This morning we got up early and visited the Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor. I tend to avoid military memorials as I find the winner's version of history to often be a disturbing affair. Unfortunately, today wasn't any different--especially after our lessons in Hawaiian history.
According to the museum at the Arizona Memorial, the US got exclusive use of Pearl Harbor in exchange for tariff-free sugar trade with Hawai'i. The rest of the story (not told at the museum) is that Pearl Harbor was used by native Hawaiians to fish, irrigate their taro fields, and search for pearls. When the US asked for exclusive rights, the king refused. At that point, the US military surrounded the parliament house and demanded they write a new constitution that stripped the king of his power. This constitution, referred to as the Bayonet Constitution, gave the US what they wanted. For more on the Bayonet constitution, read here.
It seems to me that if we hadn't demanded rights to harbor, the Japanese wouldn't have attacked Hawai'i, and the harbor might still be full of fishing boats surrounded by taro fields. Perhaps this is a simplistic view, but I would have liked at least some consideration of the consequences of the attack on Pearl Harbor for the people who live on the island.
Here is a photo of the oil that leaks out of the Arizona. When the boats were attacked on Pearl Harbor, 50,000 gallons of oil spilled into the harbor and it burned for several days. Still today the battleships leak oil into the harbor.
Arizona memorial
The Arizona underwater
According to the museum at the Arizona Memorial, the US got exclusive use of Pearl Harbor in exchange for tariff-free sugar trade with Hawai'i. The rest of the story (not told at the museum) is that Pearl Harbor was used by native Hawaiians to fish, irrigate their taro fields, and search for pearls. When the US asked for exclusive rights, the king refused. At that point, the US military surrounded the parliament house and demanded they write a new constitution that stripped the king of his power. This constitution, referred to as the Bayonet Constitution, gave the US what they wanted. For more on the Bayonet constitution, read here.
It seems to me that if we hadn't demanded rights to harbor, the Japanese wouldn't have attacked Hawai'i, and the harbor might still be full of fishing boats surrounded by taro fields. Perhaps this is a simplistic view, but I would have liked at least some consideration of the consequences of the attack on Pearl Harbor for the people who live on the island.
Here is a photo of the oil that leaks out of the Arizona. When the boats were attacked on Pearl Harbor, 50,000 gallons of oil spilled into the harbor and it burned for several days. Still today the battleships leak oil into the harbor.
Arizona memorial
The Arizona underwater
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