The Queen and I: A Story of Dispossessions and Reconnections in Hawai'i

3. A Story of Political and Emotional Maneuverings: Queen Lili‘uokalani’s Trust Deed and the Crown Lands

61 cHApter 3 a story of Political and emotional maneuverings Queen Lili‘uokalani’s Trust Deed and the Crown Lands Land’s value exists in its extension of the self from the past into the present and back. Whencapitalism enters into this relationship, contractualrelations to property replace placial connections. Though contractual relations are not withoutemotionalcurrency,ColeHarrisnotes:“Thespatialenergyofcapitalism works to deterritoralize people (detach them from prior bonds between people and place) and to reterritorialize them in relation to the requirements of capital.”1 But even if capital and property attempt to take precedence over the connections of genealogy and ‘ohana, one’s lived experiences in a place and the lived experience of the self in the landscape are still present, because land is experienced as an extension of the self/body, thereby provoking emotional attachments to landscape.2 Ascapitalism’smethodfordetermininghowlifefollowsdeath,inheritance often further strains the triangular continuity of land, body, and memory. The questions and tensions surrounding inheritance—who will get what, when, and why—often deeply affect family relationships. The passing down of private property is often emotional, as complicated interpersonal relationships are played out over this extension of self—the land. Conflict over the passing down of land and resources to future generations can actually lead people to deny and ignore genealogical connections that are not breakable in and of themselves. In 1909, the formation of Queen Lili‘uokalani’s trust deed was a highly emotional and bitterly contentious endeavor. For the Queen (fig. 7), the task of writing her trust deed coincided with her fight to regain revenues from the 62 . politicAl AnD eMotionAl MAneuveringS Crown Lands. Both the trust deed and the suit filed in U.S. Court of Claims entitled Liliuokalani v. United States of America seeking revenues from the Crown Lands were drawn up within days of one another in November and December of 1909. The Crown Lands revenue and the Queen’s trust were also emotionally intense because Prince Kūhiō, Queen Lili‘uoklanai’s nephew by marriage and second cousin, was Hawai‘i’s congressional representative figure 7. Queen Lili‘uokalani, 1900. Hawai‘i State Archives. politicAl AnD eMotionAl MAneuveringS . 63 in 1909. The Queen was always conscious of the danger of “antagonizing” the Prince when she embarked on her fight for the Crown Lands revenues, and their personal relationship was harshly tested by negotiations of land and inheritance rights.3 Even though the U.S. Court of Claims declared that Queen Lili‘uokalani did not have rights to the revenues of the Crown Lands, when the Queen died, both property issues were still unresolved. We are the inheritors of these troubledpolitical,social,andgeographiclegacies—ascontemporaryHawaiians, welearnedhowtonegotiateprivateproperty,‘āina,and‘ohanafromtheseearly court cases, and as such we have also frequently learned how to disconnect ourselves from our families and communities. However, our mastery of legalese and the related intellectual and political understandings, then and now, is a sophistication that the legal documents themselves often struggle to avoid. Prince Kalanianaole and the Kealohilani Premises Bordering the main driveway that fronts Washington Place on the makai side and within easy access from the south portico of the Mansion, stood a vine-covered Arbor where the Queen often sat of early mornings. And with an Autoharp or Zither, while away the time by singing softly to herself familiar Hawaiian songs and airs since the days of the Merry Monarch. It was most fascinating to sit and listen to her, as she was still in good voice, the tone, expression and rhythm, perfect. It reminded me of the days when, as a member of the Kawaihau Glee Club, sponsored by Prince Leleiohoku, the younger brother of King Kalakaua and Queen Liliuokalani, we used to go out of evenings with a new song the Prince had composed and make the rounds. First on King Kalakaua at Iolani Palace; then to Washington Place to serenade Princess Liliuokalani, and even as far as “Ainahau,” the Waikiki residence of Princess Likelike. Reaching home again at “Kaakopua” on Emma Street, where the Prince made his residence with his Mother by adoption, Princess Ruth Keelikolani, half sister of the Fourth and Fifth Kamehamehas, in the “wee small hours of the morning.” Happy days those were; the days when “Wine, Women and Song” were the rule of the day. It was under such circumstances and happy auspices that I came to know Liliuokalani intimately. A relationship that endured through the years, and that enabled...