
- Details
- By Native News Online Staff
In Hawai’i, July 31 is a holiday: Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea, or Sovereignty Restoration Day.
King Kamehameha III established this holiday in 1843, in a days-long celebration following the rightful return of sovereign government to Hawaiʻi, after the United Kingdom had made an illegal seizure of their land.
Kamehameha III proclaimed, “Ua mau ke ea o ka ʻāina i ka pono,” meaning, ‘the ea (sovereignty, life, breath) of our land is perpetuated through justice.’
After decades of suppression, the celebrations of sovereignty were revived in 1985 by Uncle Kekuni Blaisdell and other kānaka aloha ʻāina “as a way to give voice to Hawaiian independence and to issues surrounding the return and demilitarization of Hawaiian lands,” according to the La Hoihoi Ea website.
Celebrations will be happening all day in Hawai’i and with family, relatives, and community around the world.
Learn more.
More Stories Like This
Wabanaki Tribes Make Case for Self-Determination in Historic Address Before LegislatureSCOTUS Hears Arguments in Navajo Nation Water Rights Case
'POTENTIALLY SENSITIVE, LIKELY STOLEN': Native Nonprofit Educating Buyers About Indigenous Artifacts on Auction
Q&A: Kelli Mosteller (Potawatomi), Harvard University Native American Program
Leaders of Native American Church Pressure Biden Administration for Protections of Peyote Habitat
12 years of Native News
This month, we celebrate our 12th year of delivering Native News to readers throughout Indian Country and beyond. For the past dozen years, we’ve covered the most important news stories that are usually overlooked by other media. From the protests at Standing Rock and the rise of the American Indian Movement (AIM), to the ongoing epidemic of Murdered and Missing Indigenous People (MMIP) and the past-due reckoning related to assimilation, cultural genocide and Indian Boarding Schools.
Our news is free for everyone to read, but it is not free to produce. That’s why we’re asking you to make a donation this month to help support our efforts. Any contribution — big or small — helps. If you’re in a position to do so, we ask you to consider making a recurring donation of $12 per month to help us remain a force for change in Indian Country and to tell the stories that are so often ignored, erased or overlooked.
Donate to Native News Online today and support independent Indigenous journalism. Thank you.