There are two very VERY different ways of understanding Hawaii. Version Number One: Hawaii is the “50th State” of the United States of America, Hawaii voted to join the U.S. back in the 50’s, and now it’s just a really nice place to go for your vacation. That’s one. Version Number Two goes like this: Hawaii is not a part of the United States, actually it’s a nation under illegal occupation since 1893, and a hundred plus years later there’s still Hawaiian Nationals fighting the U.S. for independence. Have you heard this version before? No? If you haven’t that’s understandable because, this story is very well-known - I guess you could say this is the ‘official’ story - and this one is definitely not nearly as well-known. Can two stories that are almost exact opposites from each other both be true? Or is one of them more substantiated by historical facts than the other?

The short answer is that, based on our research, an overwhelming body of evidence points to the fact that Hawaii really is a colonial possession of the United States. The idea that Hawaii is the 50th State of the U.S. is, literally, just a very popular myth. And the main reason why practically everyone believes this myth is simply because the American establishment has used its resources to have people think this, instead of that. In other words, what people believe often has more to do with interests and power, instead of facts.

In this episode we’re going to show you a mini-history of Hawaii, but this time seen through the analytical lens of “imperialism”. Once you start seeing how the struggle over Hawaii is connected to a broader, global history of imperialism, I think it’ll be a lot easier to understand why the United States has worked so hard to try to destroy Native Hawaiians and take their land.

Much mahalo to our friends at The Pinky Show for this outstanding video about what is and has been going on in Hawai’i for well over a century now!!!