I think Hawaii should become independent again. Hawaii can benefit from not being at the mercy of voters of Ohio & Florida. Hawaii can benefit from controlling its own tax revenues. Hawaii can benefit from more access to international trade (currently constricted due to the US-imposed Jones Act).
Talking about stuff like that can eventually convince skeptics that Hawaiian independence is worth a shot!
The problem with the Hawaiian independence movement is that too much attention has been given to those who vent recklessly. The prime example is Haunani-Kay Trask, a Hawaiian Studies instructor who is notorious for her anti-haole rants and calling non-natives "uninvited guests".
Does anyone really think you can gain support from non-natives by calling them "uninvited guests" and saying "Hawaii can benefit from one less haole"?
Remember, about 75% of Hawaii's population are of non-native ancestry! That's the majority! Native Hawaiians are outnumbered by European-Americans, Japanese and Filipinos.
That means in order to gain support for Hawaiian independence, you have to convince enough Europeans, Japanese, Filipinos, and other non-natives to support the cause!
I noted that back in 2000 when I was an opinions writer at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa's student newspaper Ka Leo O Hawaii (usually referred to its shortened name Ka Leo).
The article I wrote was an Open-Letter to Haunani-Kay Trask in response to her book "From a Native Daughter".
While the Ka Leo O Hawaii's website doesn't currently archive anything from the year 2000, a copy of that article has been reposted on a Geocities site, which you can read at
http://www.geocities.ws/site_for_pablo/trask.html
Trask herself didn't respond (this was around the same time Trask had a public dispute with then-governor Ben Cayetano, a Filipino descendant who said he was "Hawaiian at heart". Trask responded by holding a sign saying "f*** Ben").
However, her cronies posted angry letters to Ka Leo, claiming I "didn't know Hawaii history" and calling me "racist" (ironically for questioning Trask's racism). Luckily, I wasn't physically confronted by anyone. (also lucky that my photo didn't appear in the Ka Leo. Also lucky that this was before the age of social media, where people can find out what I look like.).
The following year, Trask got controversy again when she commented that the 9/11 attacks were "chicken coming home to roost" which was interpreted as "Americans got what they deserved".
Since then, Trask has been out of the public spotlight! Either she decided her rants were poison for the movement, or the local media stopped giving her attention.
Her sister, Mililani Trask, also had notorious rants back in the day, but has since moderated her rhetoric. She has since aligned herself with libertarian-leaning Keliʻi Akina (one of those surprising "politics make strange bedfellows" moments) when running for (and eventually winning) a position Office of Hawaiian Affairs in 2016.
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More recently, as I was volunteering at a local nonprofit bookshop that shared space with an art gallery. The art gallery had an exhibit opening party, and one of the artists had a speech. He complained about non-residents buying property in Hawaii, claiming that their presence has increased property values and the cost of living for residents. He then claimed "I hate to sound like Donald Trump, but Hawaii needs to control its own borders." In other words, he's being xenophobic just like Donald Trump is. That is venting recklessly! That kind of stuff is poisonous to the Hawaiian independence movement. That's not how you gain support from the general population.
my graphic art using Paint software,
with Hawaii's Map that was copyrighted to US Census Bureau
I mentioned about this topic in a recent YouTube speech titled "Hawaiian independence movement: venting strategically vs venting recklessly"
Watch the video at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aur6GLmp7JE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aur6GLmp7JE
