Were the U.S. to create today, under its own domestic laws rather than through international law, a "government to government" relationship with Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiians), it would be violating, once again, the sovereignty of the Hawaiian Kingdom, which has never been legally obliterated.

Inasmuch as the U.S. has never conquered us — the kingdom resisted takeover using diplomatic, not military means — nor executed a valid treaty of cession/annexation with us, either one of which was required in 1898 for an annexation to be valid under international law, the U.S. has no legal authority over our nation and no right to incorporate us as its native people.

Since 1893, the U.S. has perpetrated numerous crimes against our people including:

» A determinative role in the overthrow of Queen Liliuokalani’s lawfully constituted government and in its replacement by a non-elected government of Americans and Europeans, some of whom had been granted citizenship by the kingdom.

» The rapid and rapacious appropriation of our lands, waters and other resources; the attempted erasure of our history, language and culture.

» The strangling of our diplomatic relationships with other nations in the world.

These actions violated our rightful existence under international law in the 1890s, and now violate our collective right of self-determination and individual human rights. Setting up rules for a federal relationship with a native governing entity would be the latest item in a long list of violations and demonstrate the U.S. government’s utter unwillingness to take responsibility for the crimes against our nation.

What the U.S. government ought to do between now and the restoration of our full independence is to officially recognize an interim trust relationship with the kanaka maoli inasmuch as it holds our lands and resources depriving us of their benefits.

Indeed, the United Nations imposes this international trust relationship on countries like the U.S. that hold territories which are denied their right to self-determination or prevented from governing themselves. As we are not at this moment able to exercise our sovereignty in our own country, the U.S. must ensure that the Hawaiian people do not lose the rights and prerogatives, however inadequate, that have been garnered by Hawaiians since the American takeover: OHA revenues; Hawaiian Homelands; special health and education funds; gathering and access rights, to name a few.

In other words, the U.S. should inflict no more harm as the Hawaiian nation continues to unify and strengthen itself.

The U.S. may also be bound by its own domestic laws, specifically the 1993 Apology Resolution in which the U.S. recognized its complicity in the loss of our government while committing itself to an unspecified process of reconciliation. The imposition of the status of a "client state" on the kanaka maoli is another aggression not reconciliation.

Consequently, no federal agency should cooperate with state initiatives, like Kanaʻioluwalu, that would limit the Hawaiian nation’s efforts to restore its government.

Finally the U.S. needs to understand that an increasing number of people believe that restoration of our independent government is not only viable and reasonable but inevitable. This makes the political climate and future in Hawaii very different, and somewhat more precarious than in 1959 when Congress declared Hawaii a state, or even in 1993 when tens of thousands of Hawaiians were seeking limited self-government.

The Department of the interior and the state of Hawaii should not attempt to influence or interfere with the nation-building that has been ongoing among kanaka for the past 30 years. The good will and aloha shown by Hawaiian activists will quickly sour if either the U.S. or the state of Hawaii uses tactics to divide and alienate our people from one another.

We believe the Hawaiian sovereignty movement can and will produce a peaceful and just resolution of the political and legal problems created by the U.S. if it is not prevented from growing at its own pace and according to its own ideals. We do not want just any governing body. We want the restoration of our independent government and we deserve nothing less than that.

Through our patience and non-violent persistence, we have earned the faith of those who inhabit these islands alongside us, that we will not disenfranchise others nor deprive them of their rights. We do insist, however, on claiming our rights as a sovereign people, and on the U.S. and state policy makers keeping their hands off our efforts.

This does not mean that the U.S. does not owe reparations to the Hawaiian nation for its use of our national lands and waters for its own benefit and security. Inasmuch as the invoice for 130 years of Pearl Harbor is likely to be a substantial charge, it is important for the U.S. not to add to its obligations and look for ways to reestablish the friendly and cooperative relationship it once enjoyed with our kingdom.

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Ilima Long, Jon Osorio and Andre Perez submitted this piece on behalf of MANA (Movement for Aloha no ka ʻĀina).