In November of 2008, a 52-year-old Hawai'i woman was convicted of child abuse. The assaults committed on the children under her care were heinous: They were attacked with knives, starved, forced to hold their hands over a stove, struck in the teeth with a hammer and held underwater for extended periods of time. Prosecutors asked for the maximum sentence possible and that the sentences for each act be served consecutively for a total of 41 years in prison. She was only sentenced to five.
After her conviction she filed an appeal. Under normal circumstances she would have had little grounds for one, but in this case, the judge granted her bail while considering her appeal because of one specific detail: The woman convicted of child abuse was Rita Makekau, the self-proclaimed royal minister of foreign affairs of the Hawaiian sovereignty group Hawaiian Kingdom Government. Her appeal was considered by Circuit Judge Virginia Crandall on the basis that as a Native Hawaiian, she does not fall under the jurisdiction of Hawai'i state and federal laws.
But if the state of Hawai'i cannot hold Makekau accountable for her actions, then who can? Currently there is no apparatus resembling an internal Native Hawaiian justice system because there is no independent Hawaiian nation. Whether or not such an institution can be established remains to be seen, but right now Makekau is attempting to assert herself as a leader in an outspoken, if not somewhat ineffectual, branch of the larger Hawaiian sovereignty movement, exploring her legal options. It is a defense that has never worked in the past, but perhaps Makekau is hoping this time will be different, that her battle will bring visibility to her cause.
The problem is, Makekau's quite visible legal battles are an eyesore, bringing bad press to the Hawaiian sovereignty movement. If you thought the images surrounding the "occupation" of 'Iolani Palace in May 2008 were ugly, that's nothing. Right now, every time someone does a Google news search on "Native Hawaiian issues," another news brief pops up on the Hawaiian Kingdom Government's very own convicted child abuser aspiring to "ali'i" status, trotting out her supposed royal ancestry at every opportunity. The more airtime Makekau gets, the closer people will be to solidifying the connection between a convicted child abuser and Hawaiian sovereignty activism, and until some kind of damage control or equally visible public expression of moral outrage on the part of mainstream Native Hawaiian activists is expressed concerning Makekau, this insidious pairing will only get stronger with time.
If Native Hawaiian groups like Hawaiian Kingdom Government ever want to be taken seriously, they must realize that their only trump card is their claim on moral authority. It is as it says in our state motto, as spoken by King Kamehameha III: "Ua mau ke ea o ka ??ina i ka pono." This phrase is usually translated as "The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness." The corollary to that, however, is that if you ever want to have authority over land, you must be pono, or righteous, in your morals, practices and associations.
Since well before outside settlers came to Hawai'i, ali'i have been required to be pono; those who weren't didn't stay royalty for very long. Makekau's continued status in a position of authority in her organization is a blight upon not only the Hawaiian Kingdom Government, but upon all Native Hawaiian groups who have not already spoken out against her actions. Makekau's crimes against the children of her family are inexcusable, and she should not be allowed to hide from justice under the guise of advancing sovereignty issues.






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