Honolulu, Hawaii — The Office of Hawaiian Affairs is once again engulfed in scandal.  [This part you may already know.]  On Tuesday, September 23, 2025, the OHA Board of Trustees voted in a closed door session to place Chief Executive Officer Stacy Kealohalani Ferreira on ‘paid administrative leave’. Ferreira told staff in a memo that she was taking “personal leave,” but Board Chair Kai Kahele confirmed the action the next day in an all staff meeting and announced that Biden Interior Dept. appointee turned Kahele’s chief of staff, Summer Sylva, would step in as interim CEO.

But the part you probably DON’T know, because the local news media refuses to tell you, is that just three days after Ferreira was put on ‘personal leave‘, OHA got slapped with a LAWSUIT they knew was coming.  Yes, HIRA News can report how severe misbehavior by top leaders at OHA is directly connected to their belated decision to ask the problematic CEO to step aside . . . and that others at OHA may soon find themselves no longer having a desk to work at inside what is arguably one of the worst-run and most ill-conceived government agencies around.  Local reporters and anchors seems to be helping OHA to downplay and disguise the real reason for Ms. Ferreira being put on ‘paid administrative leave’.  Not HIRA News!

Before revealing the hidden aspects of this sudden ‘ouster’, it’s gotta be mentioned how Civil Beat casually reported that “OHA spokesman Bill Brennan confirmed that Ferreira sent an email to OHA employees after the board voted to approve her paid leave on Tuesday, but that her message didn’t say when she would be back.”  The funny part about OHA’s spokesman being circumspect about what’s really going on relates to WHO the spokesman actually is.  The Office of Hawaiian Affairs employs Mufi Hannemann’s old spokesman for the mayor’s office (and spokesman for Crooked Mufi’s campaign).  You remember, the really hard-to-take-seriously guy who got put on leave after being arrested for drunk driving is now writing press releases about OHA putting its “Ka Pouhana” (what the agency calls its CEO) on leave.  [Apparently, there weren’t any non-drunk driving part-haole/part-Hawaiians available for the spokes-job.]  Of course, since OHA’s press releases are all in American English, Bill can probably handle that as well as he helped Mufi handle Mufi.

Interesting also is that the alleged victim of recent shenanigans at OHA (which led to the sudden and apparent ouster of its CEO) had previously been victimized with 1st degree terroristic threatening by militant sovereignty activists who briefly ‘took over’ OHA six years ago.  Naturally, the woke virtue signalers at the Honolulu Prosecutor’s office chose not to prosecute, even after describing the crime as “harassment strike shove kick insult taunt” by Remedio Lawrence Kawai Dabaluz of the so-called ‘Polynesian Kingdom of Atooi’.  Hopefully, this victim’s luck is about to turn around after being mistreated by both kingdom nutjobs and by those nation within a nation ‘land and money’ types who infest OHA.

Well, without any further ado, let’s rip off the shroud obscuring the real goings on at OHA.  HIRA News’ Kai Lorinc has the story you’re NOT being told . . .

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The timing of Ms. Ferreira’s removal is striking.  Just three days later, on Friday, September 26, 2025, former OHA Public Policy Manager Zurishaddai “Zuri” C. Aki (pictured here) filed a whistleblower lawsuit in Hawaii’s First Circuit Court. The case, docketed as 1CCV-25-0001598, was assigned to the Seventh Division under Judge Taryn R. Tomasa.  Former Democrat state house candidate and former Civil Beat columnist Aki is represented by a legal team led by civil rights attorney Eric A. Seitz, joined by Jonathan Loo, Michael Klinger, and Rosalyn G. Payen. Together, they filed a complaint that provides a laid out a step by step account of what Aki describes as retaliation, harassment, defamation, and violations of Hawaii’s Whistleblower Protection Act.

LAWSUIT HERE:  https://hiranews.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/OHA-whistleblower-lawsuit.pdf

The narrative in the lawsuit begins in early December 2023. According to the filing, Ferreira directed Aki to prepare testimony for Trustee Carmen Hulu Lindsey regarding East Maui revocable water permits, a politically fraught issue.  Plaintiff Aki objected in writing, saying testimony of that kind required both review by legal counsel and approval of the Board of Trustees. He warned that bypassing those safeguards could expose OHA to legal and ethical risk. Aki’s civil complaint says his warnings were brushed aside.

What followed, Aki alleges, was overt intimidation in the office. In a December 6, 2023 meeting, OHA Advocacy Director Keʻōpūlaulani Reelitz allegedly lost her temper raising her voice so loudly that others could hear, pulling her own hair, growling, scowling, sighing audibly, and belittling Aki’s competence. The complaint characterizes the environment as “intimidating, uninviting, and toxic,” and says the pattern left Aki depressed, fearful, and mentally exhausted.

On December 9, Aki filed a formal HR complaint documenting the conduct. Nine days later December 18 OHA fired him. The agency said he engaged in misconduct tied to the procurement of souvenir ceramic cups for OHA’s 2024 legislative package.  Aki calls the charge a pretext. He points to prior guidance he says he obtained from the state Ethics Commission, which advised him to treat the items as gifts “to play it safe” while the question was reviewed.

The dispute carried into Aki’s unemployment claim. OHA opposed benefits, telling the state he had been discharged for cause. The Unemployment Insurance Division initially agreed, and an administrative referee affirmed. But, six grueling months later, in May 2025, Circuit Judge John Tonaki reversed those rulings and restored Aki’s benefits, undercutting OHA’s assertion that misconduct justified the firing.  Such a ruling all but guaranteed a lawsuit by Aki against his former friends at the highly dysfunctional OHA.

Aki’s civil suit seeks back pay and other damages, general and punitive damages, statutory fines per-violation under state law, attorneys’ fees and costs, and pre and post judgment interest. Defendants include the agency itself, Ferreira, former Chief Operating Officer Casey Brown, and Reelitz.

Ferreira’s suspension lands atop years of churn inside the agency. OHA has struggled to hold senior talent. Its chief operating officer left after roughly a year the long time chief of finance retired, and Ferreira herself acknowledged at a September 18 board session that about 20 percent of OHA’s 166 positions were vacant 34 jobs unfilled with plans to trim the vacancy rate by year’s end. In that same period the board elevated K. Sean Kekina to COO and praised Sylva’s government and advocacy background while tapping her as interim administrator until further notice. The trustees say they intend to maintain continuity of operations.

Beyond personnel, however, lies a familiar, corrosive critique: money and accountability. Over decades, state audits and watchdogs have flagged weak internal controls, non-competitive or poorly documented contracts, and spending that critics say fails to produce measurable outcomes for the public the agency claims to serve. Detractors argue the pattern is not random mistakes but a durable system of patronage where public dollars are steered to insiders. In the blunt words of several critics, OHA has operated “like an organized crime ring for ethnic Hawaiians,” with allegations that money earmarked for housing, healthcare, education, and community services has instead fed political allies, lobbyists, and personal agendas. Those allegations some described as embezzlement or “missing money” remain the subject of intense public debate the agency has long disputed suggestions of widespread criminality, and not every accusation has been adjudicated. But the cumulative effect is clear taxpayers fund an institution entrusted with roughly $600 million in trust assets, and the returns are indefensibly thin.

The legal foundation of the agency is also under renewed scrutiny. In Rice v. Cayetano (2000), the U.S. Supreme Court struck down OHA’s ancestry-based voter eligibility rules, holding that limiting trustee elections by ancestry violated the Fifteenth Amendment. In 2023, the Court sharply restricted the use of race in government linked decision making when it ended race conscious college admissions an area distinct from OHA but widely read as signaling hostility to racist ancestry supremacy.

Unlike federally recognized tribes, ethnic Hawaiians do not hold political status under federal law. That distinction matters because the high court in Morton v. Mancari (1974) treated preferences tied to federally recognized tribes as political, not racial. Critics contend OHA can’t claim the Mancari shield and that racist programs at state agencies will struggle under modern Equal Protection review. Even past efforts to dismantle OHA have often faltered not on the merits but on standing and procedural grounds, leaving the constitutional question unresolved and likely to resurface.

For now, Ferreira remains on leave. Sylva has told staff her priority is stability and continuity. But with a detailed whistleblower case now before Judge Tomasa, with workplace retaliation allegations on the record including the meeting where an OHA executive allegedly yelled, pulled her hair, and growled at a subordinate and with longstanding claims of missing money and patronage again in the headlines, OHA faces a reckoning that is legal, political, and moral all at once. Whether the agency can demonstrate fiduciary competence and constitutional compliance will define the next chapter.

WHITE HOUSE:  https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/ending-illegal-discrimination-and-restoring-merit-based-opportunity/

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In the United States, we take constitutional rights very seriously, or at least we really, really should in ALL fifty states, to include the Aloha State, from Hilo to Hanalei.

Lately, there’s been endless talk about the will and ‘the legacy’ of Bernice Pauahi Bishop as it relates to Kamehameha Schools and its infamous admissions policy, because it appears the school is about to be sued yet again for its discriminatory policies.  Many triggered news media outlets, reporters, influencers, politicians, and other race baiters have been blathering endlessly about how Mrs. Bishop’s ‘legacy’ and her will are somehow sacred artifacts which must be preserved 100% with zero changes ever for the rest of time.  If only that were so.

For the moment, forget about the admissions policy and think about Kamehameha’s HIRING POLICY.  HIRA News cannot help but notice how almost nobody seem to be aware that, in 1993, an American court had already taken strong action to correct a MAJOR and very explicit imperfection in Mrs. Bishop’s will:  RELIGIOUS BIGOTRY AND DISCRIMINATION IN HIRING.

Yes, in case the talking heads have forgotten, Mrs. Bishop’s ‘sacred will’ required all teachers at her essentially secular school hired to be Protestant without exception:  “teachers of said schools shall forever be persons of the Protestant religion.”  Forever.  For the rest of time.  And with no exceptions.  Keep in mind, the will of Mrs. Bishop did NOT direct the trustees to establish religious schools.  Can you imagine if a new school in 2025 opened and banned the hiring of certain religions or ethnic groups?  Forever?!?  There would be wall to wall news coverage about the scandal until heads rolled.

Fortunately, in 1993, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) stepped in and sued Bishop Estate (Kam Schools), which happens to be one of the wealthiest charitable trusts in the world.  The EEOC is a federal agency responsible for enforcing federal laws that make it illegal to discriminate against a job applicant or an employee (religion, race, color sex, age, disability, national origin, genetic information), which is precisely what Kamehameha Schools was deliberately doing . . . and was doing based on the explicit words of Mrs. Bishop in her sacred will with its supposedly ‘sacred’ legacy.

YOU CAN READ THE CASE FOR YOURSELF HERE

https://www.casemine.com/judgement/us/5914bea1add7b049347a953a

As you can see from the ruling, Mrs. Bishop’s will and legacy are not sacred.  When her explicit policy violated the U.S. Constitution’s protections, her policy was STRUCK DOWN, as it should have been by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.  The court found the ‘Protestants only’ policy to be “a discriminatory practice”.  Yes, the very words of Mrs. Bishop were found to be DISCRIMINATORY.  The court ruled that being Protestant is NOT a bona fide occupational qualification [BFOQ].  “There is nothing to suggest that adherence to the Protestant faith is essential to the performance of this job.”  The ‘sacred will and legacy’ were struck down in 1993, just like it should have been.  Discrimination has no place in the United States of America, just as it shouldn’t have had any place in the Kingdom of Hawaii.

BUT IT NEVER SHOULD HAVE GONE TO COURT AT ALL:  Before the matter went to court, Kamehameha School had its own opportunity to do the right thing and strike down Mrs. Bishop’s discriminatory policy via its board of trustees or perhaps at an administrative level.  They could have looked themselves in the mirror and realized that what they were doing was wrong and downright un-American.  They could even have asked themselves if the Aloha Spirit commanded them to deny jobs to non-Protestants?  The easy answer is that banning the hiring of Buddhists, Catholics, Jews, and qualified teachers from other denominations based on the applicant’s religious beliefs is WRONG, WRONG, WRONG.  But Kam Schools didn’t back down until a U.S. Court told them they were wrong.  In the biggest smackdown of all, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case, letting the Ninth Circuit’s ruling stand.  This ended any and all dispute about the discriminatory policy written by Mrs. Bishop herself.  Bye bye.  [Apologies to those radicalized persons who regard Mrs. Bishop as a goddess of some sort, as those people are easily triggered by facts.]  Not so sacred after all.

Anyway, that ruling was in 1993.  Bill Clinton had just become U.S. president.  Political correctness was everywhere.  Discussion of civil rights was all the rage.  But NOT at Kamehameha Schools.  Then, as now, the folks who run the school and its supporters were HIDING BEHIND HER WILL AND LEGACY to defend the indefensible.  Then, as now, politicians and media mouthpieces were pushing the idea that the only way to preserve her legacy (and by extension the good old days of the monarchy and feudalism and the caste system and kaua slavery) is to look the other way at discrimination, as long as that discrimination is being done by part-Hawaiian/part-haoles against non-part-Hawaiians.  That makes it okay.  Well, NOPE, it doesn’t.  You can’t simply ‘grandfather in’ bigotry and discrimination because the will was written and went into effect when King Kalakaua was the reigning monarch.  Nope, that discrimination needs to go.  Forever.

Ultimately, the court did the right thing in the case of EEOC vs. Bishop Estate/Kamehameha Schools.  IT STRUCK DOWN RELIGIOUS BIGOTRY at an institution which 99.9% of island residents will NEVER attend, yet some of whom believe is a sacred institution which reminds them of the good old days of the monarchy and about living the feudal commoner life, working for the chief on the ahupuaa and harvesting sandalwood during the good old kingdom days.  That’s too bad if these radicalized anti-statehood anti-US Constitution extremists are bothered.  The truth is that there’s a bright future for all who live in Hawaii if they stop doomscrolling on Instagram and build great lives for themselves and their families.  Neither religious bigotry nor ethnic bigotry is necessary to get ahead.

As American taxpayers, we expect our courts to always do the right thing, even if it stings a little.  Was Mrs. Bishop a religious bigot?  By 2025 standards, of course she was, if she was to pull that “PROTESTANTS ONLY” hiring policy today.  However, by 1884 standards, when her will went into effect upon her death, you can decide for yourself if she was a bigot.  She probably had very good intentions.  However, times change.  That change can be hard for some people who are reluctant to live in the year 2025.  These extremists and radicals desperately try to argue that because the laws regarding ‘trusts’ established by ‘wills’ are somehow exempt from the protections of constitutional rights.  WRONG.  Trust law does not allow Kamehameha Schools to discriminate in hiring teachers on the basis of religion (or ethnicity or race either). While the schools were established as a charitable trust with a will that included a preference for Protestant teachers (and trustees for her trust), this preference was found to be in violation of federal law.  Period.  God Bless America!

HIRA NEWS CAN LET YOU IN ON A LITTLE SECRET:  The ‘sacred will’ considered to be Mrs. Bishop’s ‘sacred legacy’ and ‘sacred vision’ hasn’t just been altered by the U.S. Judiciary.  It was altered by the school itself, without her permission, after she died.  NO WAY!!!, you might react.  There’s simply no way that the school would possibly make its own changes to her will’s intent.  HOW CAN THIS BE???  That’s an injustice bigger than the overthrow of the kingdom!!!

Well, it’s true.  Kamehameha Schools has undergone several significant changes to its policies that have, at times, either been in direct conflict with or a reinterpretation of Bernice Pauahi Bishop’s will.  Mrs. Bishop wrote a will which set forth some very explicit policies for her new school.  Three of the most notable changes are:

MERGING TWO SEPARATE GENDER SCHOOLS:  Pauahi’s sacred will only recognized two genders (male and female only, no mahus or bicurious or gender fluid or queer or nonbinary or whatever).  To this end, she explicitly directed her trustees “to erect and maintain in the Hawaiian Islands two schools, each for boarding and day scholars, one for boys and one for girls, to be known as, and called, The Kamehameha Schools.”  Well, that changed.  In 1965, the Kamehameha School for Boys and the Kamehameha School for Girls were merged into a single, co-educational institution on the Kapālama campus. Without any permission from Mrs. Bishop, this was a major change from the separate-sex schools specified in the will.  The school’s official history notes this as a deliberate shift to adapt to the changing needs of education and prepare students for a co-ed world.  [That rationale is pretty thought-provoking when you consider ethnicity, religion and more.]

LAND USAGE FROM TRUST:  Kamehameha Schools and the Bishop Estate have deviated from the land use dictates in Bernice Pauahi Bishop’s will, primarily due to external forces and a reinterpretation of the will’s intent over time.  Her sacred will directed them “not to sell any real estate . . . but to continue and manage the same, unless in their opinion a sale may be necessary for the establishment or maintenance of said schools, or for the best interest of my estate.”  Without any permission from Mrs. Bishop, most people know that Bishop Estate / Kamehameha Schools (KSBE) evolved into a MAJOR player in the Hawaii real estate scene.  Despite the billions that flowed, the maximum number of enrolled students didn’t see a major boost.  Instead, Bishop Estate trustees got caught up feathering their own nests with huge compensation packages, as documented in the “Broken Trust” books and news coverage in the 1990’s, one hundred years after Mrs. Bishop’s death.  Even after those trustees got into trouble and were removed and the name of the trust was changed (“Bishop Estate” got dropped in favor of just using “Kamehameha Schools”), Mrs. Bishop’s concept of land use for the benefit of the school combined with cultural and environmental stewardship went up in flames.  Without consulting Mrs. Bishop, the gang that’s been running the Kapalama Heights school has moved away from traditional ranching and agricultural leases to more diversified holdings, including commercial real estate, residential developments, and strategic investments in mainland and international markets.  This is a far, far cry from Mrs. Bishop’s wishes.  These are the very real estate projects which many Kam School policy defenders often spend their time protesting.  Super ironic.

TRUSTEES NO LONGER SELECTED BY HAWAII SUPREME COURT:  Speaking of the “Broken Trust” scandal mentioned above, Bernice Pauahi Bishop’s sacred will specifically directed that trustees for her estate be appointed by the justices of the Supreme Court of the Hawaiian Islands.  After the huge scandal involving some really creepy and greedy people who turned their appointment by the judiciary wing of Hawaii’s Democrat Party Monopoly into a chance to self-deal their way into becoming the biggest and richest community celebrities in the islands.  Notwithstanding Pauahi’s explicit terms in her will that specifically directed how the trustees for her estate would forever be appointed by the justices of the Supreme Court of the Hawaiian Islands, court-ordered reforms (yes, COURT ORDERED) in the wake of the scandal created a new system for selecting trustees; requiring a court-appointed screening committee to vet candidates based on professional qualifications, not political connections. And, contrary to her will, the schools’ governance was separated from the trust’s financial management, creating a more professional and accountable structure.  So, trustees are NO LONGER ALLOWED to appoint their own successors, as Mrs. Bishop’s will directed.  And the Hawaii Supreme Court is NO LONGER ALLOWED to pick trustees either.

Lokelani Lindsey, Henry Peters, Richard “Dickie” Wong, Oswald Stender and Gerard Jervis, left to right, in 1995. (from the now defunct Honolulu Star-Bulletin)

So, you see, Pauahi’s will is not so sacred.  There have been internal deviations and court-ordered deviations from her explicit directives.  Major ones, not manini.  But you won’t see or hear Hawaii News Now’s Mahealani Richardson or other pretenders to the Hawaii throne using their perches in the media or politics to inform their viewers about how many times Pauahi’s sacred will has been ignored and revised.  Instead, most media and political partisans and influencers are trying to light as much gasoline as they can pour with misinformation, race-baiting, and fake history for their own political or ratings purposes.  In the end, more misery will result from the inevitable striking down of the discriminatory admissions policy after the court sees right through the contradictory shibai about Kamehameha Schools being the #1 repository of Hawaiian culture juxtaposed against the reality that 99.9% of island residents will never attend the school.  Can it really be that without Kamehameha School, Hawaiian dance, language, culture and history will vanish from Hawaii and from the face of the Earth?  Baloney.  Hawaiiana, if you will, is all around us and expanding each day, with or without Kamehameha School.  Everyone knows that Kam School is basically Punahou School for part-Hawaiians.  It doesn’t need to keep playing the race card.

Then or now, those who hide behind Mrs. Bishop’s ‘sacred will’, her ‘legacy’ and her ‘vision’ to justify any kind of discrimination at Kam Schools in 1993 or 2025 are as cowardly as those who pretend that breaking the law and violating civil rights is perfectly okay.  The situational ethics invoked by race hustlers that defend ethnic discrimination in the admissions policy is 100% shameless and bound for judicial failure.  You gotta ask:  WHERE were today’s protesters hoping in 2025 to protect ethnic discrimination when that illegally discriminatory religious job requirement of ‘Protestants only’ was invalidated in 1993?  NOWHERE TO BE FOUND.  It’s like they don’t even know that this EEOC ruling was delivered 32 short years ago.  So much for the sacredness of her will.  The courts and the school itself are making changes to her sacred will and her sacred legacy left and right.  Deal with it.

Thankfully, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (and the U.S. Supreme Court) made sure that Pauahi’s ‘legacy’ will not include religious bigotry.  Soon, it certainly appears likely, the courts may step in to ensure her ‘legacy’ is not forever tarnished by a policy of ethnic bigotry.  It’s obvious to anyone paying attention that Kamehameha Schools has long been braced for the fact that the U.S. Supreme Court will overthrow the discriminatory admissions policy once a case reaches the high court.  Back in 2007, the famous Doe v. Kamehameha Schools case concerning Kamehameha Schools’ notorious admissions policy did reach the U.S. Supreme Court, but it was settled before the Court could issue a ruling.  Moments before the Court was to hear oral arguments, Kamehameha Schools magically and quickly reached a settlement with the plaintiff, giving the family $7 million to go away and let the racism continue.  As a result of the last minute settlement, the case was dismissed, and the U.S. Supreme Court did not issue a final ruling.

WHAT SHOULD HAPPEN NOW?  With a new legal challenge on its way in 2025, a lot less energy should be expended working to radicalize people into a frenzy over the possible end of ethnic bigotry and discrimination at Kamehameha Schools.  Instead, a lot more work should be done to prepare all of Hawaii’s children for an undeniable future which relies on working together with others from diverse backgrounds from birth to death, including time spent in school.  Perhaps that path forward is not ‘the Hawaiian way’ (as defined by radicalized activists and their pandering political friends and media mouthpieces).  But it IS the American way.  And this is the United States of America, annexed and admitted into the union forever.  Period.

Thankfully, the courts ended religious bigotry at Kamehameha despite Pauahi’s will and legacy.  Now, the question arises:  Will Pauahi’s Unfortunate Legacy of Racism and Ethnic Bigotry and Discrimination Be Overthrown?  STAY TUNED.

Next up, HIRA News will reveal the ACTUAL WORDS of Mrs. Bishop in her ‘sacred will’ which pertain to the actual admissions policy she explicitly desired.  Brace yourself, since it’s NOT AT ALL what Kamehameha Schools and its supporters have told you.  For now, we leave you with the extremely wise words of Thomas Sowell; words which have great significance for all of us in Hawaii in 2025 . . .

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A LITTLE HISTORY ABOUT MRS. (and Mr.) BISHOP:   Bernice Pauahi was a trust fund baby with good intentions.  As the last royal descendant of the Kamehameha line, she inherited a vast estate, becoming the largest landowner in the Hawaiian Kingdom thanks to the violent and deadly conquest and land acquisition by Kamehameha and his army against fellow Hawaiians who did not want to live under his rule.  In 1850, Bernice Pauahi married against her parents wishes and against the official policy of the kingdom’s line of succession and arranged marriages to keep the monarchy going.  She was supposed to marry her cousin, Prince Lot Kapuāiwa, who would later become King Kamehameha V.  This arranged marriage was a significant matter of state policy, as both Pauahi and Lot were of high rank in the royal line of succession, and their union was seen as a way to strengthen the royal family’s claim to the throne and secure the kingdom’s future.  However, Pauahi fell in love with Charles Reed Bishop, a frequently overlooked and rarely thanked American businessman who had settled in Hawaii.  Bishop arrived in Hawaii in 1846 and became a naturalized citizen in 1849.  So, she went against her parents’ wishes and terminated her arranged marriage.  Pauahi and Bishop were married on June 4, 1850, in a private ceremony at the Royal School. Her parents did not attend the wedding. Over time, however, Pauahi’s parents came to accept the marriage after it proved to be a happy one and they saw that Bishop had the interests of their daughter and the Kamehameha family at heart.

Wedding portrait of the happy couple, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Reed Bishop, June 4, 1850

Charles Bishop held a variety of positions under several Hawaiian monarchs, including Minister of Foreign Affairs and a member of the Privy Council.  He was a successful businessman who founded Hawaii’s first chartered bank, Bishop and Co., which later became First Hawaiian Bank.  Just before King Kamehameha V, Lot Kapuāiwa died in 1872, he offered the throne to his cousin and former fiancee, Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, from his deathbed.  But she declined.  Since no successor had been named by Lot, the Kamehameha line of royalty ended in 1872 with his death.  Because he died without a designated heir, the legislature was tasked with electing a new monarch.  Then, after Bernice Pauahi Bishop’s death twelve years later in 1884, Charles Bishop was instrumental in carrying out her will. He served as a co-executor and one of the original five trustees of her estate. Because the estate was “land rich and cash poor,” he used his own funds to help establish Kamehameha Schools, which opened in 1887. He also founded the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum in 1889 as a memorial to his wife, to house the cultural heirlooms of the Kamehameha family. He continued to support these institutions and various other charities in Hawaii until his death in 1915.

99% of people in Hawai’i don’t know

REAL Hawai’i history.  Now YOU do!

From sources below and more, HIRA News and Keep Hawaii United urge you to learn more about Hawaii’s Sandalwood Trade and visualize the greed and brutality involved during this 50 year period under the Hawaiian Kingdom.  You simply won’t hear about this from any other news source during “Hawaii History Month” or any other month because it doesn’t advance the separatist sovereignty narrative and doesn’t propagandize using the ‘our kingdom was great in every way’ narrative; both of which are essential in keeping the money flowing to single-ethnicity programs, quotas, discounts, set-asides, subsidies, and freebies while attempting to systematically destroy Hawaii’s enviable melting pot in favor of the disintegration and ‘Balkanization’ of the Aloha State.

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Most people in Hawaii have no idea how greedy chiefs and kings and other royal hangers on spent a fortune and ran up enormous debt from the early days of the Hawaiian kingdom because they wanted to buy imported luxuries for themselves, such as silks, satins, china, furniture, and other goods that the chiefs desired, including guns, powder, cloth, glass, whiskey and New England rum.  In addition, gambling debt was also a factor for Hawaiian royals.

In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, sandalwood (a.k.a. “iliahi”) became Hawaii’s first major export, in high demand in Asia for incense and other goods. Hawaiian chiefs and Kamehameha I, quickly realized they could trade this valuable fragrant wood for highly desired Western goods.  In the late 1700’s into the 1800’s, the unsustainable sandalwood trade grew and grew until the supply was gone.  But the consequences of these high maka makas chasing greed during these many decades were painful and numerous for the average Hawaiian citizen.

Forced Labor: To meet the immense demand, chiefs forced commoners (a.k.a. the makaainana) to abandon their traditional farming, fishing and hunting duties to harvest sandalwood from the mountains. This was brutal, back-breaking work involving treks into the mountains which did lead to sickness and death.  These enslaved commoners had to carry heavy bundles of wood (up to 133 pounds each) down steep, rugged terrain; eventually depleting 90% of Hawaii’s trees on orders from the kingdom.

Destruction and Famine: The over-harvesting of sandalwood at the direction of the alii led to widespread deforestation and contributed to famine, malnutrition, and disease as commoners neglected their food crops, their fishing and their hunting since their labor was diverted to helping enrich the royals. The trade was driven by the alii’s desire for Western goods, which included everything from luxuries and iron tools and furniture to booze and firearms and ships. These items, particularly the weapons, were crucial for King Kamehameha I to unify the islands, but they also fueled the chiefs’ personal accumulation of wealth under several kings.

Debt and Indulgence: After Kamehameha I’s death, the sandalwood trade spiraled out of control under Kam II and Kam III.  Many chiefs ran up massive debts to foreign merchants in exchange for luxury goods. This led to a state of economic crisis, where the entire kingdom was plunged into debt, further burdening the common people who had to pay a tax in sandalwood to settle the chiefs’ debts. The extravagant spending on foreign goods was a result of both a desire to project power, impress fellow chiefs and the unchecked pursuit of personal indulgence.  Reparations from the alii to the commoners was never paid.

Destruction of Traditional Hawaiian Life:  The unsustainable focus on fulfilling the demand for sandalwood took precedence over all other aspects of traditional Hawaiian life, leading to the enslavement of all island people and the collapse of their self-sufficient economy and social structure so that the greedy rulers could buy fancy imported goods for themselves.  Sandalwood gave way to whaling which gave way to sugar; all approved and encouraged by the Hawaiian Kingdom.

Yes, there’s a lot more to Hawaii history than aloha, hula, rainbows, and luaus.  Endless wars caused by Hawaiians.  The violent Tahitian conquerors who stole Hawaii from the original Marquesan inhabitants of these islands.  Documented and systematic abuse of commoners by Hawaiian leaders.  Feudal savagery.  Human Sacrifice and Slavery.  Seeing the whole picture of Hawaii history is vital to understanding the past and crucial to navigating the future.  Merely absorbing a few select nuggets of history which are repeatedly watered-down and advanced by the media, the activists, and the influencers only serves to advance a political agenda which is dangerous for all the people of the Hawaiian Islands.

99% of people in Hawai’i don’t know

REAL Hawai’i history.  Now YOU do!

From sources below and more, HIRA News and Keep Hawaii United urge you to learn more about Hawaii’s Sandalwood Trade and visualize the greed and brutality involved during this 50 year period under the Hawaiian Kingdom.  You simply won’t hear about this from any other news source during “Hawaii History Month” or any other month because it doesn’t advance the separatist sovereignty narrative and doesn’t propagandize using the ‘our kingdom was great in every way’ narrative; both of which are essential in keeping the money flowing to single-ethnicity programs, quotas, discounts, set-asides, subsidies, and freebies while attempting to systematically destroy Hawaii’s enviable melting pot in favor of the disintegration and ‘Balkanization’ of the Aloha State.

UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII RESEARCH

https://www.hawaii.edu/uhwo/clear/home/HawaiiLaborHistory.html

PETER YOUNG RESEARCH

https://imagesofoldhawaii.com/sandalwood-era/

https://imagesofoldhawaii.com/?s=sandalwood

MARK “UMI” PERKINS RESEARCH

https://theumiverse.wordpress.com/2020/12/10/hi-lalele-%CA%BBiliahi-the-sandalwood-trade/

ADAM KEAWE MANALO-CAMP RESEARCH

https://adamkeawe.wordpress.com/2011/09/28/part-4-the-hawaiian-class-system/

KHON’S WATERED-DOWN STORY (2022)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbnMFZW5GjI

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