Clifford Kapono 1-5-16… “What Hawaiian history and economic books are not telling you”

This was a post I found on a FB feed, and felt it was information about Hawaii history which some may wish to read. More photos are available at the Facebook post.

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What Hawaiian history and economic books are not telling you

Having honey, lemon and cinnamon tea this morning wondering why Hawaiians are failing to grab an economic argument for independence and are still hung up on the law, I was thinking.

Prior to 1778 our economy as understood by western definition was classified as a “Tribute Based Economy”. What we glean from this supposition are the various indicators that suggested full employment meaning, through a western lens, everyone was working and we had leisure time which is critical in understanding the efficacy of any economic system. We worked to the point of sustainability employing our math and science with ample time off to pursue art, like surfing. The value of our currency at that time was measured in terms of “Aloha”. This is what was traded and in return, we were satisfied with tangible goods and services.

What the westerners eventually introduced to Hawaii was a cash based economy under the economic philosophy of colonialism. Within this structure of economics, currency was the measurement of value expressed in legal tender or money and no longer in “Aloha”. King Kamehameha III through counsel of the foreigners, switched the method of taxation from aloha to currency, mandating the Hawaiian to work for money as opposed to working for “Aloha”.

For Hawaiians now working the sugar plantations of the intruder, his labor had no significant return. The haoles pillaged the land for a natural product that would grow without forced labor and coercive management if left alone but their focus of extreme monoculture and intense labor made no sense to the Hawaiian. The measured outcome of money as opposed to “Aloha” made no sense. What would the Hawaiian do with the money? Everything we need is supplied daily in the mountains and the ocean for free. Why would we have to pay for those things that Akua had provided as promised? Even the haole missionaries spoke the same words from their bible saying “God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory“. This is why the missionaries made sense some of the time but not always.

So when Akua blessed the Hawaiian on their ʻāina with the fruit of His promise as the missionaries always told us, “and the LORD your God will prosper you abundantly in all that you do, along with your children, your livestock, and the produce of your fields, because the LORD your God will again be delighted with you for good, just as he was delighted with your ancestors,” Hawaiians saw this come to pass. The sugar grew everywhere here on our land but the intruders took our blessings for them and denied us the promise of Akua even as the missionaries said the blessing was ours. And it became clear to all Hawaiians the intruders were evil. And so our Moʻi decided to give his portion of the ʻāina to the Hawaiian so they could be blessed as Akua had promised because left to the intruder we would suffer needlessly.

These colonialistic practices of the intruder eventually bought tremendous wealth to them at our expense. Their greed became their addiction and in feeding their habit they stole our Kingdom and forced us out of our own government by denying us the right to vote; as they alluded to a democracy that only applied to them. The United States co-conspired as a partner in this illegal action to secure a military position in Hawaii at Pearl Harbor with their law preempting Hawaiian law. These treasonous revolutionaries were the greed addicted children of the missionaries that lied to us. It was the missionaries that shamed us into believing that we were wrong not in our thinking but in our person there was nothing good in the Hawaiian and we were ashamed.

The first generation under the US Territory of Hawaii continued to operate under the classic form of colonialism with the sugar plantations being the major economic driver for Hawaii. Sugar was the trigger that caused everything to happen. If you worked for the plantation they gave you a substandard house, minimum healthcare and a plantation store. Since the price of goods at the store was never raised, no one ever got a pay raise and so the people worked as indentured servants for the wealth plantation owners.

By 1920 the US Military has established itself in Hawaii strategically. Itʻs presence in Honolulu at Pearl Harbor provided competitive employment to Hawaiians and those migrant farm workers who worked the plantations. Those working for the oppressive plantations directly or indirectly soon left for better wages. Although the wage or personal income increased demonstratively, spending was still limited to the plantation stores and their retail outlets. In 1927 Sears & Roebuck comes to Hawaii giving people a competitive opportunity for goods and some services that disrupted the cash flow of the plantations and at the same time introduced inflation. Limited to those few goods that could be shipped to Hawaii there was too much cash chasing too few goods for consumption, ergo inflation. The intruders leverage inflation as a means of increasing profit margins without comparable quality on imported goods or services.

Clifford Kapono

This story gets too long to tell in this post………….If you are interested in what happened, I suggest you read or get my book. You can get it from the Hawaii Public Library “Historical [Historic] Photos of Honolulu”. It tells the history from 1860 -1960 in photojournalism. You can get 100 years of history in 15 minutes. I thought this the best means to teach history to Hawaiians who are no interested in a lot of wasted words.

jus sayʻn