Kamehameha III

Ea is a Hawaiian word that refers to life and sovereignty, underscoring a kānaka worldview where self-determination is as fundamental as breathing.

Kau i Keauli, or Kamehameha III, restored the sovereignty of the Hawaiian kingdom in July 1843, an event that is commemorated as La Hoʻihoʻi Ea.

Now, to my homona here that's representing our Pai'aina, my first question to you is, what does Ea mean to you and how do you practice Ea? So, kamohala.

Mahalo nui for that question.

I absolutely agree with Lexi, because it's so important for youth in our community now, especially if they can do it makaulalo Hawaii, to know who they're voting for and what the outcomes, and know what they want in the community.

Yeah, mahalo, mahalo.

Okay, now our third question here has to do with Kauikeauli and Kamehameha III, yeah.

He declared, , right, our famous state logo, but it also led our country here.

So they're the OG cowboys.

But Kamehameha III brought 20 families back to Hawaii to teach the Hawaiians how to rope cattle.

And that began the Paniola tradition.

Paniola is the Hawaiianized word for Espanol or Spanish, like cowboys, but that's what they call Hawaiian cowboys.

As far as Ea, it's freedom, you know, controlling our own destiny.

But I think more importantly, if you go back to history, when you look at Kamehameha III, when he had to deal with international issues like gumbo diplomacy as the British were taking over our country, he specifically tells them, I've given away the freedom of our land.

And when that land is returned, HE SAID THAT FAMOUS STATEMENT THAT WE ARE TALKING ABOUT.

SO THE IDEA IS REALLY EVERYTHING A FULLY FUNCTIONING COUNTRY NEEDS, WE NEED IT BACK AGAIN.

The arrival of Europeans and Western disease decimated native populations, while Western interpretations of land use and property rights culminated in the 1848 Great Mahele, a legal transition of land ownership from a feudal regime into private property.

Not far from Kihei and the city of Lahaina, once a residence of King Kamehameha III, now a city rebuilding after unprecedented but entirely explainable wildfires, and one of these historically central ponds sat under an unspectacular park and some tennis courts.

And not so far down the road, standing two hundred and twenty-five feet in the air, is another artifact that largely informed the pond's destruction.

While the Jones Act may explain why food is so expensive to import, it's sugarcane and pineapples that begin to explain why Hawaii has to import food in the first place.

Quote, "By the end of the 19th century, literacy in Hawaii, in Olelo, spelled Hawaii, reached an astonishing high of over 90%.

This was largely thanks to the public education system founded in 1840 by King Kamehameha III, the third king of Hawaii, 58 years before the American invasion and annexation.

It was one of the highest literacy rates in the world at the time and still an impressive figure.

In 2020, data from the United States Department of Education showed that 54% of adults aged 16 to 74 lack literacy proficiency." And it continues, quote, "When the monarchy was overthrown in 1893, a law was enacted to make English the language of instruction in all schools.