Spiritual connection of Queen Liliuokalani's book "Hawaii's Story" to the forming of the Aboriginal Lands of Hawaiian Ancestry (ALOHA) to get reparations from the United States Of America for the Illegal Overthrow of 1893.
by Kahu Charles Kauluwehi Maxwell, Sr.
The book Hawaii's Story by Hawaii's Queen has recently been posted on the Web in its entirety, as A Celebration of Women Writers project. Below I share my first exposure to this book, which had a big influence on myself and many others in Hawaii.
Uncle Charlie Read the book online at: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/liliuokalani/hawaii/hawaii.html
In May of 1970, Louisa Rice was a guest on KNUI Radio along with Sol Bright, who was a famous entertainer in Hawaii, and my wife Nina Maxwell. We were also entertaining on the show. Louisa Rice who was a cab driver in Waikiki was on the show to relate a very spiritual thing that happened to her. She related that several weeks ago, she got through late at night and had parked her cab fronting her home on Lewers Ave. in Waikiki. Her car had an electrical short and caught fire and was totally damaged. The only item that was intact, although the cover was badly scorched, was a book called Hawaii's Story written by the last Queen of Hawaii Liliuokalani. The book was given to her by a fare as a gift, but she never read it and left it in the car. Believing it was an omen, she read the book and was shocked to learn about what happened to Queen Liliuokalani. She never learnt in school that America was involved in helping the descendants of the missionaries to overthrow the queen. Louisa Rice had asked me to be the Maui representative at the radio show and I half-heartedly agreed because I felt it was too long since the overthrow occurred and America is so powerful we could not get anything done. She traveled to all the islands telling everyone about the "burnt book" and it was a message to our people to "wake up".
Several months had passed and Stanley Clutching a lawyer from Washington D. C. came to Hawaii and told our organization that our plight was similar to Native Americans and Alaskan Natives who he represented. In 1971 the United States Congress passed the Alaskan Native Claims Act, given the Eskimo, Aleuts and Indians of Alaska 40 million acres of land and 1 billion dollars.
In the summer of 1972 the A.L.O.H.A Association had its first convention in Laie, Oahu I became the first National President of A.L.O.H.A. We traveled throughout Hawaii and a year later in 1973, went to Washington D.C. and Representative Patsy Mink introduced the first Hawaiian Reparations Bill in Congress which asked for 2 1/2 million acres of land and 1 billion dollars. Hawaii's total acreage is 5 million acres. Also the Queen's Protest she issued after the Overthrow and the song Kaulana Napua (Stone eating song) were included in Congressional records as statements of the people in 1893. The rest is history. So many organizations were formed after A.L.O.H.A.. Alu Like and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, were some of the organizations. All of today' sovereignty groups use the overthrow and the facts of what happened prior, during and after the overthrow which is outlined in her book.
For the last 30 years many of us have has pursued Liliuokalani's wishes of trying to regain what was lost. Now the powers that be in the State, National and International arena are hearing our voices and paying attention. It is hoped that in the near future her hundred plus year old wish is realized and her people, the Kanaka Maoli are back in their rightful place, setting the destiny of Hawaii, for generations to come.
Uncle Charlie
Read the book online at: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/liliuokalani/hawaii/hawaii.html
Ho`iho`i Mai
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