At its regular meeting next week, the Honolulu City Council’s Committee on Parks, Community Services and Intergovernmental Affairs will consider a proposal from Mayor Caldwell’s to rename Thomas Square.
The committee is scheduled to meet on Tuesday, August 20, at 9 a.m. in the council committee room.
Resolution 19-178 proposes renaming Thomas Square “King Kamehameha Ill at Thomas Square,” sort of an homage to the administration’s redesign of the park near downtown Honolulu to include a “statue of King Kamehameha Ill, the stone wall stating the state motto, and a flagpole baring the Hawaiian flag…”
The resolution was drafted and submitted by the Department of Parks and Recreation. It was filed “by request.”
Of course, Caldwell’s redesign of the park already obliterated the pathways that were laid out in the design of the British Union Jack, in honor of Admiral Richard Darton Thomas, who restored the islands sovereignty in mid-1843 after the kingdom had been taken over by another admiral and his warship earlier in the year.
The paths were eliminated despite having been repeatedly cited as key historical features and designated for retention in the city’s own Thomas Square Master Plan.
Keep in mind that the park was named “Thomas Square” by the Privy Council and King Kamehameha III in 1850. I could be wrong, but it seems to me that we best honor Kamehameha III by continuing to honor this decision.
Testimony on Res. 19-178 can be submitted online prior to Tuesday’s meeting.
See:
“Does Thomas Square makeover include Union Jack?” ilind.net, August 10, 2018
“The jury is still out on Thomas Square,” ilind.net, June 3, 2018.
Richard A. Greer, “Kulaokahu’a and Thomas Square: From Boom to Bust to Now,” Hawaiian Journal of History
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No, you are right, Ian.
Just another scheme to make money changing the names and rewrite history. Making Parks marketable tourist destinations. The Caldwell administration has consistently redesigned City Parks for the Hawaii Tourism Authority goal of new destination opportunities. Like in Waimanalo, open ocean vista where Forrest’s once stood. The Mayors legacy will be his goal of another job in the tour industry, like Mayor Mufi!
Why was the huge statue of Kauikeaouli erected 175 years after the event, along with the extremely tall flagpole flying only the Hawaiian flag, and the wall, and the rockpile (“ahu”)? It’s pandering to the Hawaiian secessionists, pure and simple — the same sort of pandering we see in the behavior of Governor Ige and Lt. Gov. Josh Green regarding Mauna Kea. It’s for the same reason that huge statues of Confederate generals and Robert E. Lee were erected in honor of “The Lost Cause” decades after the Confederacy lost the Civil War. In both cases the idea is to assert resistance to the federal government, and a desire to restore sovereign independence under racial supremacy. (“The Sahth shall rahs agin”). Thomas Square has become the Stone Mountain of Honolulu. The translation of the King’s famous one-liner, carved into the back of the wall, is deliberately incorrect in a way that strongly implies that the Kingdom continues to exist to this day because the ethnic Hawaiians are righteous. And in case you didn’t know it, there’s a rockpile (so-called “ahu” or altar) which implies there’s something religious about a purely political event — exactly like the rockpile at the Palace — both were erected overnight to commemorate 100th (175th) anniversary of the overthrow (sovereignty restoration day); both rockpiles were erected without a permit (of course!) and with no complaint from park management (of course!). For details see my webpage about Thomas Square at
https://tinyurl.com/y76ma2l7
There’s a reason for the Union Jack imbedded in the Hawaiian flag. It honored and immortalized the eternal and close friendship of the British and Hawaiian monarchies. That affection between the Kamehameha lineage and London royalty is very evident in the correspondence between Queen Emma and Queen Victoria. I agree that we should respect and preserve Kauikeaouli’s wish to express gratitude to Great Britain for aiding the Hawaiian Kingdom in its time of need, and by memorializing that event with Thomas Square. Let’s appeal to the Mayor and to the City Council to protect our historical sites.
I was told that Hawaii’s flag has a Union Jack in the corner and stripes in the field because it looked similar to the British East India Company flag and it was hoped that this might scare away troublemakers at sea. Also, it was in the interest of Hawaii to flatter both the British and the Americans, so the hybrid design stuck.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Hawaii
“Adams’s journals also mention the British East India Company flag. Kamehameha had wanted to purchase a brig named the Forester out of London. As part of transfer, the flag, which consisted of the Union Jack on a field of red and white stripes, was taken by Adams during a ceremony with an 11-gun salute.”
“While disputed as to its historical accuracy, one account stated that in order to placate US interests during the War of 1812, a US flag was raised over Kamehameha’s home, only to be removed when UK officers in the court of Kamehameha vehemently objected to it. This would explain why the resulting flag of Hawaii was a deliberate hybrid of the two nations’ flags.”
Not exactly the abolition of the Corn Laws, all told. Is there anything to eat in Thomas Square?
Does this mean that Thomas Square needs to be added to the list of sacred lands after Mauna Kea and Sherwood Forest?
Thomas Square is not a site of religious significance and therefore cannot be described as wahi pana. Thomas Square has historical significance and we may choose to honor that or not. With so many Hawaiians rallied around TMT, I fear there is not enough energy or presence to watch out and protect the historical sites on O’ahu. I hope there will at least be online testimony to oppose the renaming.