This apology to na Kanaka Maoli was given by the Rev. Dr. Paul. H. Sherry, President of the United Church of Christ, on January 17, 1993, in Honolulu, Hawai’i, at the 100th anniversary of the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy.
We are gathered in this place, at the request of the 18th General Synod of the United Church of Christ, to recall with sorrow the unprovoked invasion of the Hawaiian nation on January 17, 1893, by unauthorized forces of the United States. We are gathered here so that, as President of the United Church of Christ, I can apologize for the support given that act by ancestors of ours in the church now known as the United Church of Christ. We do so in order to begin a process of repentance and reconciliation for wrongs done. We are here not to condemn, but to acknowledge. We are here to remember and ask forgiveness. We are here to commit ourselves to work alongside our Hawaiian sisters and brothers — both those in the United Church of Christ and those beyond — in the hope that a society of justice and mercy for them and for all people, everywhere, may yet emerge.
We remember that in 1820 the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, now known as the United Church Board for World Ministries, sent missionaries to Hawaii to preach the good news of Jesus Christ. These women and men, often at great personal sacrifice, witnessed to the Gospel in compelling ways. Their lives of Christian commitment and generosity are an inspiration, and their contributions endure. We thank God for them.
Some of these men and women, however, sometimes confused the ways of the West with the ways of the Christ. Assumptions of cultural and racial superiority led some of them and those who followed them to discount or undervalue the strengths of the mature society they encountered. Therefore, the rich indigenous values of the native Hawaiian people, their language, their spirituality, and their regard for the land, went unappreciated. The resulting social, political, and economic implications of these harmful attitudes contributed to the suffering of the native Hawaiian people in that time and into the present. Justice will be pursued and reconciliation achieved as, together, we recognize both the strengths and the weaknesses of those who preceded us, as we celebrate that which is good, and as we make right that which is wrong.
Through the years, the Hawaiian people have experienced virtually the total loss of their land. Their sovereignty has been taken from them. Many suffer from severe poverty, lack of educational opportunity and decent health care, and their cultural heritage is under severe threat. Justice and mercy demand rectification (pono) of these wrongs, so that we may be reconciled with each other and walk, together, toward a common future.
We recognize that, in collaboration with others from the United States and elsewhere, a number of descendants of the missionaries helped form the so-called “Provisional Government,” which conspired with armed forces of the United States in the invasion of 1893. With the involvement and public support of local Protestant church leaders, the Provisional Government appropriated all Crown and public lands for eventual forfeiture to the United States, in exchange for annexation. On January 17, 1893, Queen Lili’oukalani, temporarily and under “solemn protest,” abdicated to this provisional group “until such time as the Government of the United States shall, upon facts being presented to it, undo the action of its representatives and reinstate me… ”
Queen Lili’uokalani rejected not only the legality of the overthrow but also its morality. She appealed directly to the American people:
Oh, honest Americans, as Christians hear me for my down-trodden people! Their form of government is as dear to them as yours is precious to you. Quite as warmly as you love your country, so they love theirs…. With all your goodly possessions, covering a territory so immense that there yet remain parts unexplored, possessing islands that, although near at hand, had to be neutral ground in time of war, do not covet the little vineyard of Naboth’s, so far from your shores, lest the punishment of Ahab fall upon you, if not in your day, in that of your children, for “be not deceived, God is not mocked.” The children to whom our fathers told of the living God, and taught to call “Father,” and whom the sons now seek to despoil and destroy, are crying aloud to Him in their time of trouble; and He will keep His promise, and will listen to the voices of His Hawaiian children, lamenting for their homes.
Sadly, the Queen’s appeal was ignored.
A long century later, the 18th General Synod of the United Church of Christ, while celebrating the good fruits of the mission enterprise, recognizes also, far too late, the wrongs perpetrated upon the Hawaiian people. Therefore, the General Synod has instructed me, its President, to begin a process of reconciliation, beginning with a formal apology to you, the Hawaiian people.
We acknowledge and confess our sins against you and your forebears, the indigenous people of Hawaii. We formally apologize to you for “our denomination’s historical complicities in the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian Monarchy in 1893,” by unduly identifying the ways of the West with the ways of the Christ, and, thereby, undervaluing the strengths of the mature society that was native Hawaii. We commit ourselves to help right the wrongs inflicted upon you. We promise appreciation of the traditions, spirituality, and culture that are distinctly yours. We promise to receive the gifts you offer, and we commit ourselves to stand with you in your quest for justice and self- determination. May God guide us all into a new day of reconciliation, in which justice is pursued and mercy received.
Members of the United Church of Christ Delegation to Hawaii:
- Paul H. Sherry, President, United Church of Christ
- Scott S. Libbey, Executive Vice-President, United Church Board for World Ministries
- Thomas E. Dipko, Executive Vice-President, United Church Board for Homeland Ministries
- Denise Page Hood, Chair, Executive Council, United Church of Christ
- Dorothy Gentry Kearney, President, United Church Board for World Ministries
- Cesar A. Coloma, Chair, United Church Board for Homeland Ministries
- Reba Walker, Chair, Office for Church in Society, United Church of Christ
- Armand Schmidt, Executive Director, Council for American Indian Ministries
Hawai'i's Queen 