Assessment for Native Hawaiians in the United States of America

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Risk Assessment | Analytic Summary | References

Risk Assessment

Despite their many claims and grievances, there is little chance that the Native Hawaiians will become involved in any rebellious activity in the near future.

The Hawaiian separatist movement is gaining strength however, and the potential for increased levels of protest is real. Indigenous rights are an international concern, and while the Hawaiians are not immediately associated with an indigenous movement, their case is as strong as any recognized Native group in the United States. This potential for protest could occur even without the usual risk factors being present, such as cultural or political restrictions, government repression, support from other groups, etc. The issue of sovereignty is now recognized as an important political issue and is addressed by Hawaiian politicians at all levels of local, state and federal government. The creation of new sovereignty based associations in the late 1990s is an illustration of the legitimacy of the issue. Prolonged deliberations into the potential form of Hawaiian sovereignty have temporarily removed the issue from public debate, but may take prominence once the current discussions are made public. Furthermore, questions of Hawaiian heritage - such as the preservation of Native Hawaiian sacred objects and entitlements- have come to play a more important role, and their destruction has increased tensions between white settlers and natives in Hawaii.

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Analytic Summary

The Native Hawaiians are the only indigenous group in the United States without official recognition or any form of autonomy. While they are indigenous to the islands, they are now interspersed with non-Hawaiians. Although Native Hawaiians are largely assimilated in terms of language (LANG = 0) and belief (BELIEF = 0), they are racially distinct from the majority population, although there has been significant intermixture over the years (RACE = 2).

Native Hawaiians had an independent, centralized government, recognized as sovereign by virtue of multiple treaties and diplomatic relationships with European states and the United States by the mid-1800s. The Hawaiian monarchy was overthrown by American settlers in 1893, with assistance from the United States. Hawaii was annexed by the United States in 1898 (AUTLOST = 1.)

Native Hawaiians face demographic disadvantages, particularly lower health standards than European-descended Americans. While they do not currently face any cultural or political restrictions, they are poorer than the average, mainly due to historical neglect and social exclusion. However, remedial policies have been enacted to improve their economic situation (ECODIS06 = 1). There is no evidence of any government repression.

Due to their lower levels of education and wealth there is a growing feeling of dissatisfaction with their current place in the American society. As a result, Native Hawaiians have numerous grievances and demands. It appears that most Hawaiians want a greater say in their affairs. This includes greater access to public funds, improved educational opportunities -- and as a consequence, higher wages. The Hawaiians have been forced to abandon their historical means of survival, living off the land. Over 1.7 million acres of land taken in the 1890s by the U.S. government remains under state and federal control and is mostly in use by government and non-native Hawaiian private interests. Also, a 1921 law granting 200,000 acres to Native Hawaiians for homesteading has yet to be implemented in any meaningful way (ECGR06 = 2). There is also a growing movement that is calling for independence for Hawaii as an extreme, or more generally accepted, some form of widespread powers (POLGR06 = 4). There are many groups representing the Hawaiians and their many demands. The main groups include: The Ohana Council, Ka Lahui Hawaii, Ha Hawaii, Ka Pakaukau, the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and the Native Hawaiian Advisory Council (GOJPA06 = 2).

While there has never been any reports of rebellious activity by the Hawaiians (REB01-06 = 0), there is a long history of protest, usually taking the form of verbal opposition or political organizing. The first evidence of this behavior was in the 1970s (PROT70X = 2) and peaked in the early 1990s (PROT90X = 4) with a series of demonstrations, mainly to protest the Navy using one of the islands as a bombing range. Recently the main tool of the Hawaiians has been verbal opposition (PROT01-06 = 1) as their organizations become stronger, and they begin to make more demands over their current situation.

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References

Denoon, Donald, ed. 2004. The Cambridge History of the Pacific Islanders. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Lexis-Nexis. Various news reports. 1990-2006.

Nation of Hawaii. Various reports. www.hawaii-nation.org.

U.S. Department of the State. 2007. "Annexation of Hawaii, 1898." http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ho/time/gp/17661.htm, accessed 4/31/2008.

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