Aloha ʻĀina Party

Aloha ʻĀina means the love for the land and people.  It does not refer to the ownership of land, but the nourishment of the land, which reciprocates love back to the people through providing nourishment that keeps us alive.  We take care of that which sustains us.

At the time the initial Aloha ʻĀina Party was assembled in the late 19th century,  Robert Wilcox was one of many Hawaiian patriots who knew that industrialization was detrimental to existence of mankind in Hawaiʻi.  There are far too many elements of nature to appeal to, while there is technically no escape during a major emergency.  The businessmen who overthrew the monarchy werenʻt random White-American men, they were serious businessmen who came with violent force and nothing more than status and wealth on their mind.   They would destroy everything and stop at nothing to accomplish their goals.

Beyond the thought of restoring the Queen to her rightful position,  and well beyond the thought of political status as a nation,  patriots of Hawaiʻi were fearful for the endangerment that not only our own people, but the endangerment of mankind altogether.  At the hands of this type of mentality and Americaʻs consistent reputation for the cycles of genocide and war,  Kanaka Maoli sought one last way to maintain the balance of life on the land, through the Aloha ʻĀina Party.  

Due to the fact that the concept of Aloha ʻĀina cannot be defined by a political party, the name of the party was converted to Home Rule in 1900.  Home Rule was to ensure that the guiding foundations that allowed life to thrive on these islands, were adhered to for at least basic survival.  

Take Rapa Nui  for example:  the ʻāina wasnʻt nourished, therefore like a women thatʻs fed up Mother Earth stopped nourishing the people.  It doesnʻt matter what color, race, religion or social crowd you belong to, we all live in the same place and we all have to survive.  <<< Thatʻs our common+unity right there.  That is the very reason that we should be working together! Where are we all going, if a tsunami comes in at 2am?  Who is going to be working the food bank on the day you need it the most?  Each other.   

Therefore,  aloha kekahi i kekahi - take care of one another.  

During that time in history, foreign diseases were allies to the violent businessmen who sought control through imprisoning or even hanging Hawaiian Patriots to gain full control over the islands.  The language and Hawaiian way of life was banned and punishable by infractions to the family.  

For the first time ever, Hawaiians had to register their land where they lived.  This had to be done by a Konohiki in most cases and because the process was so foreign to their understanding,  deadlines were often missed or the paperwork wasnʻt done at all.  Furthermore, the surviving number of Hawaiians were often subject to isolation and poverty.  Many did not understand about selling their land and over the course of two to three generations, lands were lost in a variety of ways including proof of genealogy, when trying to register after the initial awardee had passed away.  Further historical development was too distracting.

Also in 1900: 

• the Bubonic plague caused parts of Honolulu and Kahului to be burnt down.  The Fire Claims Commission was formed through Act 15 of 1901.  After hearings and adjudication, a total of $3,175,132.90 was spent but only $1,473,173 represented the total amount awarded to 6,784 fire victims who were mostly of the Chinese, Japanese and Hawaiian ethnicity.
• Leprosy was still intact: In the 1860ʻs there were over 8000 patients torn from their families and exiled in Kalaupapa, surrounded by steep cliffs.  By 1900, the remaining 1000 had made their lives there and had married one another.  Their quarantine was not lifted until 1969 though.  A handful survive today.  
• Chinese, Portuguese, Japanese, and now Puerto Ricans were  all brought to Hawaiʻi during this specific time.
• The illegal annexation had only occurred in 1898
•  April 30, 1900: Hawaii Territory was organized, Sess. 1, ch. 339, 31 Stat. 141 
• According to the discussion between Senators Bacon and Cullom, the US knew quite well that what they were doing was illegal.  [see page 4454]
• The US boldly admits that the conquest was to increase wealth by using annexation to avoid paying import taxes.
• The Moana Hotel was just being built in 1900,  as tourism to Hawaiʻi had only begun in 1882 with the Matson Company.  
• There was a division in the US Senate, led by anti-annexationist Senator White of California.  After two long weeks of prolonging and filibustering, they gave into the imperialistic quorum and on July 6, the Senate voted 42-21 to pass the resolution.

Here We Are Again, negative portrayal of the 1901 Hawaii Territorial Legislature

in The Pacific Commercial Advertiser.

photo credit: Wikipedia

Everything in Hawaiʻi was changing so rapidly; so harshly.  But the implications of a traumatized community caused the dissolution of the Home Rule Party by 1912.  This is the history of that story: 

"In 1902 the Reform Party merged into the Home Rule Party

and suffered a schism after Prince Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole

left the party's convention on July 10

to temporarily form the Hui Kuokoa Party

before joining the Republicans.

In the 1902 elections the Republicans

successfully defeated Wilcox

by running Kalanianaʻole,

took control of the legislature with 26 of the 36 seats.

 Home Rule Party would continue in a weakened form until 1912."

In 1997, Kumu Vicky Holt Takamine revived the Aloha ʻĀina Party but the people were not ready to respond on a large enough level yet.  The fruit was not yet ripe enough.  At that time, the actual knowledge of our Hawaiʻiʻs history was still being uncovered.  It was also about that same time that Noenoe Silva was researching the National Archives and found the Kūʻē Petitions, stashed away and ignored for all of these years.

"The Kū'ē Petitions, also known as the Anti-Annexation Petitions, were a collection of signatures of Hawaiian men and women who were opposed to the Annexation of Hawaiʻi to the United States of America. The signatures  were collected island by island by three Hui: the Hui Aloha Aina for Women, the Hui Aloha Aina for Men, and the Hui Kalaiaina."

Almost two decades later, a group of childhood friends and family members got together to reassemble the Aloha ʻĀina Party, and after 107 years the party is operational with twenty-one candidates.  

Mahalo piha e ʻIo,

ke Akua, nā ʻAumākua,

ko kākou mau kūpuna iwi,

a me ke kīme o nā Aliʻi o Aloha ʻĀina Party.