From the green hills of the Ka’au Crater on Oahu to the crystal sand beaches of Kauai, traveling to these destinations amid a pandemic is a direct act of neocolonialism.
Neocolonialism was defined by Ghanian revolutionary Kwane Nkrumah as “an established super power nation having domestic and economic control over a smaller territory’s resources.”
In his 1965 essay “Neo-Colonialism, the Last Stage of Imperialism” Nkrumah states, “in reality its economic system and thus its political policy is directed from outside.”
From the dethroning of Queen Lili‘uokalani in 1893 to the imperial planting of U.S. naval bases, Hawaii has become a safe haven for white escapism.
Meaning for many Americans, Hawaii is immediately recognized as a destination for vacationing instead of a rural island suffering from gentrification.
Through this, the Hawaiian tourism industry disregards native inhabitants to appease paying visitors.
The islands are home to many indigenous people, but countless cultures and lives are threatened by the parasite that is tourism. Only 10% of residents are Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.
U.S. officials annexed Hawaii in 1898 eventually leading to the territory becoming the 50th state, according to Facing History, a nonprofit that promotes education and historical knowledge.
The annexation led to a boom in sugar production by U.S. companies. This market boom eventually turned Hawaii into the military base, factory and vacation destination it is today.
The island’s seizure for U.S exploitation has had long-term effects that are seen today through the number of tourists Hawaii sees a year.
Neocolonialism dehumanizes the land and prioritizes profits over people, putting the benefits of the colonizer first.
Tourism is responsible for occupying a majority Hawaiian land with corporations privatizing entire beaches while the houseless population grows annually.
According to Hawaii’s government facts and figures webpage, the current unhoused population is at 15,000 individuals.
The tourism industry has taken advantage of the land. For example when Disney created the Aulani Disney Resort and Spa, which neighbors an indigenous community in Ko Olina, Oahu.
Aulani has raised property values by 400% and land taxes as well, which has pushed the indigenous community out, according to a Honolulu Civil Beat article.
Visitors often defend their trip as a simple getaway vacation and claim their actions are safe because they publicly wear masks and social distance.
People can follow as many wavering COVID-19 procedures as they like but non-natives traveling to Hawaii is a problem.
Vacationing in Hawaii as a non-native reinforces illusions that the islands are an exotic destination strictly
for vacationing.
However, they’re real locations suffering from gentrification created by U.S companies.
The Hawaii Tourism Authority found 90,776 people traveled to Hawaii for vacation on any given day in February 2021 alone.
From April 23-25, Hawaii saw 68,658 visitors with 43,578 of those visitors coming for vacationing purposes, according to the Hawaii COVID-19 tracker.
Even during a global pandemic, thousands of Americans sought to “escape” their troubled, quarantine lifestyle for a fresh landscape where they can infect people who don’t look like them.
Native Hawaiians shouldn’t be exposed to disease because you want to get away for your twenty-something birthday or because you’re bored.
You can wear your mask and socially distance all you want, but your physical presence perpetuates oppression and puts paying visitors first and residents second.
It traps Hawaiian locals into the same harm you attempt to escape from, further pushing minority communities into a state of disadvantage.
