Starting a lecture with a land claim acknowledgement...

In Hawaii as well. It is near common knowledge that the Hawaiian King was held at gunpoint to strip the Hawaiian government of any power and lands, (hence why it was called the "bayonet constitution"). Nearly every class, presentation, speaker, about Hawaiian history starts with these claims to land and government, and how it was wrongfully taken. WE KNOW. But that doesn't stop the fact that new, completely unrelated people are now living on that land, and you can't just strip that land from underneath those people because of this tragedy that happened in the past. Even as a native Hawaiian who would love to see my people take back the lands that were once ours, people need to understand that it takes a more substantive argument than some reference or proof to past ownership to make any real change.

/r/unpopularopinion Thread