Our lāhui is once again under direct assault.

The proposed FY2027 federal budget is the most sweeping and aggressive attempt to dismantle Native Hawaiian programs since Rice v. Cayetano (2000), when the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated Hawaiian-only voting for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA).

Far beyond a fiscal adjustment, this staggering $1.36 billion cut is a calculated maneuver to starve the resources sustaining our families and erase our political identity.

The Blueprint of Erasure

The roots of today’s attacks lie with the missionary descendants who orchestrated the 1893 overthrow. Desperate to protect their sugar profits and suppress Queen Liliʻuokalani’s constitution, this oligarchy manufactured a moral panic, smearing a sovereign monarch to disguise an illegal coup.

The blueprint was set: Invent a false narrative to justify a theft.

That 1893 blueprint never disappeared; it simply changed vocabulary. For over a century, this apparatus has weaponized U.S. law to maintain settler colonial control – beginning with the 1896 outlawing of ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi and the criminalization of hula.

Today, this false narrative relies on hijacked “civil rights” language. By seeking to reclassify Kānaka Maoli as a “domestic racial group,” the government manufactures a legal loophole to use civil rights laws against us, framing resource theft as a pursuit of equality.

The June 2026 lawsuit, Ryan v. Watson, already weaponizes the 14th Amendment to dismantle the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, falsely framing our political trust rights as “racial discrimination.” Under this guise of “equality,” the calculated maneuver does not just cut “social programs” – it starves the mandatory trust pipelines that satisfy a federal fiduciary debt and protect our vested property rights.

By designating us a “racial group,” the administration legally locks Native Hawaiian health centers out of federal block grants, putting $27 million at risk.

Our educational foundation remains similarly targeted: although a fragile, one-year reprieve was just secured for the $46 million Native Hawaiian Education Program (NHEP), the budget still zeros out $25 million for Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions, and $3.6 million for Career & Technical Education.

This mirrors the exact theories weaponized against Kamehameha Schools and OHA.

The Human Cost: Exiled in Our Homelands

The most visible failure of this settler-colonial system is the severe housing crisis, forcing Kānaka ʻŌiwi onto the streets of their ancestral lands.

Instead of fulfilling its century-old Hawaiian Homes Commission Act obligations – where 29,000 languish, untold thousands have died waiting, and the Ryan lawsuit seeks to open leases to non-Hawaiians – the budget eliminates the $22.3 million Native Hawaiian Housing Block Grant (NAHASDA), freezing development.

Slashes to the Administration for Native Americans (ANA) starve nonprofits, accelerating our people’s coercive departure to the continent.

This assault collapses the safety net for our beneficiaries. The sheer scale of this erasure is evident in the defunding of critical programs: slashing SNAP/Food Stamps ($221 million) and Medicaid ($360 million) ensures keiki go hungry and treatable illnesses become emergencies.

Essential lifelines face total elimination, including civil legal aid ($3.8 million), LIHEAP/utilities ($7.7 million), broadband ($8 million), Job Corps ($30 million), health screenings ($1.8 million), and education grants ($8 million).

Furthermore, an 82% cut to Clean Water funds costs working-poor families $2,100 each. Most distressingly, a $150 million FEMA cut threatens Lahaina’s rebuilding, leaving the ʻāina vulnerable to outside land-grabs, while a 40% cut to the Office of Native Hawaiian Relations suffocates our capacity to self-advocate.

The Glaring Disparity: Domestic Slashes vs. Military Increases

This budget deliberately transfers wealth from our safety nets into the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, slashing domestic spending by $1.36 billion while surging military funding by $2 billion. As 65-year leases expire, the military is digging in – preparing to use eminent domain to seize our national lands, stripping our survival funding to finance their permanent occupation.

Navigating the Sovereignty Trap

We operate as the rightful stewards of our national estate, guided by patriot Joseph Nāwahī: “We are a nation; we have not lost our nationality.”

Because the United States never acquired Hawaiʻi through a lawful international mechanism – that is, no treaty of annexation was ever ratified – seeking “federal recognition” as a Native American tribe is a dangerous trap.

Under the Constitution’s “Commerce Clause,” Congress exercises plenary power over recognized tribes, allowing it to legally cut off funding with a single vote, which is exactly what it is attempting now. Accepting this false compromise trades our unrelinquished ea (sovereignty) for a fragile protectorate status they can unilaterally revoke. It is a calculated step toward total erasure, forcing us to abandon our international standing.

Holding the Line

The true danger of the U.S. courts is exemplified by Justice Samuel Alito’s 2009 Supreme Court ruling (Hawaii v. OHA). Alito gutted the 1993 Apology Law by dismissing its recognition of our national sovereignty as merely “conciliatory” words, establishing the exact blueprint now being used to defund us: weaponizing courts to neutralize Hawaiian protections without addressing the underlying crime.

We are watching this predatory playbook unfold.

In January 2025, the Interior Department issued legal opinion M-37083, explicitly confirming an “ongoing political relationship with Native Hawaiians manifested in hundreds of federal statutes.”

Today, driven by Project 2025, political operatives like Ed Blum and the Pacific Legal Foundation are backing Ryan v. Watson, and the administration is aggressively attempting to revoke this document.

They are burying their own legal admission, falsely reducing our political nationhood to a “racial group” as a pretext to defund the $1.36 billion protecting our vested property interests.

By erasing this distinction, they strip our ability to claim fiduciary damages owed for over a century of occupation, stealing our future to fund current wars.

Our aliʻi did not build a charity. Our leaders voluntarily relinquished absolute power to secure the people’s rights and build a progressive constitutional monarchy. We were overthrown because our peaceful sovereignty threatened what American businessmen desperately coveted: our ʻāina momona – our abundant lands – and our advantageous geographic location.

We are being defunded today because our continued existence threatens their occupation.

As Queen Liliʻuokalani declared, “The cause of Hawaiʻi and independence is larger and dearer than the life of any man connected with it.” Her words remain our sovereign mandate to fiercely protect our ʻāina, our wai, and our kai.

Our ea is not a domestic racial preference; it is not a charitable gift, and it is not up for negotiation. It is our unbroken legal and ancestral inheritance.

Elizabeth Ann Hoʻoipo Kalaenaʻauao Pa Nakea, Esq., has spent her career contributing to the collective work of Kanaka ʻŌiwi Ea through education and law. Formerly the executive director of the Native Hawaiian Advisory Council and president of Hui Naʻauao, she continues her lifelong advocacy for our lāhui’s ea and the protection of our ʻāina, wai, and kai. A Kamehameha and Richardson Law graduate, Elizabeth grew up across Liliha, Kāneʻohe Bay, and Kalihiwai Bay.

The post Budgeting Erasure: Defending Our Ea and Political Status appeared first on Ka Wai Ola.

However, if we want to see positive change in our community, one of the most powerful ways we can make this happen is by showing up, casting our ballots, and voting individuals of character into office who will represent the people and communities they serve with transparency and integrity.

If you have not already registered to vote, there is still time. Legal residents, 18 years or older, can register to vote right up to Election Day (August 8 for the primary).

Voting is one way to show that we care about our community and our ʻāina – and it is the only way that we can make sure that the people who are making the laws that govern Hawaiʻi are representing the needs and concerns of regular people – not just the wealthy, special interest groups, or lobbyists.

Strong Native Hawaiian Representation in This Year’s Election

Over 300 candidates filed to run in the 2026 Hawaiʻi election, and this year, representation from the Native Hawaiian community is impressive. A third of the all the candidates, about 90 individuals, identify as Native Hawaiian. Some are first time candidates younger than 40, who are leaders in their respective communities.

Of special note is the emergence this year of a new coalition called Moho ʻĀina which has adopted a standard of Hawaiian values and practices for Hawaiʻi politicians. It is not a political party but a hui of 13 political candidates.

Moho is a political candidate or representative, and ʻāina is the land or that which feeds. The members refer to themselves as moho ʻāina – candidates who have drafted strategies to make Hawaiʻi better in areas of education, housing, aloha ʻāina, agriculture, keiki and kūpuna care, healthcare and in the economy.

Some of their general objectives include decreasing the DHHL blood quantum requirement, demilitarization, changing place names (like Hawaiʻi Kai or Pearl City) back to their original names, reducing violence in communities, and reducing traffic fatalities. All of these issues have been raised before in politics but have only seen incremental – or no – improvements.

Nā Hoa Moho ʻĀina (friends of Moho ʻĀina), are a group of 11 additional candidates, some Native Hawaiian and some not, who align with the hui’s objectives and actions.

You can learn more about these candidates, and their objectives and values, at mohoaina.com.

The post 2026 Primary Election Updates appeared first on Ka Wai Ola.

SB903 does two important things.

First, it releases $55 million in Public Land Trust funds already owed to OHA but held back under the current annual cap. These are resources intended to benefit Native Hawaiian communities at a time when federal funding reductions, threatened cuts, and continuing attacks on longstanding Hawaiian programs have heightened uncertainty for many families and communities.

Second, it strengthens the mandate of the Public Land Trust Working Group and creates space to determine a pathway toward resolving longstanding funding disputes. In doing so, it does not predetermine any outcome but instead allows work to continue toward establishing a fair, consistent formula for how Public Land Trust revenues are calculated and paid to OHA going forward, with greater accountability from the state.

“OHA’s support for SB903 reflects both responsibility and urgency,” said Summer Sylva, OHA interim chief administrator. “At a time of growing federal funding uncertainty and increasing pressure on Native Hawaiian-serving programs, the immediate release of $55 million in Public Land Trust funds is critical. These are resources already owed to Native Hawaiians, and they strengthen OHA’s ability to respond to external pressures that threaten programs our communities depend on. For years, OHA has been careful not to advance processes that predetermine outcomes for our people. That has not changed. What this measure also does is create space for Native Hawaiians to lead a broader conversation about ea, political and economic autonomy, and the state’s continuing obligations to our people.”

For many years, OHA – and the broader Native Hawaiian community – have approached master settlement proposals with scrutiny and circumspection, particularly when proposals overreached or sought to control matters that legally and morally belong to the Native Hawaiian community alone. That caution has been grounded in a core principle: the future of Native Hawaiian self-governance must not be predetermined for Native Hawaiians. That principle remains unchanged.

What has changed is the urgency of the moment.

As federal support becomes less certain, Native Hawaiians are increasingly confronted with important questions: how do we exercise greater political and economic autonomy consistent with our values and our obligations to past, present, and future generations? What pathways to exercising ea exist – not only familiar ones, but those yet to be explored? And how must the state remain accountable for helping correct past and present injustices while serving as a constructive partner moving forward?

OHA believes the necessary conditions, boundaries, and safeguards are now in place to allow these conversations to proceed in good faith. OHA enters this process with eyes wide open and with clear expectations established at the outset, while remaining equally clear that the substance, direction, and ultimate decisions must be determined wholly and fully by Native Hawaiians.

SB903 does not alter those fundamental principles.

• It does not compel a master settlement.
• It does not diminish OHA’s autonomy.
• It does not decide Native Hawaiian self-governance.

“The Board of Trustees remains firmly grounded in a simple principle,” said Chairperson Kaialiʻi Kahele. “The future of Native Hawaiian self-determination will be determined by Native Hawaiians. The release of these long-overdue resources strengthens OHA’s ability to respond at a critical moment of funding uncertainty and continued challenges to Native Hawaiian-serving programs. Our responsibility is not only to protect that principle, but to help build the stronger political, economic, and institutional foundations that present and future generations will need to exercise it.”

OHA extends its mahalo to the House and Senate conferees, their respective committees, and members of the Native Hawaiian Caucus for their leadership and care in advancing this measure. OHA also extends special appreciation to Speaker Nadine Nakamura, Senate President Ronald Kouchi, Representatives Tarnas, Todd and Kahaloa, and Senators Dela Cruz, Richards, and Keohokalole for championing this issue throughout the 2026 legislative session and for standing alongside Native Hawaiians and OHA in carrying this important kuleana.

The post Legislature Releases $55M Owed to OHA appeared first on Ka Wai Ola.

ʻĀinahoʻi (land back), the theme for this year’s summit, amplified the collective movement to reclaim our ʻāina and our future by showcasing some of the creative ways that communities are not just navigating but challenging existing systems through legal frameworks, nonprofit land trusts, and grassroots action. It is a call for ʻāina to be returned to community stewardship and the importance of seeing land as ʻāina to ensure a regenerative future.

With a focus on micro to macro approaches to ʻĀinahoʻi – from strengthening relationships to ʻāina to advancing self- determined governance rooted in ancestral innovation and courage – the summit featured three panels: Aliʻi Trusts and Land Legacy; Nonprofits and Land Trusts; and Community Governance and Land Return.

The day began with mele aloha ʻāina by musician Raiatea Helm. Host and emcee, Dr. Kamana Beamer, opened the event with a presentation on Hawaiian Land Tenure, emphasizing that the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi’s original 1840 constitution stated that the people of Hawaiʻi belong to the land in perpetuity and guaranteed our rights to the ʻāina.

Keynote speaker for the event was Justice Joe Williams, Aotearoa’s first Māori Supreme Court justice who addressed the colonization of Aotearoa. Referencing his kuleana to oversee the system that has affected so much loss for the Māori people, Williams shared the story of 19th century Māori resistance leader Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Tūriki saying, with regard to using the master’s tools to unpick its injustices, “I think the master’s tools will do just fine.”

The first panel on Aliʻi Trusts and Land Legacy was moderated by former Kamehameha Schools executive and Hoʻokele Strategies CEO Neil Hannahs. Panelists included Kamehameha Schools Trustee Dr. Noelani Goodyear-Kaʻōpua, Office of Hawaiian Affairs Board of Trustees Chair Kaialiʻi Kahele, and Hawaiian Homes Commission Chairman Kali Watson.

Panelists discussed the importance of collaboration and synergy between the Aliʻi Trusts (to include the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands) providing examples of how that is already happening. During the course of the discussion it was noted that, collectively, our Aliʻi Trusts, OHA and DHHL control hundreds of thousands of acres. “When you put it all together, weʻre talking about nationhood,” said Watson.

Nonprofits & Land Trusts, the second panel, was moderated by attorney Mahina Tuteur and included Trust for Public Land Aloha ʻĀina Project Manager Reyna Hayashi, Lahaina Community Land Trust Executive Director Autumn Ness, and Ka Huli Ao Center for Excellence in Native Hawaiian Law Director Kapua Sproat.

Their conversation touched on the tension of operating within the American real estate system that views land as a commodity while honoring the Hawaiian worldview wherein land cannot be owned. With goals ranging from preserving conservation lands to protecting residential land from being scooped up by outside investors, panelists talked about various strategies – the most straightforward (and expensive) of which is buying back our lands and placing them in land trusts or conservation easements.

The final panel of the day was Community Governance & Land Return moderated by Beamer. Panelists included NDN Collective Senior Domestic Policy Strategist Davis Price, Koʻihonua Executive Director Camille Kalama, Nation of Hawaiʻi Deputy Head of State Brandon Makaʻawaʻawa, and Hawaiian Studies Professor Kaipu Keala representing the Protect Kahoʻolawe ʻOhana.

Their discussions centered on resisting militarism and asserting our personal and collective sovereignty. Noting that sometimes, we have to “get in front of the trucks,” Kalama said that some of our biggest wins have been when the community shows up. “The ones living in relationships with that ʻāina are the fiercest, strongest, most peaceful fighters for those places. There are strategies and tactics for doing that. We can still survive as a people in the face of the biggest, most powerful and lawless military – at this point – on the planet.”

Wrapping up the ʻĀinahoʻi discussions and touching on current community conversations around military land leases, Beamer challenged the audience to question the status quo.

“The military industrial complex creates an economy of death and I believe Hawaiʻi deserves better,” Beamer said. “I believe we can do better to create jobs and wellbeing and life in our islands than to continue to support weapons that destroy our ʻāina, that kill and damage ecosystems, and are basically training grounds to kill other people across the planet. We can’t be the epicenter of that any longer.”

The post A Call to Return ʻĀina to Community Stewardship – The 2026 Piʻo Summit appeared first on Ka Wai Ola.

The focus of the Kalima class-action claims payment process at this point is to identify the correct heirs and devisees of Deceased Class Members, so that payments can be made to them under the court-approved Probate Plan.

Probate Special Master Emily Kawashima and Probate Special Counsel Scott Suzuki have presented 27 Petitions to the Probate Court as of March 9, 2026. These petitions have collectively paid nearly $53 million to the estates of over 700 Deceased Class Members.

Approximately $180 million has been paid to the 1,301 Living Class Members, a 99.7% claims payment rate. Typical class actions have payment rates of approximately 10%.

Complex Probate Process

Under the court-approved Probate Plan, the Court has ordered the Probate Special Master and Probate Special Counsel to review the estates of every Deceased Class Member. Approximately 30 estates are reviewed each month by the Probate Court. Many of the Deceased Class Members passed away years ago. Records of estate plans and the whereabouts of their heirs are difficult to determine because of the passage of time. Additional time and research is needed for the estates of the Deceased Class Members who have not yet been included in a probate petition to be sure all procedural safeguards are thoroughly addressed.

If you have information regarding a Deceased Class Member and/or their family members, please complete the following two forms: the Deceased Class Member Information Form and the Detailed Family Information Form. These forms, as well as other information about this case, are available at the kalima-lawsuit.com website. Please also be sure to update the records if any information you submitted before has changed. You can also call the Claims Administrator at (808) 650-5551 or 1-833-639-1308 (Toll-Free), to obtain or provide information.

Attorney Talk Story

For more information about the probate process and the case status, interested persons are invited to attend a Talk Story with Class Counsel Thomas Grande and Carl Varady, as well as with Probate Special Master Emily Kawashima and Probate Special Counsel Scott Suzuki. The next Talk Story will take place on Tuesday, April 14, at 5:00 p.m. via Zoom or by telephone. Go to kalima-lawsuit.com for the Zoom link and telephone information.

The post Kalima Lawsuit Update: Probate Process appeared first on Ka Wai Ola.

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By Cameron Clark, Kaleionaia K-aloha and Jamee Miller

It began quietly, as many movements do.

A small group of Native Hawaiian youth, friends since the age of four, moved through childhood as best friends: playing, learning, and imagining futures rooted in education, leadership, and connection to ʻāina. They did not grow up talking about the justice system.

It was only in their teenage years that a shared reality came into focus: family members who were incarcerated and the weight of intergenerational involvement with a system that had shaped their lives long before they could name it.

They understood that while they could not change the past or the circumstances they were born into, they could shape what came next. Over the course of one weekend, they made a collective decision to speak openly, support one another, and transform lived experience into action, working toward a future defined not by the impact of incarceration within their ʻohana, but by opportunity, healing, and self-determination. From that decision, Nā ʻŌpio Waiwai (NOW) was born.

NOW emerged within ʻEkolu Mea Nui (EMN), a Native Hawaiian ʻohana-led nonprofit working to transform Hawaiʻi’s justice system through cultural practice, lived experience, and values rooted in ʻāina aloha – the understanding that ʻāina is a living relative inseparable from the wellbeing of people and communities.

EMN operates at the intersection of grassroots leadership, policy, and systems change, bridging community voices with institutional decision-making to strengthen the futures of youth and families impacted by incarceration across Hawaiʻi.

From that foundation, NOW became a youth-led council built on voice, mentorship, and community. Young people speak for themselves, shaping solutions to prevent intergenerational incarceration by redefining accountability through healing, family, and culture.

In 2024, NOW youth were introduced to the legislative process by leaders from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Hawaiʻi who explained how laws are shaped and how testimony can become a tool for transformation. By the start of the 2025 Legislative Session, they were no longer just observers; they were ready to be active participants in the democratic process.

Together, EMN and the NOW Youth Council stepped into statewide leadership through the Debt Free Justice Hawaiʻi (DFJ-HI) campaign, joining national DFJ partners to eliminate the fees and fines imposed on minors in Hawaiʻi’s juvenile legal system.

Guided by NOW’s youth voices and lived experiences, EMN is working alongside community leaders, justice system experts, and institutional partners across Hawaiʻi to improve outcomes for youth by removing financial penalties that hinder true accountability and rehabilitation.

Juvenile court financial penalties do not create accountability; they create debt, deepen inequity, and place an added burden on families already navigating harm.

According to the Hawaiʻi Department of Human Services (DHS), Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) youth make up 56% of all youth adjudicated in state juvenile court proceedings. With an estimated $40,000 in juvenile financial penalties assessed to NHPI youth and their families each year, these monetary sanctions reinforce cycles of punishment rather than on repair and accountability.

And despite all the harm these fines and fees create, they generate no meaningful revenue for the courts. A judiciary report confirmed that, from 2019 to 2024, youth and their families only managed to pay 17% of the fines ordered against them in juvenile cases.

In March 2025, NOW youth drafted House Concurrent Resolution 174 (Grandinetti), a measure that was unanimously adopted in both the Hawaiʻi State House and Senate. The resolution calls for increased investment in ʻāina-based community service programs for youth, signaling a shift away from punitive financial penalties toward culturally grounded accountability.

Through this process, NOW youth witnessed firsthand how their political advocacy could create change in Hawaiʻi. With DHS and the Juvenile Justice State Advisory Council actively implementing their recommendations, the NOW resolution became the foundation for bold legislative reforms, marking the transition from youth advocacy to youth policymaking.

The passage of the resolution marked a milestone but not an ending.

As the 2026 Legislative Session commences, EMN and NOW are proud to support House Bill 1626 (Tarnas) and Senate Bill 2540 (Kouchi), companion bills that aim to fully replace Hawaiʻi juvenile fees and fines with culturally aligned, ʻāina-based rehabilitation and accountability programs. These measures reflect growing recognition that monetary sanctions do not improve youth outcomes or public safety, and that accountability must be rooted in healing rather than harm.

Debt Free Justice Hawaiʻi is supported by Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander families, youth leaders, community organizations, and legal advocates statewide, as well as a growing coalition of lawmakers committed to equity, culturally grounded solutions, and youth wellbeing.

EMN and NOW are incredibly grateful to Senate President Ronald Kouchi and Rep. David Tarnas for championing this measure, as well as leaders in the House (Vice Speaker Ichiyama and Rep. Marten) and Senate (Sen. San Buenaventura and Sen. Rhoads) for their earnest engagement with the Debt Free Justice Hawaiʻi campaign.

For NOW youth, the work moving through the 2026 session represents something larger than a single bill. It is a continuation of a vision grounded in ʻāina aloha, collective responsibility, and the belief that while systems may be inherited, futures can be changed. The question is no longer whether young people are ready to lead. It is whether we are ready to follow.

For more information: ekolumeanui.org, ekolumeanui.org/youth, debtfreejustice.org

Cameron D. Clark is an attorney and co-coordinator of Debt Free Justice, the national campaign to end fees and fines for youth. Kaleionaia K-aloha is co-executive director of ʻEkolu Mea Nui and an advocate for culturally rooted justice reform, food sovereignty, and land-based healing. Dr. Jamee Māhealani Miller is co-founder and co-executive director of ʻEkolu Mea Nui and an advocate for culturally grounded initiatives that reimagine justice, reentry, and workforce development as pathways to healing, resilience, and economic empowerment.

The post Youth Advocacy to Transform Hawaiʻi’s Justice System appeared first on Ka Wai Ola.

In both places, these communities rejected the premise that their homelands could be treated as strategic assets rather than places of kinship, memory, culture, and political authority.

In Nuuk, the capital of Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland), thousands gathered in what the Naalakkersuisut (the Greenlandic government) described as the largest protest in the country’s history. Participants carried the red and white Erfalasorput flag and chanted, “Kalaallit Nunaat, Kalaallit pigaat.” Translated, it means “Greenland belongs to Greenlanders.”

The demonstration followed renewed and aggressive annexation rhetoric from U.S. political leaders, framed through the lens of national security, Arctic competition and tariffs. Greenlandic officials have made it clear that they vehemently oppose annexation of their country to the United States.

Meanwhile, in Honolulu, in a pair of back-to-back marches held on January 16 and 17, thousands of Kānaka Maoli marched from Maunaʻala to ʻIolani Palace to mark 133 years since the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom on January 17, 1893.

The annual ʻOnipaʻa observance recalls the intersection of economic pressure, political maneuvering, and the enforcement of U.S. Marines that ended the constitutional government of Queen Liliʻuokalani.

Kalaallit Nunaat means “the land of the Kalaallit” and is the Indigenous name for Greenland. The Kalaallit are Inuit and they comprise about 90% of the population. The name reflects political and demographic reality. Kalaallit Nunaat is an Indigenous homeland with its own parliament, electorate, and language. Greenlandic Inuit is the sole official language of the country, and cultural revitalization efforts have been central to contemporary public life.

Danish colonization of Kalaallit Nunaat began in 1721. Trade, missionization, and administrative governance gradually reshaped Inuit society. In the 20th century, colonial policy emphasized modernization and integration.

In 1951, Danish authorities removed Inuit children from their families to be educated in Denmark in what later became known as the “Little Danes” project. Inuit women were also subjected to coercive birth control measures in what is now referred to as the “Spiral Case.” These initiatives were framed as “reform.” Their consequences included family separation and intergenerational harm that remain within living memory.

Since 1979, Kalaallit Nunaat has exercised home rule and expanded self-government while temporarily remaining within the Kingdom of Denmark. Across party lines, there is broad support for eventual independence. Debate centers on economic sustainability and institutional capacity, but independence is widely discussed as a matter of when, not if.

U.S. interest in Kalaallit Nunaat is not new. American officials discussed its annexation in the 19th century during the same period of territorial expansion that included the U.S. “purchase” of Alaska from Russia and its growing interest in Puʻuloa (Pearl Harbor).

Some proposals imagined exchanging Kalaallit Nunaat for Mindanao during the American colonial period in the Philippines. After World War II, the Truman administration formally offered Denmark one hundred million dollars in gold for the island. Denmark declined.

Kalaallit Nunaat’s geographic position between North America and Europe placed it within Cold War defense planning. That logic shaped the construction of Thule Air Base, now Pituffik Space Base, and the forced relocation of Inuit families in the early 1950s.

It also shaped the response to the 1968 crash of a U.S. bomber carrying nuclear weapons near Thule, which dispersed radioactive contamination around the settlement of Narssassuk. That episode remains a historical flashpoint.

Recent arguments in Washington, D.C., once again emphasize tariffs and Kalaallit Nunaat’s strategic value. For many in Hawaiʻi, the structure of those arguments is familiar.

In the late 19th century, U.S. tariff policy destabilized the Hawaiian Kingdom. The McKinley Tariff of 1890 altered Hawaiʻi’s economic position and strained the Reciprocity Treaty. Within three years, U.S. Marines landed in Honolulu.

By 1898, Hawaiʻi, and particularly Puʻuloa, was described as “indispensable” to American military supremacy in the Pacific. Comparable political rhetoric today characterizes Kalaallit Nunaat as essential to Arctic security and geopolitical competition for the U.S.

The prioritization of strategic value over local consent persists in Hawaiʻi today.

At the Pōhakuloa Training Area, the military controls 133,000 acres of conservation-zoned land which it uses for training. Pōhakuloa sits above an aquifer and lies within a landscape dense with ancestral trails, burials, and cultural sites, yet its cultural and ecological importance is treated as peripheral to its value for U.S. national defense.

Across the Pacific, similar thinking continues to shape policy in Guåhan (Guam), the Marshall Islands, and Okinawa, where Indigenous lands host substantial U.S. military infrastructure. U.S. expansion beyond the North American continent is framed as a military necessity and as an economic benefit to impacted communities. Their consent becomes secondary and any resistance is reframed as ingratitude.

For many Kānaka Maoli, the renewed discussion of the annexation of Kalaallit Nunaat – regardless of what its Indigenous population wants – generates a visceral reaction based on historical resonance.

The Kūʻē Petitions of 1897, signed by 95% of Native Hawaiians who were living at that time, remain documentary evidence that annexation did not reflect the will of the Hawaiian people. The annual ʻOnipaʻa March is a reminder of this continued resistance.

In Kalaallit Nunaat, protesters are stating their position with equal clarity. When they declare that Kalaallit Nunaat belongs to the Kalaallit, they are asserting political authority over their homeland in defiance of the rhetoric that attempts to diminish their land and sovereignty as nothing more than a foreign country’s strategic military asset.

The post Threats to Greenland Recall the Annexation of Hawaiʻi appeared first on Ka Wai Ola.

Unuhi ʻia e Paige M. K. Okamura

Mai ke kupu ʻana mai o nā ʻāʻumeʻume o ke Aupuni Hawaiʻi a hiki i kēia lā me nā kānaka kākoʻo moʻomeheu Hawaiʻi he nui, piha ka moʻolelo no nā ʻahahui siwila Hawaiʻi i ke kūpaʻa ʻana, ke kālailai ʻana, me ka ʻauamo kuleana ʻana ma o nā hanauna.

Ma ke kenekulia ʻumikūmāiwa, hoʻākoakoa maila nā hui siwila Hawaiʻi, e laʻa me ka Hui Kālaiʻāina a me ka Hui Aloha ʻĀina, i nā Kānaka Maoli he ʻumi kaukani a ʻoi e kūpaʻa ma hope o ke kānāwai o ke aupuni, ke kūʻokoʻa o ka lāhui, me ka mana o ke Aupuni Hawaiʻi.

Ua maopopo leʻa kēia mau hui, he kuleana ke kālaiʻaina. ʻO nā palapala hoʻopiʻi, nā hālāwai lehulehu, me nā nūpepa he mau mea e mālama mau ʻana i ke ea o ka lāhui Hawaiʻi. ʻAʻole i nalo kēia manaʻo kālaiʻāina ma hope o ka hoʻokahuli ʻia o ke aupuni.

I ka makahiki 1914, ua hoʻokumu ʻia ka ʻAhahui Puʻuhonua o nā Hawaiʻi, ʻo ia hoʻi ma ka ʻōlelo Pelekānia, ka Hawaiian Protective Association.

Ma lalo o ke alakaʻi ʻana o ke Keiki Aliʻi Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole a me kekahi mau alakaʻi o ke kālaiʻāina Hawaiʻi, e ʻimi ana i ala no ka mālama ʻana i ka lāhui Hawaiʻi ma ka wā o ka Kelikoli o Hawaiʻi. Ua kālailai ʻia nā pilikia o ke olakino, ka lilo ʻana o ka ʻāina, me ka hoʻoluhi hewa ʻana i ka waiwai o ke Aupuni, a ua kōkua lākou ma ka hoʻokumu ʻana i ke Kānāwai Komisina ʻĀina Hawaiʻi.

ʻAʻole ia he hui kulekele wale nō. He hōʻike ia i ke ākea, he lāhui ikaika ka lāhui Hawaiʻi ma ka hoʻākoakoa ʻana iā lākou iho, ka hoʻonohonoho ʻana iā lākou iho, ke kūkākūkā pū ʻana, a me ke kākoʻo ʻana i ko lākou lāhui ponoʻī ʻoiai lākou e noho ʻana ma lalo o ka hoʻokolonaio ʻia ʻana.

A i ka makahiki 1917, ua ʻike nō ʻo Kūhiō i kahi pilikia hou aku e kupu aʻe ana me ka lilo ʻana o nā mana politika: ka hoʻēmi ʻia ʻana o ka ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi me ka moʻomeheu Hawaiʻi.

ʻO ka hoʻonaʻauao ʻana ma ka ʻōlelo Pelekānia wale nō, ka hoʻokiwikā ʻana, a me ka mīkā launa kanaka nā mea i hoʻokaʻawale i nā Kānaka Maoli mai ka ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi, ka ʻike kuʻuna, ka mōʻaukala, a pēlā pū mai kekahi i kekahi. Noho ana nā Kānaka Maoli ma kekahi nohona i mālama ʻole ʻia ko lākou mauli me ka hoʻokikina pū iā lākou e hoʻokemua pū.

Me he mea lā, ʻike ʻole ʻia nā Kānaka Maoli – a pēlā pū nō hoʻi me Kūhiō – ma ko lākou ʻāina ponoʻī. Ua maopopo iā Kūhiō, ʻaʻole e lawa ana ka hana kālaiʻāina me ka ʻole o ke kahua paʻa i ka moʻomeheu Hawaiʻi. I ola mau ai ka lāhui, ua pono nā hui i hiki ke kākoʻo i nā Kānaka Maoli e kūpaʻa, kaʻana i ka ʻike kupuna, a hoʻoulu i ke alakaʻi ʻana i paʻa i nā waiwai Hawaiʻi.

I ka makahiki 1918, hoʻokumu ihola ʻo Kūhiō me kona mau hoa i ka ʻahahui Hawaiʻi mua loa (ka hui siwila nō hoʻi). Akāka leʻa ka pahuhopu o ia mau hui. He mau hui pili ʻole i nā ʻaoʻao politika me ka hoʻomana ʻana.

Hoʻomanaʻo aʻela ka Luna Kānāwai ʻo Alexander G.M. Robertson, “. . .Ua makemake ʻo ia [Kūhiō] i ka hoʻonaʻauao ʻia ʻana o nā kānaka Hawaiʻi. Ua makemake ʻo ia iā lākou e hoʻolana kekahi i kekahi. Ua makemake ʻo ia e hoʻokomo a e paipai a pono ke kūlana waiwai, ke kūlana akeakamai, a me ke olakino i loko o kona kaiaulu a ua makemake maoli ʻo ia e mau ka moʻomeheu Hawaiʻi no ka pono o ko Hawaiʻi ponoʻī a pau. . .”

Ua hoʻokumu ʻia ka papahana ʻAhahui Siwila Hawaiʻi i wahi i hiki i nā kānaka ke aʻo mai i ka hana a ke aupuni, ka hoʻomaʻamaʻa ʻana i ke alakaʻi, a me ke kūpaʻa ʻana no ka pono o ko lākou lāhui ponoʻī. ʻO ia hoʻi, ʻo ka pahuhopu nui o ka hoʻokumu ʻana i kēia mau hui, ʻo ia ke kūmau ʻana o nā Kānaka Maoli i loko o nā hihia o ke au e neʻe nei.

ʻAe ʻia nā kānaka Hawaiʻi ʻole e komo i kekahi o nā ʻahahui siwila inā he pilina paha ko lākou me kekahi ʻohana Hawaiʻi, a i ʻole nui ko lākou ʻiʻini e kākoʻo i nā Kānaka Maoli ma o ke aʻo ʻana mai i ka moʻolelo Hawaiʻi me ka moʻomeheu Hawaiʻi.

A hala hoʻokahi kenekulia a ʻoi, mau nō ia pahuhopu. I kēia manawa, he kanaono ʻahahui siwila Hawaiʻi me ʻehā tausani lālā ma Hawaiʻi a ma ka ʻāina ʻē kekahi. Hoʻolako ia mau ʻahahui i nā puʻu kālā no ka hele kula ʻana, nā papahana alakaʻi ʻōpio, mālama lākou i nā loʻi me nā loko iʻa a mālama lākou i nā papahana pili i ka moʻomeheu Hawaiʻi. Hoʻolālā lākou i nā ʻaha nui, nā ʻaha hoʻomanaʻo, aʻo aku i nā loina, a hoʻokumu i mau kīpuka kahi e ola ai ka ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi me ka ʻike kuʻuna ma waho o ka hale waihona palapala.

Ma ka ʻāina ʻē, he kikowaena nā ʻahahui siwila no nā Kānaka Maoli no waho o Hawaiʻi. He mau kīpuka no lākou e ʻākoakoa pū ai ma ke ʻano he mau Kānaka Maoli.

Hana ʻia kēia mau mea nei i loko o ka ʻōnaehana politika i hana ʻia ma hope o ka hoʻokahuli hewa ʻia ʻana o ke Aupuni Mōʻī o Hawaiʻi, a mau nō ia hana i kēia wā i loko nō o ka hoʻokolonaio ʻia ʻana o Hawaiʻi. ʻO ke komo ʻana i ka hana siwila, ʻaʻole ia e kūʻē i ka lāhui Hawaiʻi – he mea e kū maoli i ka lāhui Hawaiʻi. He hana ia e mālama ai i ke ola o ka lāhui, ka pale ʻana i nā ʻeha, ke kūkulu ʻana i ka mākaukau, a me ka mālama ʻana i ke aupuni kūʻokoʻa.

ʻO ka hana politika me ke akeakamai ka hana koʻikoʻi e mālama mau i ka ʻāina, ka ʻōlelo, a me ke kaiaulu me ka hoʻomākaukau ʻana i nā alakaʻi o ka lāhui i maopopo i ke kānāwai, nā palapala kānāwai, me ka waiwai o ka launakaʻi ʻana.

Mai ka Hui Kālaiʻāina a i ka ʻAhahui Puʻuhonua o nā Hawaiʻi a i nā ʻahahui siwila Hawaiʻi ʻē aʻe o kēia wā, he mau hōʻike kēia mau ʻahahui i ka ʻauamo ʻana o nā kānaka i kēia kuleana koʻikoʻi. Na nā ʻahahui siwila Hawaiʻi e ʻauamo i ia kuleana me ka holomua. Mālama lākou i ka ʻāina, nā kānaka, ka ʻōlelo, me ka hoʻohaliʻaliʻa ʻana o ka wā ma mua.

Hoʻomanaʻo maila lākou iā kākou, he mea ʻole ke ʻano o ke aupuni i ka ikaika o ka lāhui Hawaiʻi, ʻaʻole ia he mea kūʻē i nā Kānaka Maoli ma ka hoʻokele ʻana iā kākou iho, ka mālama ʻana i ko kākou mau kaiaulu, me ka waele ʻana i ke ala kūpono a kākou e huakaʻi ai no ka wā e hiki mai ana.

The post ʻAʻole e Kūʻē ka Hana Siwila i ka Lāhui appeared first on Ka Wai Ola.

Na Kaimana Bacarse, Dre Kalili, a me Malia Nobrega-Olivera

Prince Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole, a visionary aliʻi and statesman, established the first Hawaiian Civic Club because he understood that the Hawaiian people needed education to thrive in a changing world. His vision of education was not strictly Western, but an adaptive framework that firmly rooted Hawaiians in their cultural identity.

Today, the resulting Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs’ (AOHCC) work encompasses education, health, housing, economic development, wellbeing, and self-determination, but its commitment to the proliferation of ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi is a focal point.

For AOHCC, the preservation, revitalization, and normalization of ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi is an act of sovereignty to ensure our language lives in Hawaiʻi and beyond. Hawaiian Civic Club members, individually and collectively, aim to integrate ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi into everyday life, from government proceedings to community gatherings, ensuring it remains a primary medium of expression for future generations.

During AOHCC deliberations, observers may hear motions made in ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi alongside other phrases found in Nā Lula Hālāwai, a Hawaiian companion to Robert’s Rules of Order. There are at least two Hawaiian Civic Clubs whose members conduct business only in Hawaiian language.

Annual convention participants wear badges designating their status as ʻElele, ʻElele Pani, or Lālā. AOHCC’s standing committees routinely adopt resolutions at the annual convention that are written in both languages.

AOHCC’s most powerful tool is its collection of adopted resolutions. Each year, dozens of these adopted resolutions form the AOHCC’s advocacy platforms and priorities and several emphasize ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi, its use, and education. Here are a few examples of how this organization takes action to amplify the voice of the lāhui:

• Urging a state ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi Commission;
• Calling on the Board of Education to fulfill its obligations to provide Hawaiian immersion education;
• Bolstering legal requirements for Hawaiian language interpretation services;
• Restoring Hawaiian language place names, including Pāʻulaʻula at the Russian fort in Waimea, Kauaʻi; and
• Requesting a minimum Hawaiian language requirement for state government spokespersons.

These resolutions also honor the work of partners and institutions like ʻAha Pūnana Leo, Ka Haka ʻUla o Keʻelikōlani, ʻAhahui ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi, and Awaiaulu for their achievements in language proliferation, as well as business like Bank of Hawaiʻi when it incorporated ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi in its ATMs.

Each year, AOHCC finds new ways to honor its commitment to advancing the Hawaiian language. In 2025, commentators at one of the review stands along the Prince Kūhiō Parade route announced the units in Hawaiian. In 2026, in celebration of Mahina ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi, AOHCC will sponsor Ola Ka ʻĪ: Hawaiian Language Thrives and will provide the cash prizes for the hoʻokūkū ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi or Hawaiian language speech competitions for students of all ages.

Through these efforts, the Hawaiian Civic Club movement fosters a new generation of leaders fluent in our language that fulfills Prince Kūhiō’s dream of a thriving, self-determined people.

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From the early political struggles of the Hawaiian Kingdom to the wide network of cultural advocates today, the story of Hawaiian civic organization is one of continuity, strategy, and kuleana over generations.

In the 19th century, organizations such as Hui Kālaiʻāina and Hui Aloha ʻĀina mobilized tens of thousands of Kānaka Maoli to defend constitutional governance, national sovereignty, and the authority of the Hawaiian Kingdom. These groups understood politics as a responsibility. Petitions, public meetings, and newspapers were tools for collective survival. Even after the overthrow, this political consciousness did not disappear.

In 1914, that lineage continued with the formation of ʻAhahui Puʻuhonua o nā Hawaiʻi, known in English as the Hawaiian Protective Association.

Organized under the leadership of Prince Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole, alongside other Native Hawaiian political leaders, the association sought to protect Hawaiian welfare during the early Territorial period. It addressed education, health, land loss, and economic marginalization, and it helped lay the groundwork for the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act.

More than a policy group, it was an assertion that Kānaka Maoli would continue to organize themselves, speak collectively, and advocate for their people even within a colonial system imposed upon them.

By 1917, Kūhiō recognized another crisis unfolding alongside political dispossession: Hawaiian language and cultural practice were rapidly fading.

English-only schooling, urbanization, and social pressure had disconnected many Kānaka Maoli from ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi, traditional knowledge, history, and one another. Kānaka Maoli were navigating a society that devalued their identity while demanding their assimilation.

Kānaka Maoli, including himself, were feeling invisible in their own homeland. Kūhiō understood that political advocacy without cultural grounding would not be enough. The survival of the lāhui required institutions that could restore confidence, transmit knowledge, and cultivate leadership rooted in Hawaiian values.

In 1918, Prince Kūhiō and his colleagues established what became the first Hawaiian Civic Club. The vision was intentional. The clubs would be nonpartisan and nonsectarian.

Judge Alexander G.M. Robertson recounts that “. . .He [Prince Kūhiō] wanted Hawaiians to be educated. He wanted them to elevate each other. He wanted to instill in and promote the economic, intellectual, social status, and wellbeing of Hawaiians in his community and he wanted sincerely to see Hawaiʻi’s culture to be forever preserved, not only for the Hawaiian but for all Hawaiʻi. . .”

The Hawaiian Civic Club movement was meant to be a place where Kānaka Maoli could learn how government worked, practice leadership, and stand accountable to their people. In other words, these clubs were created so Kānaka Maoli would not disappear from public life, but would be seen, heard, and uplifted.

Many Hawaiian Civic Clubs have also grown into welcoming spaces where non-Hawaiians, particularly those with Hawaiian family ties or a sincere commitment to learning, can engage respectfully with Hawaiian history, values, and cultural practices.

More than a century later, that vision endures. Currently, the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs includes about 60 clubs and nearly 4,000 members across Hawaiʻi and the continent. Clubs provide scholarships, mentor youth, steward wahi pana, restore loʻi and fishponds, and host cultural education programs. They organize conventions, commemorations, teach protocol, and create spaces where Hawaiian language and practice are lived rather than archived.

On the continent, civic clubs anchor diaspora communities, offering Kānaka Maoli far from home a place to gather, remember, and act together as Kānaka Maoli.

This work takes place inside a political system created through the illegal overthrow and maintained through occupation. Civic engagement within that system does not negate the reality of Hawaiian nationhood. But it is a strategy for survival, harm reduction, capacity building, and self-government.

Informed political participation allows Kānaka Maoli to protect land, language, and community while preparing leaders who understand law, policy, and networking.

From Hui Kalaiʻāina to ʻAhahui Puʻuhonua o nā Hawaiʻi to the Hawaiian civic clubs of today, Hawaiian political organization has always been an expression of kuleana. The Hawaiian civic clubs carry that responsibility forward. They care for place, for people, for language, and for memory.

They remind us that no matter the form of government, Kānaka Maoli have never stopped governing ourselves, organizing our communities, and shaping our future.

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