Native Hawaiians

Native HawaiiansBy Marco CannonThe influx of American and European missionaries and businessmen to the Hawaiian Islands during the early 1800s began the racial transformation to the Native Hawaiian population that would set them on the course towards civilization. It would also lead to the forced annexation of the Hawaiian Islands by the U.S. Government in 1898, creating a unique example of racial assimilation imposed upon an indigenous people that is still being contested to this day by many Native Hawaiian people and others that believe it was wrong to strip them of their kingdom.

King Kalakaua, Hawaiis last kingQueen Liliuokalani, Hawaiis last queen Diseases like leprosy were used to classify the Native Hawaiian people as racially inferior and one of the reasons used to justify American imperialism (Kester 2009).

Table of ContentsSlide 4 - ReflectionSlide 5 - Journal Article #1 SummarySlide 6 - Journal Article #2 SummarySlide 7 - Journal Article #2 Summary - CONTINUEDSlide 8 - Table #1Slide 9 - Chart #2Slide 10 - Book SummarySlide 11 - Book Summary - CONTINUEDSlide 12 - Book Summary - CONTINUEDSlide 13 - Works Cited

ReflectionWhat I already know about racism experienced by Native Hawaiians: It is no secret that Queen Liliuokalani was forced by the U.S. Government to sign annexation documents, thereby eliminating the Kingdom of Hawaii. This was orchestrated by wealthy white businessmen that viewed the island people as racially inferior in every way. There is still a great deal of animosity among Native Hawaiians that continues to be directed at white people today. This was something I personally felt on occasion when I first moved to Hawaii. It wasnt until after I had learned how to use the local pidgin inflection in my voice when conversing with locals that I received the welcoming spirit of Ohana that I knew the Hawaiian people were famous for.Slide #4

Journal Article #1: Association between perceived racism and physiological stress indices in Native Hawaiians by Joseph Kaholokula, et al., 2012 Perceived racism is associated with stress-related diseases like hypertension and heart disease in African Americans and Hispanics. An analysis was performed to see if a relationship exists between perceived racism and physiological stress in Native Hawaiians, to see how racism gets under a persons skin. A random sample of 146 Native Hawaiians living in the North Kohala community of Hawaii was collected and a series of socio-demographic questions were asked, as well as their perceived level of discrimination based on their self-reported ethnic identification. Findings: When Native Hawaiians perceive that they are being treated with racist discrimination, it does affect their physical health. They have higher blood pressure and lower cortisol levels; the latter can be attributed to prolonged exposure to the stressor (similar to those suffering PTSD or in domestic violence situations). Participants with a higher degree of Hawaiian ancestry usually have darker skin and typically reported higher levels of perceived racism. Slide #5

Journal Article #2: Race, Religion, and Citizenship in Mormon Country: Native Hawaiians in Salt Lake City, 1869-1889 by Matthew Kester, 2009 The Mormon church opened the Hawaiian Mission in 1850 (54), of which my great-great-grandfather, George Q. Cannon, was one of the first Mormon missionaries to travel to the Hawaiian Islands. Many Native Hawaiians found the Mormon faith appealing and converted, likely due to the message from missionaries that they were among Gods Chosen people (55). First Native Hawaiians emigrated to Utah in the company of Mormon missionaries in 1873. Emigration to Utah by Native Hawaiians was due to the encouragement from Mormon leaders to fulfill their religious obligation to gather to Utah (56); the true reasoning being that Mormon leaders believed they could not resist temptation if they remained in Hawaii (56). Mormon missionaries and leaders were in favor of annexation because they felt it would help their cause and make it easier for Native Hawaiians to emigrate to Utah if Hawaii became part of the United States. Bayonet Constitution of 1887 created by American businessmen, King Kalakaua was forced to sign it; it transferred power away from Native Hawaiians (58); likely the catalyst for annexation. Influx of Native Hawaiian Mormons into Utah began to cause contention amongst non-Mormons in salt Lake. Diseases like leprosy were associated with Native Hawaiians, translating to assumptions that they were an unclean and uncivilized race; they became unwanted in the Salt Lake Valley; spread of disease was more rapid among Native Hawaiians because they refused to isolate afflicted family members to make them suffer alone. Loving spirit was responsible for the spread of the disease among the Hawaiian people, not lack of cleanliness! (63)Slide #6

Journal Article #2: Race, Religion, and Citizenship in Mormon Country: Native Hawaiians in Salt Lake City, 1869-1889 by Matthew Kester, 2009 ~CONTINUED~ Sensational articles in newspapers were printed that made erroneous and racially inflammatory claims of infanticide and cannibalism practices of Native Hawaiians (65-66). Mormon missionaries felt Native Hawaiians needed the civilizing influence of the Mormon church to bring a positive change to their inferior race (67). Non-Mormons and regular Mormons were becoming concerned that these diseased and nonassimilable people were migrating into their society (67). Racism from white Mormons and non-Mormons meant for few employment opportunities for Native Hawaiians (69). 1889 Supreme Court of the Territory of Utah denied the citizenship request of four natives from Hawaii, initially because of their dark skin, but further justification was made because they could not identify the president of the United States and because the judge said that the Hawaiian race was intended to be included among the races excluded from citizenship in the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 (72). Even after annexation in 1898, Native Hawaiians were still not entitled to citizenship. Today, Pacific Island community leaders must fight against racist stereotype associations with street gangs and violence that overshadow the positive contributions that Pacific Islanders from all of the different islands make in their respective communities (76).Slide #7

Table #1 - Histogram showing the impact on Native Hawaiians population by the American & European migration to the Hawaiian IslandsData source for Population Changes 1778-1896Slide #8

Chart #2 Population Distribution of Native Hawaiians at the 2010 CensusData source for Population DistributionSlide #9

Book Summary - Lost Kingdom by Julia Flynn SilerThis beautifully detailed history of the Native Hawaiian people, from their believed origin of courageous Tahitian travelers setting sail and discovering these eight remote islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean around 200 A.D., to their embattled struggle to remain independent from imperialist forces from the United States, Great Britain, and France, this book is a remarkable account of the incredible and sometimes heartbreaking history of the Native Hawaiian people. Native Hawaiians lived prosperously and undisturbed in their tropical paradise for more than 1500 years until the arrival of two British ships in January of 1778, carrying Captain James Cook. Because of his arrival, the Hawaiian people and the islands of Hawaii would be forever changed. Cook and his men introduced modern weaponry and clothing, but worse, diseases that the Native Hawaiians did not have the immune systems to fight off. Word of this unspoiled paradise reached America and Europe, creating waves of missionaries to flock to the islands. Positive changes were that the missionaries helped the Native Hawaiians develop their written alphabet (as they had been an oral culture up until now), but their influence also had many negatives, such as shaming the natives into covering up their bodies because the missionaries deemed them immodest. Their sacred traditions and ceremonies, like the hula, became forbidden by the missionaries because they considered this treasured dance obscene. Letters back to the mainland described the Native Hawaiians as uncivilized and their simplistic existence was mocked as being primitive. Honolulu and Lahaina quickly became port cities for whaling ships from America and Europe . The streets became flooded with sailors who turned to the local Hawaiian women for pleasure, leading to the huge increase in hapa haole, half white-half Hawaiian children. Slide #10

Book Summary - Lost Kingdom by Julia Flynn Siler ~CONTINUED~ Incredibly, by 1853 the outbreak of diseases brought to the islands by Westerners such as Chicken pox, smallpox, influenza, typhoid, measles and others had killed over 200,000 Native Hawaiians since the arrival of Captain Cook 75 years earlier. With so many natives dying, this left openings in the legislature, which were quickly snatched up by American and European businessmen who also began advising King Kamehameha III to change his policy on foreigners owning Hawaiian land. This is what eventually lead to the large sugar plantations throughout the islands that allowed men like German-American, Claus Spreckels, and the Irish immigrant, James Campbell, to amass their fortunes. Racist prejudices were traded back and forth between Native Hawaiians and white Westerners: Hawaiians were less than thrilled when many of their sons and daughters began to intermarry with whites and have mixed-race children, as well as the incident when the future king of Hawaii was visiting the U.S. before the abolition of slavery and was asked to leave his seat because of his dark skin when he was riding on a train. In January of 1893, when Queen Liliuokalani was trying to enact a new constitution to return control of the islands back to the Hawaiian people, some of her most trusted advisors were creating a scheme that would force her to abdicate if she did not agree to relinquish control to a new provisional government. These powerful American and European businessmen not only made her a prisoner in her own home until she relented, but they also conspired with members of the U.S. Government to give her no choice but to sign the annexation documents that would hand over the Hawaiian Islands and dissolve the Kingdom of Hawaii forever.Slide #11

Book Summary - Lost Kingdom by Julia Flynn Siler ~CONTINUED~ This book was not only historically accurate, but Ms. Siler has a wonderful talent for painting a picture for you with her words. Her gift for describing images and her attention to detail is amazingly vivid. Her artful story-telling creates emotional attachment to the people in this tragic narrative of Hawaiis fascinating history. I never got the sense that she was trying to demonize or criticize those early migrants and missionaries that traveled to the islands, although when you consider how severely the Native Hawaiian population was decimated by their arrival, you could hardly blame her if she did. I feel like this book is extremely valuable to those who dont know about the history of the Native Hawaiian culture because it not only gives a historical timeline of when different events happened, but it also gives background information on the many people that played a part in the ultimate outcome; integrating all of these elements into a fantastically written account of the racial discrimination and imperialistic overtaking that nearly wiped this beautiful indigenous people off the face of the earth.Slide #12

Works CitedImages of Hawaii. Digital image.Bing. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 July 2014.Kaholokula, Joseph, et al. Association Between Perceived Racism And Physiological Stress Indices In Native Hawaiians. Journal Of Behavioral Medicine 35.1 (2012): 27-37. Academic Search Premier. 10 July 2014.Kester, Matthew. Race, Religion, And Citizenship In Mormon Country: Native Hawaiians In Salt Lake City, 1869-1889. Western Historical Quarterly 40.1 (2009): 51-76. Academic Search Premier. Web. 10 July 2014. "Native Hawaiian Data Book 2011."Native Hawaiian Data Book 2011. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 July 2014.Siler, Julia Flynn.Lost Kingdom: Hawaii's Last Queen, the Sugar Kings, and America's First Imperial Adventure. New York: Atlantic Monthly, 2012. Print.

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