Subject: Ke Aupuni Update 11-25-16
To: Ke Aupuni Update B <HawaiianNationalsCoalition@
E kala mai for duplicate postings…
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Ke Aupuni Update
November 25, 2016Keeping in touch and updated on activities regarding the restoration of Ke Aupuni o Hawaii, the Hawaiian Kingdom. Ua Mau Ke Ea O Ka Aina I Ka Pono.
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From Leon Siu, Hawaiian National
Aloha kakou,
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Lā Kūʻokoʻa Celebration This Weekend!
The celebration of Hawaiian Independence Day is really growing! There are many Lā Kuʻokoʻa celebrations being planned all across Hawaii Nei this year. Check out social media for one near you.
On Oʻahu, the Coalition of Hawaiian Nationals is again having a concert/celebration at Ward Warehouse Amphitheater in partnership with Na Mea/Native Books. Come and join in the celebration November 26, 3-5 PM!
Speeches – Music - Dance
Lā Kūʻokoʻa
Independence Day
28 November 2015
On Nov. 28, 1843 the Kingdom of the Hawaiian Islands was formally recognized by Great Britain and France as a sovereign, independent nation… an equal among the major powers of the world.
Today we continue to celebrate this important event in the Hawaiian Kingdomʻs history… as fundamental to reactivating, rebuilding and projecting the Kingdom of the Hawaiian Islands into the future.
Welcome to the Hawaiian Kingdom!
The Kingdom of the Hawaiian Islands is still here! Youʻre standing in it! Itʻs all around you. It’s been covered up and hidden for many years, but it never went away. Neither did its people— the Hawaiian subjects — those who remain loyal to their country to this day.
What is Lā Kūʻokoʻa?
In the Kingdom of the Hawaiian Islands, November 28 is an official holiday called, Lā Kūʻokoʻa, or Independence Day. This was the day in 1843 when England and France formally recognized the Hawaiian Islands (then called “The Sandwich Islands”) as a sovereign, independent nation-state.
Faced with the problem of foreign encroachment on Hawaiian territory, His Majesty King Kamehameha III deemed it prudent and necessary to dispatch a Hawaiian delegation to the United States and Europe with the power to negotiate treaties and to ultimately secure the recognition of the Hawaiian Islands as a sovereign, independent state by the major powers of the world.
To fulfill this mission, on April 8, 1842 Kamehameha III commissioned his chief aide Timoteo Ha'alilio, along with William Richards and Sir George Simpson as joint Ministers Plenipotentiary. Mr. Simpson, left soon thereafter for England via Alaska and Siberia, while Mr. Ha'alilio and Mr. Richards departed on July 8, 1842 via Mexico and the United States.
While in the United States, Haʻalilio and Richards secured on December 19, 1842, the assurance of U.S. President Tyler of the U.S. recognition of Hawaiian independence, and then proceeded to Europe to meet Simpson and to secure formal recognition by Great Britain and France. On March 17, 1843, at the urging of King Leopold of Belgium, King Louis-Phillipe of France recognized Hawaiian independence and on April 1, 1843, Lord Aberdeen on behalf of Her Britannic Majesty Queen Victoria, assured the Hawaiian delegation that:
"Her Majesty's Government was willing and had determined to recognize the independence of the Sandwich Islands* under their present sovereign."
Formal Agreement of Recognition
On November 28, 1843, at the Court of London, representatives of the British and French Governments signed an agreement formally recognizing Hawaii as an independent nation, with what is called the Anglo-Franco Proclamation. It reads:
"Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and His Majesty the King of the French, taking into consideration the existence in the Sandwich Islands [Hawaiian Islands] of a government capable of providing for the regularity of its relations with foreign nations, have thought it right to engage, reciprocally, to consider the Sandwich Islands as an Independent State, and never to take possession, neither directly or under the title of Protectorate, or under any other form, of any part of the territory of which they are composed.
The undersigned, Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State of Foreign Affairs, and the Ambassador Extraordinary of His Majesty the King of the French, at the Court of London, being furnished with the necessary powers, hereby declare, in consequence, that their said Majesties take reciprocally that engagement.
In witness whereof the undersigned have signed the present declaration, and have affixed thereto the seal of their arms.
Done in duplicate at London, the 28th day of November, in the year of our Lord, 1843.
[L.S.] Aberdeen [L.S.] St. Aulaire"
International Stature
As a result of this recognition, the Hawaiian Kingdom entered into treaties with the major nations of the world and established over ninety embassies and legations around the world.
National Holiday
King Kamehameha III, thereafter established November 28 as an official national holiday of the Hawaiian Kingdom to be celebrated in perpetuity as Lā Kūʻokoʻa, Independence Day.
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* The Hawaiian Islands was known then to Europeans and Americans as “The Sandwich Islands,” a name given to the Hawaiian Islands by Captain James Cook in honor of his benefactor, The Earl of Sandwich.
The Republic of Hawaii
Fifty-one years later, in 1894 the leaders of the so-called “Provisional Government for the Hawaiian Kingdom” fabricated the so-called “Republic of Hawaii” purporting it was the government for the Hawaiian Islands. In 1895 the Republic declared Lā Ku'oko'a would not be celebrated. Instead, the American holiday, Thanksgiving, was adopted as a national holiday of the “Republic of Hawaii.” Removing holidays like Lā Ku'oko'awas a ploy to erase the history and national identity of the Hawaiian Kingdom.
At first Hawaiians protested and celebrated Lā Ku'oko'a anyway, telling the story of the national heroes who had travelled to Europe to secure Hawaii's recognition. Over time, knowledge of the holiday was almost forgotten. But as Hawaiian language scholars started examining and translating Hawaiian language newspapers, they uncovered the history.
Today’s celebration of Lā Ku'oko'a celebrates that the Kingdom of the Hawaiian Islands is still a sovereign, independent country!
Malama Pono,
Leon
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