Why are Native Hawaiians so upset about the court decision?
The court decision represents another blow to the future of Native Hawaiian culture, which has been slowly eroded through the past three centuries. Let’s look at the facts. In 1778, there were about 300,000 Native Hawaiians. In just a little over a century, by 1884, there were only 46,000. The Westernization of Hawai’i almost crushed Native Hawaiians and their culture. In 1893, agents and citizens of the United States overthrew the Hawaiian monarchy. What many people don’t know is that from 1826 to 1893, the United States recognized the independence of the Kingdom of Hawai’i and extended full and complete diplomatic recognition to the Hawaiian government. The Kingdom had diplomatic relations with England and other countries as well.
