The Apology of the United States Congress to Native Hawaiians
To acknowledge the 100th anniversary of the January 17, 1893, overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii, and to offer an apology to Native Hawaiians on behalf of the United States for the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii, Public Law 103-150 was enacted. The apology is an important historical marker recognizing the impact of U.S. colonization on the well-being of Native Hawaiian people.
The Congress—
(1) on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the illegal overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii on January 17, 1893, acknowledges the historical significance of this event which resulted in the suppression of the inherent sovereignty of the Native Hawaiian people;
(2) recognizes and commends efforts of reconciliation initiated by the State of Hawaii and the United Church of Christ with Native Hawaiians;
(3) apologizes to Native Hawaiians on behalf of the people of the United States for the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii on January 17, 1893, with the participation of agents and citizens of the United States, and the deprivation of the rights of Native Hawaiians to self-determination;
(4) expresses its commitment to acknowledge the ramifications of the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii, in order to provide a proper foundation for reconciliation between the United States and the Native Hawaiian people; and
(5) urges the President of the United States to also acknowledge the ramifications of the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii and to support reconciliation efforts between the United States and the Native Hawaiian people.
A copy of the joint resolution of Congress and apology is available at:
https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/STATUTE-107/pdf/STATUTE-107-Pg1510.pdf
Statement of Queen Lili’uokalani
“I, Lili’uokalani, by the Grace of God and under the Constitution of the Hawaiian
Kingdom, Queen, do hereby solemnly protest against any and all acts done against myself and the Constitutional Government of the Hawaiian Kingdom by certain persons claiming to have established a Provisional Government of and for this Kingdom.
“That I yield to the superior force of the United States of America whose Minister Plenipotentiary, His Excellency John L. Stevens, has caused United States troops to be landed at Honolulu and declared that he would support the Provisional Government.
“Now to avoid any collision of armed forces, and perhaps the loss of life, I do this under protest and impelled by said force yield my authority until such time as the Government of the United States shall, upon facts being presented to it, undo the action of its representatives and reinstate me in the authority which I claim as the Constitutional Sovereign of the Hawaiian Islands.”
Done at Honolulu this 17th day of January, A.D., 1893
