Kanaka Maoli are under constant threat of becoming exiles in their homeland. With the steady encroachment of development such as new luxury subdivisions on Moloka'i, high-rise condominiums in Waikiki, and new multi-million-dollar homes on the beaches of all the major islands, they are being pushed off their land and replaced by new wealthy…

When the United States formally took control of Hawai'i in 1898, the eighty-something years of Americans living among the "kanaka maoli," called "Hawaiians" in English, had already positioned them above the "maka'ainana," or commoners. By the end of the nineteenth century 90 percent of all kanaka had died from foreign diseases, and the 40,000 or…

This personal narrative relates the author's conflict regarding whether or not to attend the celebration of the grand opening of the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI). Being a pro-independence Native Hawaiian in Washington DC, where usually only state-sponsored Hawaiians speak about the political struggle for decolonization, the author…