Since Rhoda Toshimitsu mentioned something about Hamakua Sugar, I thought I might say something because this is what many other Hawaiian and Japanese families did experience. My great grandfather was very loyal to the Monarchy. He had a lot of land mostly on Hawaii, Lanai, and Molokai and on Oahu. The bulk was on Hawaii. His grandfather was George Washington Pilipo who was a Hawaiian Kingdom legislator for the entire Northern Hawaii Island for decades. He was also a preacher at Kaumakapili Church among other churches. With our inheritance, we leased a lot of our lands to sugar plantations and throughout the 19th century, it worked out fine. We held the land like a trust and it was the manao of my kupuna that land could not be sold, but could only be leased because how does one sell that which feeds you. One of the plantations we leased to was Hamakua Sugar, which used to pay my family 1,600 dollars per month as part of the lease. My family was also entitled to a seat on their board but we never sat with them. In 1895, my great grandfather took part in the uprising of 1895. He was jailed. He was fined a couple of times too because he delivered sermons against the regime. He said that the Queen was ke koho o ka poe pono o ke Akua (the choice of the righteous people of God) while Dole government was ke koho o ka poe o ke kepalō (you can tell what that translates as). He was fined for that sermon. My family can be very passionate when it comes to the land. When Dole was appointed governor, he didnt forget that and huge chunks of our lands on Molokai, Lanai, and Oahu was either quiet titled or declared eminent domain. His older sister, Keahialaka, was appointed head of the family and pursued the matter in court contesting the governments acquisition of land. In the meantime, sugar plantations like Hamakua Sugar and a few ranches began to quiet title lands (among other reasons the Territorial government cited was because of back taxes owed by us to them from 1894-1899 when Hawaii was not even a territory), including my familys. They also reconstituted their by-laws and their contracts unilaterally. From 1907 all the way until 1989, we ended up in several lawsuits against the Territory, the County, the State, Hamakua Sugar, etc. Some Japanese and Chinese families too had some similar experiences in those days especially because from 1887-1900 they werent even allowed to vote. My grandaunt, Keahialaka, in one of her many court appearances was asked if the government offered to buy the land, would it be amenable to the family? Her response, being full of mana wahine. was I would rather sever a limp than to part with the land given to me by my ancestors. I will not ask my relatives if they want to sell because we will never sell our birthright. The court cases went on and on because attorneys died, judges died, Martial Law, more people died, etc. We actually won a few cases in the late 1970s and 1980s. During that time, OHA never helped us. When we were struggling with Hamakua Sugar, OHA representatives actually sided with the State and the sugar plantations against us and other Hawaiian, Chinese and Japanese families. When some Hawaiian families including my own were involved with issues relating to artifacts and graves at Kalaeloa (Barbers Point and Ko Olina), OHA reps sided with the US military and ironically it was the archaeologists from the DLNR sided with us. My grandmother and all of her relatives died before anything was resolved with the lands.
Posted on: Sun, 21 Sep 2014 16:23:22 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015