The kingdom was conceived in Kamehameha's desire to end wars between chiefdoms and live in unity and peace. The independence of the kingdom had been officially recognized by the United States in five treaties, by other foreign nations in 14 treaties, and in 20 foreign government consulates and nine foreign ports.

Despite the treaties with the United States, the kingdom ended in the illegal overthrow of its government by a small, powerful group of nonnative businessmen aided by the U.S. minister and U.S. troops.

On Nov. 19, 1897, against this show of U.S. military strength, the queen and the majority of Native Hawaiians sent the Ku'e Petitions, signed by 38,269, or 94 percent, of the Native Hawaiians (including my grandmother), to Congress to demand the restoration of the constitutional monarchy and to protest annexation by the United States.

With the Hawaiian queen in Washington, D.C., pleading against annexation and the U.S. Senate refusing to concur with a treaty with the illegal Republic of Hawai'i, the revolutionaries were still able to persuade the Senate to sign a joint resolution that required only a simple majority of votes to pass. Thus, the Newlands Resolution, which could only affect internal but not foreign affairs, was used to deliver the coup de grâce to a friendly Pacific island kingdom in violation of both American and international law.

From the beginning, the kingdom and its people generously welcomed foreigners, and under their influence created the Mahele, a new, Western-style land division clearly intended to allow nonnative and foreign people to own land.

Some historians say the Mahele, the overthrow and annexation were a mistake. Perhaps. However, the United States still has the capability to successfully deliver justice for Native Hawaiians and nonnatives today.

But does it have the will to do so?

After years of cultural suppression, land theft and forced assimilation, Native Hawaiians are gradually regaining their language, history, pride and identity. Sadly, Native Hawaiians, in too-large numbers, are still an at-risk people: seriously undereducated, overrepresented in prisons, overburdened by serious diseases and plagued with drug abuse and homelessness.

Native Hawaiians are striving to find our own, rightful place in our Islands. Central to that search is not "somewhere else." It is here. Every American has and needs an ancestral homeland that he or she can reference or visit with pride to enjoy the roots of his or her heritage.

While most Native Hawaiians are proud to be U.S. citizens, Hawai'i is their native homeland, and it is claimed by another country. We are ruled by U.S. laws, not our own.

In November 2004, two seminal cases that challenge services and education programs for Native Hawaiians were argued before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. No matter how the court rules, the decisions are very likely to be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, and with or without the Akaka bill and federal recognition, Native Hawaiians will continue their pursuit of rebuilding their nation.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt tried to remind Americans of their obligations of deference to the nation's native peoples: "All of our people ... are immigrants or descendants of immigrants, including those who came over on the Mayflower," he said.

It is time now to fully honor, without fear and without self-interest, the rightful political status of the native peoples of the United States of America.