Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Wednesday, January 22, 2025 69° Today's Paper


May 29, 1983: Hawaiians told it’s still possible to get reparations

Native Hawaiians may still win reparations from the U.S. government for the 1893 overthrow of the Island monarchy despite a federal study that concludes they have no legal claim, a Hawaiian rights legal conference was told yesterday.

Kina‘u Kamali‘i, chairwoman of the deeply divided Native Hawaiians Study Commission that produced the controversial report, said the descendants of the original Polynesian settlers of the Hawaiian Islands should receive reparations “because it’s what’s right.”

The two-day gathering, which focused on a variety of legal issues of critical importance to Hawaiians and part-Hawaiians, drew about 200 participants and ended yesterday at Kamehameha Schools. …

Kamali‘i said she and her two fellow Island commissioners have repudiated the majority report. It was endorsed by the six Mainland commissioners who were appointed by Reagan administration officials.

The Hawaii members have instead submitted their own minority report, called “Claims of Conscience,” to Congress. Kamali‘i said she hopes House and Senate committees will hold hearings on both commission reports, probably next year.

She said yesterday she is enlisting the aid of the state’s congressional delegation to see that hearings are scheduled.

The issue that split the federal commission has to do with recommending to Congress who, if anyone, is now responsible for the 1893 overthrow of Queen Liliuokalani by American “annexationist” businessmen in Honolulu.

Despite the fact that the Americans were aided by the U.S. minister to Hawaii and backed up by armed Marines who marched into Honolulu from a U.S. gunboat, the majority report maintains that the coup d’etat took place without the permission of the American government, said H. Rodger Betts, another speaker at the conference. …

Betts told the conferees that the majority report’s exoneration of the U.S. government is ridiculous. It is doubly so, he said, because the United States eventually annexed all of Hawaii in 1896. The overthrow, the seizure of the kingdom’s land and annexation, Betts reminded his listeners, took place “without the permission of the Hawaiians.”

11 responses to “May 29, 1983: Hawaiians told it’s still possible to get reparations”

  1. Ken_Conklin says:

    For about 25 years it was nearly impossible for anyone to find and read the majority report. Meanwhile, the tycoons of the Hawaiian grievance industry were successful in widely publicizing their minority report. The same thing happened with the two reports about the revolution of 1893: the one-sided piece of propaganda known as the Blount Report was widely available, while the 808-page official report of testimony under oath known as the Morgan Report could be found only in a few dusty archives in a few libraries. The pushers of racial separatism and ethnic nationalism had succeeded in suppressing and censoring the truth! Finally, the Morgan Report was scanned and digitized and placed on the internet, and then the majority report of the Native Hawaiians Study Commission.

    Here’s the majority report of the Native Hawaiians Study Commission.
    http://wiki.grassrootinstitute.org/mediawiki/index.php?title=Native_Hawaiians_Study_Commission_Report

  2. Ken_Conklin says:

    For about 25 years it was nearly impossible for anyone to find and read the majority report. Meanwhile, the tycoons of the Hawaiian grievance industry were successful in widely publicizing their minority report. The same thing happened with the two reports about the revolution of 1893: the one-sided piece of propaganda known as the Blount Report was widely available, while the 808-page official report of testimony under oath known as the Morgan Report could be found only in a few dusty archives in a few libraries. Racial separatists and ethnic nationalists had succeeded in suppressing and censoring the truth! Finally, the Morgan Report was scanned and digitized and placed on the internet, and then the majority report of the Native Hawaiians Study Commission.

    Here’s the majority report of the Native Hawaiians Study Commission.
    http://wiki.grassrootinstitute.org/mediawiki/index.php?title=Native_Hawaiians_Study_Commission_Report

  3. Ken_Conklin says:

    For about 25 years it was nearly impossible for anyone to find and read the majority report. Meanwhile, the tycoons of the Hawaiian grievance industry were successful in widely publicizing their minority report. The same thing happened with the two reports about the revolution of 1893: the one-sided piece of propaganda known as the Blount Report was widely available, while the 808-page official report of testimony under oath known as the Morgan Report could be found only in a few dusty archives in a few libraries. The pushers of racial separatism and ethnic nationalism had succeeded in suppressing and censoring the truth! Finally, the Morgan Report was scanned and digitized and placed on the internet, and then the majority report of the Native Hawaiians Study Commission.

    Here’s the majority report of the Native Hawaiians Study Commission.
    http://tinyurl.com/3havdu

  4. Ken_Conklin says:

    Here’s the report of the Native Hawaiians Study Commission.
    http://tinyurl.com/3havdu

  5. Shellback says:

    We’re going to build a statue of Sanford Dole and Lorrin Thurston and place them on the grounds of the Iolani Palace.

  6. Ken_Conklin says:

    Hey folks (and especially the comment editor/censor) — See my first three comments? One after the other, each one was sent to “moderation.” So I kept trying to change a word or two that might have caused the robot to flash the “tilt” sign, but nothing worked. So how about an explanation what was wrong with those comments? Fix the *&%$x robot!

  7. sailfish1 says:

    Did anybody get reparations?

    • DiverDave says:

      There are currently over 8555 race based for Polynesian-Hawaiian programs in this State, also race based for Polynesian-Hawaiian only school systems, health care, and homesteading. They also take part in all the free stuff like foodstamps (EBT), section 8 housing, free cell phones,car insurance, welfare, aid to dependent children etc..

      So, yes, they get it in many forms.

Leave a Reply