Critical Imperialism Theory

 

   Hawaii is the only state I haven’t visited. I may not bother since there are many native Hawaiians who would like to secede from the Union. I definitely would not arrive in Hawai'i on this day, the anniversary of the day in 1898 when Congress passed a resolution to annex the Republic of Hawaii as a territory of the United States.

  Another bad day to arrive would be January 17. On that day in 1893, a group of American sugar plantation owners overthrew Queen Lili'uokalani and set up the Republic of Hawaii which the planters manipulated into becoming the territory of Hawaii as noted above.

  Back then many in the U.S. were opposed to all this. Some opposed annexing Hawaii because they thought imperialism was wrong, others because they did not want an area populated mostly by non-whites to be part of the United States. But business interests, the strategic location of the islands, and fear the Japanese would grab the islands if the U.S. didn't won out.

   In 1993, a resolution passed by Congress admitted the illegality of the overthrow a hundred years earlier. This resolution may have been to appease a sovereignty movement that had been agitating since the 1960s. Contact with the western world had been hard on the native population which went from over 300,000 in the 18th century to 24,000 by 1920. The decline was due mostly to diseases such as smallpox and tuberculosis.  The losses were filled by Japanese and Chinese settlers who came to work on the plantations. By 1923, the Hawaiian population was 42% of Japanese descent. 

   The sovereignty movement seeks self-government for the native population which is now around 10% of Hawaii's 1.4 million residents.  Those of non-Hawaiian descent claim that government by native Hawaiians would exclude them. 

  Tourism is the main industry on the islands, having replaced sugar and pineapples. Honeybees raised for the US is also big. Everything's up in the air right now in Hawaii and is likely to remain there. I think I'll stay away. I got a good taste of life in a tropical paradise having spent a year in the Philippines when I was in the service. There was once serious talk of making the Philippines a permanent part of the U.S., but the white supremacists won out on that one.

"Hang ten"