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Kamehameha: An Amazing American?

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  • Kamehameha: An Amazing American?

    Yup. That's what a story in the Library of Congress calls the ali'i who brought the 'aina together. Kamehameha is lumped together with Buffalo Bill Cody, Merriwether Lewis & William Clark, Harry Houdini, John Philip Sousa and others.
    Boy did the historians get that wrong! The kanaka maoli should lodge an official protest with the Library of Congress about the gross misrepresentation of King Kamehameha has an American. He was Hawaiian. Period.

    Kamehameha was born and died well before Hawai'i was annexed by the United States in 1898. From that point forward, anyone born in Hawai'i was considered an American; not before.

    Here's a portion of an editorial that appears in this month's edition of the Northwest Hawai'i Times, which is distributed around the state for local expats who live in the area:

    "For Hawai'i's people, June is the month to celebrate King Kamehameha. Those of us from the islands whether or not we are native Hawaiian, know all about this great man. From the time we were children, we have made lei to decorate his statues, learned songs to remember his accomplishments and every June 11th, celebrate him with parades and other festivities. There are schools, highways, hotels and even a drive-in on O'ahu named for him! All of us from his home island of Hawai'i are surrounded by Kamehameha's history, from the Naha stone in front of the Hawai'i County Library in Hilo that reminds us of his strength, to heiau on the Kohala and Kona side of the island that show us his resolve.

    So when I stumbled onto the Library of Congress website that listed King Kamehameha as "An Amazing American", I sat straight up. Kamehameha an American! While everyone born in Hawai'i since 1898 has American citizenship, I had never in my life thought of King Kamehameha as..an American.
    I took the time to read over the website, and the more I read, the more I noticed the gaps and negative connotations in the story of this famous Hawaiian as presented by the Library of Congress. As I dwelled on "America's Story of Amazing Americans", I became uncomfortable, not only because of its historical inaccuracies, but because of the political implications....

    "go to the website to see what the Library of Congress as written about King Kamehameha for young people with web access from all around the world....

    "My reaction to America's Story has nothing to do with the Akaka bill or Hawaiian sovereignty; it is, instead, about misrepresentation and not telling the whole story. Does anyone think Queen Lili'uokalani thought of herself as American? So why the King? While I would never presume to speak for Kamehameha, my guess is that he would not have considered himself anything other than Hawaiian....

    "Do me a favor. Go to the Library of Congress website (www.americaslibrary.gov) and read for yourself about King Kamehameha, "An Amazing American." Then tell me what you think...

    --Rochelle delaCruz, Editor, Northwest Hawai'i Times (rochdelacruz@msn.com)
    "Americans believe in three freedoms. Freedom of speech; freedom of religion; and the freedom to deny the other two to folks they don`t like.” --Mark Twain

  • #2
    Re: Kamehameha: An Amazing American?

    Reported error as "Other" Report Error

    My farm - Kona Mist Coffee

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    • #3
      Re: Kamehameha: An Amazing American?

      Originally posted by Miulang
      "Do me a favor. Go to the Library of Congress website (www.americaslibrary.gov) and read for yourself about King Kamehameha, "An Amazing American." Then tell me what you think...
      direct URL, if you would, please?

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      • #4
        Re: Kamehameha: An Amazing American?

        Originally posted by kimo55
        direct URL, if you would, please?
        Ho, da lazy buggah you, yeah?
        Only because you said, "please", start here.

        Miulang
        "Americans believe in three freedoms. Freedom of speech; freedom of religion; and the freedom to deny the other two to folks they don`t like.” --Mark Twain

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        • #5
          Re: Kamehameha: An Amazing American?

          Originally posted by Miulang
          Ho, da lazy buggah you, yeah?
          Only because you said, "please", start here.

          Miulang
          aaack!
          no not at all lazy.
          Spent all of ten minutes wading through the returned links after I typed in "Kamehameha amazing american". All for naught.

          There were 775 pages with these three words, and I'll prefer to have the direct url which you found, rather than waste any more time slogging through the site. Thank You, very much.

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          • #6
            Re: Kamehameha: An Amazing American?

            Originally posted by kimo55
            aaack!
            no not at all lazy.
            Spent all of ten minutes wading through the returned links after I typed in "Kamehameha amazing american". All for naught.

            There were 775 pages with these three words, and I'll prefer to have the direct url which you found, rather than waste any more time slogging through the site. Thank You, very much.
            Heh. And can you imagine if an elementary school aged kid tried to navigate that website? Eesh. Who designed it anyway, a (hehheh) monkey??? It's the most convoluted site I've seen in quite a while.

            Miulang
            "Americans believe in three freedoms. Freedom of speech; freedom of religion; and the freedom to deny the other two to folks they don`t like.” --Mark Twain

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            • #7
              Re: Kamehameha: An Amazing American?

              But hey Miulang...you did it...Kimo...well at least you get an "A" for effort
              I think I'd have gotten an "F" because I stay one lazy buggah.
              Life is what you make of it...so please read the instructions carefully.

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              • #8
                Re: Kamehameha: An Amazing American?

                Originally posted by craigwatanabe
                But hey Miulang...you did it...Kimo...well at least you get an "A" for effort
                I think I'd have gotten an "F" because I stay one lazy buggah.
                Eh Craig, I wen give Kimo credit, yeah? At least he wen try...not like you. Good ting your sons go Kam School. Ask 'em if Kamehameha was one American and see what they going say.

                Miulang
                "Americans believe in three freedoms. Freedom of speech; freedom of religion; and the freedom to deny the other two to folks they don`t like.” --Mark Twain

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Kamehameha: An Amazing American?

                  Eh Miulang...one ting about my family...I'm the only non-native in it being 100% Japanese. My KSBE kids tell me not to say Kam School cuz it ain't Chinese!

                  Ho! Pardon me!

                  Funny da kids at Kamehameha won't say Kam school but will say Keku Gym instead of Kekuhaupio. I tell them: What now da gym one Japanese place?
                  Life is what you make of it...so please read the instructions carefully.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Kamehameha: An Amazing American?

                    Originally posted by craigwatanabe
                    Eh Miulang...one ting about my family...I'm the only non-native in it being 100% Japanese. My KSBE kids tell me not to say Kam School cuz it ain't Chinese!

                    Ho! Pardon me!

                    Funny da kids at Kamehameha won't say Kam school but will say Keku Gym instead of Kekuhaupio. I tell them: What now da gym one Japanese place?
                    Good one, Craig! ROFLMAO.

                    Miulang
                    "Americans believe in three freedoms. Freedom of speech; freedom of religion; and the freedom to deny the other two to folks they don`t like.” --Mark Twain

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Kamehameha: An Amazing American?

                      FYI - I got a reply back from Library of Congress web site:

                      "Thank you for visiting the Library of Congress web site.

                      It appears that you are correct. King Kamehameha I was born in Hawaii and
                      reigned before it became the 50th state. We have forwarded this
                      information to the staff working with the America's Library web site. Any
                      changes or corrections will be made as soon as possible.

                      Best wishes,

                      The Digital Reference Team/am"

                      My farm - Kona Mist Coffee

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                      • #12
                        Re: Kamehameha: An Amazing American?

                        OH YEAH!!!! Score one for the Gipper!!


                        Let's just hope they'll actually do something about it now!! Right on man...YOU DID GOOD!
                        Life is what you make of it...so please read the instructions carefully.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Kamehameha: An Amazing American?

                          If King Kamehameha I is an amazing American, then so is Chief Powhatan, Pocahontas' daddy, who didn't want his little girl to have anything to do with that lousy English colonist John Smith.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: Kamehameha: An Amazing American?

                            Originally posted by DaveNSoKona
                            It appears that you are correct. King Kamehameha I was born in Hawaii and reigned before it became the 50th state. We have forwarded this information to the staff working with the America's Library web site. Any changes or corrections will be made as soon as possible.
                            Good on you, Dave. It's fun and frustrating to point out gross misunderstandings of island history and culture, but a lot of times those errors and that ignorance is not malicious. Go right to the source and see what's up.

                            I'm confident that King Kamehameha was selected with the best of intentions. Even if the current entry stands with a prologue that notes that he never was an American, that's progress to me.

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                            • #15
                              Kamehameha: An Amazing Aggressor?

                              Originally posted by Miulang
                              ... the gross misrepresentation of King Kamehameha as an American. He was Hawaiian.
                              Kamehameha: An Amazing Hawaiian? Amazing like? many Euro-American militarist, territorial aggressors of his time in history, except that he warred upon his own race, killing his own kind in order to aggrandize his own personal wealth and power.

                              Meet Amazing Americans americaslibrary.gov
                              Leaders & Statesmen
                              They led this country to greatness in many ways.
                              King Kamehameha I was a smart ruler who amassed a fortune and made Hawaii a desirable prize for foreign explorers. He was the one who united all the Hawaiian islands and founded the royal dynasty that ruled them for years. He established a government monopoly in the sandalwood trade, and he collected duties (charges) from visiting ships. Kamehameha was a strong and able king, but his successors were not as strong as him and ultimately were not able to resist foreigner efforts to control the islands.
                              "Kamehameha I ... a smart ruler who amassed a fortune and made Hawaii a desirable prize for foreign explorers. " Kamehameha I amassed his fortune and power at the expense of virtually all other native islanders in the island chain, thereby creating only a semblance of cultural and social strength, when in fact Kamehameha's warring upon and subjugation of his own race of people weakened the native populations of the islands.
                              Last edited by waioli kai; June 29, 2005, 09:11 PM.

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