New book challenges U.S. right to Hawaiian Islands

Reader Contributed

By Keahi Felix

My recently released book challenges assumptions that regard Hawaii as part of the United States, offering reasons for why the opposite is true.  

“Never a culture without a nation” is the admonition that reverberates throughout the pages of Wahine Noa: for the life of my country.

I have spent 20 years investigating the issues that surround the Hawaiian Kingdom’s legal and political status, using a variety of writing styles to invite readers into personal dialogue with the subject matter.

I call myself a worker in the field of authenticity, an advocate of Hawaiian Justice, and a participant witness to what has been going on. One day in July 1991, I jumped in to support a small hui in Anahola, Kauai who had desperately tried every way possible to gain permission from the Dept. of Hawaiian Home Lands to use a particular piece of property on which to build their homes and a cultural center without one cent of government funds. This request was denied. For my boldness I, along with 13 others were arrested and jailed.

It is my own conviction that to get to viable solutions there needs to surface a transformation of consciousness by communicating with our spiritual source: Nana I Ke Kumu.

The book comes with a PowerPoint CD that includes a photo essay, “We Want Our Country Back,” and a recording of a story poem inspired by an event in the author’s life that connects to the Kumulipo Chant.

The book is available in stores and at www.kipukapresshawaii.com for $17.95. Wahine Noa is not about U.S. bashing. It is about transforming victimization into productive protest as a means to build the future based on Hawaii’s authentic claims to nationhood.