When the January 2025 issue of the Atlantic arrived in mid-December, I immediately sat down to read the long feature about Hawaiian independence, The Hawaiians Who Want Their Nation Back.
In the early 1990s, I lived in Honolulu for nearly two years after I graduated from college. My day job was as a writer for Island Scene Magazine, a publication of the Blue Cross insurance company. Many of my writing assignments were about the history and culture of the islands, including this story I wrote about Mauna Kea on the Big Island. In the evenings, when I wasn’t playing pick-up soccer on the campus of UH Manoa, I was taking an introductory Hawaiian language class there.
My work and my studies meant that I was somewhat informed of the history of the islands. I also was aware of the desire for justice and independence. But I was haole, a temporary resident, itinerant, and I moved back to Cleveland (for love!). I have good memories of my time in Hawaii, including all the great hikes I took on weekends.
In 2021, we took the family for a surprise December vacation on Oahu. Each day, we drove past the historic Iolani Palace. It looked different to me because the gates were closed and access was restricted to visiting hours and paid tours. On that trip, and especially when I was reading The Atlantic feature about Hawaiian independence, I felt a wave of shame to realize I had added to the insult of the overthrow of Queen Liliʻuokalani. When I had lived in Honolulu, the hiking club met on the mauka side of the Palace, which meant I often parked my beater car inches from the stone walls and below the room where the queen had been imprisoned for many months. I wish I would have brought to Iolani Palace the same reverence that I had shown the ancient Hawaiian petroglyphs and heiau around the islands.
As I’m finishing this post, I’m reminded that today is the fourth anniversary of the storming of the U.S. Capitol by the election-denying horde. Clearly there’s a through line that connects the American overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy in 1894 to the almost-coup in 2021. My hope is that democracy and justice and peace will prevail in both Washington and Hawaii.
Ua Mau ke Ea o ka ʻĀina i ka Pono
“The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness.”
© Anton Zuiker