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Jason Schwartz with Bob Roggasch, 8-22-08- after the alleged takeover of Iolani Palace by AkahiNui and his entourage; Bob was in it and has a completely different version than was reported on the Hawaii news reports. 
Summary & Below…
The video features an in-depth conversation between Jason Schwarz and his guest Bob Rogash, who has been residing in Hawaii since 1988 and serves as a representative for the Hawaiian Kingdom. The discussion centers around a recent event at the Iolani Palace in Honolulu, where Bob and others asserted Hawaiian sovereignty by physically occupying the palace grounds, which they claim are illegally occupied by the U.S. state of Hawaii. The event, held on August 16th, was largely overlooked by mainstream media but gained significant attention worldwide, highlighting ongoing disputes about Hawaiian sovereignty and the legitimacy of the state of Hawaii.
Bob explains the historical context, referring to the 1894 Blount Report, which identified Hawaii as an occupied nation and demanded its return to native control—something that never happened. The occupation and legal status of Hawaii remain contentious, with Bob and supporters arguing that the state of Hawaii lacks legitimate jurisdiction over the islands, which remain sovereign Hawaiian Kingdom territory under international law.
The video also addresses allegations of violence during the palace occupation, which Bob refutes, clarifying that no violence took place and that claims to the contrary were misinformation. Arrests were made for trespassing, but the occupiers were mostly elderly Hawaiians peacefully asserting their rights.
Bob discusses the broader implications of this sovereignty movement, including the ongoing struggle of the native Hawaiian people (referred to as “Kanaka Maoli” or “Kamakahonu”) who have faced genocide, displacement, and cultural erasure since the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom in 1893. He emphasizes the need for dialogue, justice, and recognition of Hawaiian sovereignty on the international stage.
The conversation touches upon the 1993 U.S. apology for the overthrow but points out that legal and political restitution remains unresolved. Bob stresses the importance of public awareness and discourse on these issues, inviting the Hawaiian King and Queen to speak out through media platforms like the show. The video concludes with a call for peaceful dialogue and understanding, aiming to foster greater knowledge and support for Hawaiian sovereignty without fear or violence.
Highlights
- [04:20] Clarification that no violence occurred during the palace occupation; arrests were made but peacefully.
- [07:40] Explanation of Hawaii’s international legal status as an occupied nation per the 1894 Blount Report and UN resolutions.
- [09:20] The ongoing struggle of native Hawaiians for sovereignty and recognition following historical dispossession.
- [11:00] The state of Hawaii’s questionable jurisdiction and the complexity of land titles and governance.
- [14:00] ⚖️ The historical and ongoing impact of genocide and marginalization on the Kanaka Maoli people.
- [18:00] The global significance of Hawaiian sovereignty issues and the call for peaceful dialogue and justice.
Key Insights
- [02:30] The Occupation of Iolani Palace: Bob and his group physically reclaimed the palace grounds to assert Hawaiian Kingdom sovereignty. This act symbolizes resistance against what they consider an illegal U.S. occupation, and it serves to remind the public of Hawaii’s unresolved sovereignty status. The closure of palace gates and declaration of sovereignty were symbolic yet powerful gestures seeking to draw attention domestically and internationally.
- [04:50] No Violence, Only Peaceful Protest: Despite media reports suggesting violence, Bob clarifies that the occupation was peaceful and involved elderly participants. The arrests were for trespassing, but there was no physical conflict. This highlights the importance of verifying narratives around indigenous protests and resisting misinformation that can delegitimize peaceful sovereignty movements.
- [07:30] International Legal Foundation: The 1894 Blount Report and subsequent United Nations resolutions acknowledge Hawaii as an occupied nation, not a legitimate U.S. state. This international legal perspective is crucial because it challenges the accepted narrative of Hawaii as a fully integrated U.S. state and frames the sovereignty movement within the context of decolonization and indigenous rights under international law.
- [09:30] Identity and Historical Trauma: The conversation reveals how native Hawaiians, referred to as Kanaka Maoli or Kamakahi (Kamakahonu), have endured systemic violence, including genocide, cultural erasure, and displacement. The use of derogatory terms and the forced reclassification of indigenous people reflect broader colonial tactics to undermine identity and sovereignty. Understanding this historical trauma is key to appreciating the depth of the sovereignty struggle.
- [11:00] ️ Jurisdictional Complexity: The state of Hawaii’s authority is questioned, particularly regarding land management and law enforcement jurisdiction over the palace grounds. The Bureau of Land Management is noted as the relevant authority, but its enforcement is limited. This underscores how legal ambiguities contribute to ongoing disputes and how indigenous sovereignty claims intersect with federal, state, and international legal frameworks.
- [17:50] ️ Need for Dialogue and Awareness: The video emphasizes the necessity of open, public conversations about Hawaiian sovereignty beyond fringe or public access platforms. The movement seeks broader recognition and understanding from both Hawaiians and the global community. The call for peaceful, informed discourse aims to move past fear and misinformation toward justice and resolution.
Conclusion
This video offers a compelling and thorough examination of the Hawaiian sovereignty movement through the lens of a recent occupation event at Iolani Palace. It situates the struggle within a broader historical, legal, and humanitarian context, highlighting the ongoing impacts of colonization and the urgent need for dialogue and recognition. Bob Rogash’s insights provide a nuanced understanding of the challenges faced by native Hawaiians and underscore the importance of peaceful activism and informed public discourse in pursuing justice and sovereignty.
00:02
I’m just looking that looks too light to me let me switch two one Aloha welcome to another Mama presents you know me I’m Jason Schwartz today I have a guest that some of you have seen before this is Bob roggasch Bob Welcome to our show J he’s in good sh that’s that’s you know because we’ve known each other for a long time you know we’ve done many things you can call me Bob if you want no no no I know Jason I just you know it’s uh one of those mistakes that comes up you know it’s not
00:37
a mistake it’s fine Bob has been a fixture here in the islands for a while I don’t know what year you came here but you’ve been here since I’ve been here yeah I’ve been here about 21 years I got here in ‘ 88 so you’re just a little for but um through the years that I’ve known Bob um Bob has been around and many people don’t know what he’s doing or what he does Bob is uh not to get to off subject has a background in engineering and is a scientist and has uh many
01:06
different areas that he’s worked on in the silence different phases but in the last number of years I’ve known you uh pretty well as a a I want to call it a non-hawaiian representative of a Hawaiian King aah and his wife aah what do you call her aahi aah wahini a aahi and aah wahini which is the king and queen of Hawaii and Bob is going to share with you a little about the genealogy and stuff right yeah I’ll share a little about genealogy and share what took place in uh uh in and that’s the reason
01:49
that we’re actually having this show is because this last weekend uh the August 16th I guess at the uh Palace in on alulu Hawaii there was an event that happened and some of the news didn’t get onto local televisions and so we volunteered to be here and complete the story hey I’m so glad want me to jump in here Bob and tell us what happened okay well we went we went to the Palace we took the we took the ferry to the to the uh to the uh to the big to the W and then we went to uh pal and we walked in
02:31
and then shut the gates and then they had a a marshall there who I didn’t know but he was supposed to be watching for the there’s a there’s a law that was passed in 1894 and that’s called a blunt report and the blunt report says that Hawaii is an occupied nation and so therefore you had to give it back but it never was given back because it’s a civilian military operation I don’t know what come first the military of the of the the the population anyway that you’re mixing a
03:13
little history okay here we are it’s Saturday you guys go in we go who closed the gate oh I well I closed one gate okay I I closed one gate and so you were closing the gates and declaring that this was now the territory of Hawaii what what happened it it was it was The Sovereign soil of the Kingdom of Hawaii and the reason the uh the state the county could I mean the state like uh Wahoo officers couldn’t really respond is because it’s not under the it’s not under the jurisdiction of the of the
03:50
city it’s under the jurisdiction of BU Land Management and that’s who’s who’s supposed to be taken care of it something like that but they’ve been served with papers many many times and so they’re all in default and so this was to get the issue of default out huh and it’s been really good it is number two Nation number two in the world news today and it’s going to continue to stay there because the whole world knows that it’s occupied and well again you’re
04:22
jumping ahead let me ask you ask me you were there Saturday weren’t you Friday Friday this happened Friday so you took over and these people that were there couldn’t deal with you they called The Bureau of Land Management then what happened cuz I heard there was people arrested all kinds of stuff oh we were I was arrested yes we were all arrested and charged with different crimes I was charged with simple trespassing and um others were charged with other crimes I don’t know what they were I I haven’t
04:51
really seen was there any violence no violence no and the lady who said that she got hurt and got beat up that was that is a so let’s let’s take that two steps there was some lady that claimed that she was beaten up by yeah well you been me I was the only one there so she didn’t say she was beaten up by you no I don’t she was never beaten up so I’m just asking what she reported she said that she was being beaten up and she CAU she kept bringing the issue up that she was beaten up but
05:25
she worked there is that what her she work there I don’t know what her role was she came out she was very dis about the the palace Gates being toed she might have been in shock from the last time huh but whatever the case is she was very an to to do it and the the Hol police came there and they simply said this is a jurisdiction of the buau land and we can’t get into it and then she said that she was hurt and everything like that and so then the governor got into and said oh you can’t
06:01
do everybody has to respond to this well it was the only person was being hurt was the people who were all over 60 in plastic C CS that were really tight those were the only people got hurt let me explain I’m going to turn Bob’s words into English what Bob said was the only one that was hurt were those that were supposedly trespassing that’s right the king and his wife and others that were there occupying the palace that’s right okay so what did the governor have to do with this
06:34
well the governor is the head of of of the state of of the occupied state of Hawaii she’s the occupied governor of Hawaii so she’s the one that that decided what that you should be removed from the location yes with with full sort There Was 80 police there and it was0 police it was incredible to watch it you know and you have to understand all correct these are these are all the Capas these are all Capas they age of probably 60 with some being 70 myself being 68 and so there was no so it
07:06
wasn’t like a an occupying force armor no no absolutely not they they had thongs on they had food out they were welcoming the people to come into the gate who was going to who they thought was coming into the gate they were welcomeing so where do we go from here well it it’s a it’s a really interesting thing I have to go to court on the 19th and I don’t know how that’s going to work out but we’ll go there but the real thing is everybody has to understand what is the reality of the state in
07:39
Authority the state doesn’t have any Authority here the United Nations in 1960 said that the state Hood did not meet the burden of self-determination it only gave statehood and territory and not not sovereignty and those were the issues and that goes back to 1946 to the article 73 so that’s the international element and the other International Majesty is the king there’s no doubt about it is there any reason why the king is not here or talking to the media well I think he’s talking to to somebody
08:12
but I don’t know I haven’t talked to the king since um since uh I left Saturday we want to uh let the king know you are welcome on our show here we hope that if you have anything that you want to say that you have an outlet through us here at Public Access television I’m an dependent producer and I don’t speak for Public Access television but I know there’s something to be said for freedom of speech and that’s why I’m here yeah um I would like to think that what you’re delivering is a a lesson in
08:44
history it’s a big lesson in history that we are uh not occupying these lands as the state of Hawaii lawfully and it’s been brought up again in 1993 I believe was that’s right where then President Clinton apologized to the Hawaiian people and there have been all kinds of different quote legal actions trying to uh give more rights to the Hain but what does the kingdom want well they want their Kingdom back I mean the kakam and we have to understand who Hawaii was at the turn of the century
09:24
Hawaiians were Americans and the kamo what we call Hawaiians now after the genocide ofis and getting rid of them they started being called Hawaiian or kak it was real racist kak canak hey canak get over here you know and they weren’t ever given that was the beginning of the kanak kanak jokes right it was it was it was the beginning because the the the element of of taking over Society to degenerate the society so they can’t really feel comfortable about themselves so that was what’s been done here and
10:00
it’s still being done it was being done the other the other night that was a a total disregard for the rule of law know the rule of law is that you have to abide by the law but if you don’t abide by the law you know who are you well you know I recall there was uh it was maybe last year even the year before when you came to me and shared with me that the king had gotten documents that were stemed and dated in the uh the department of record that’s right that he was putting the state on notice
10:34
that’s right right has anything happened from that well I think that’s what happened that’s what we did on uh Friday so you were basically saying nothing has moved forward and see you were taking that’s right you were taking the Liberty that you thought was within your rights to claim the land is that it well the state has given him the title for the 10 acres so he has a title for and that was Bureau conand and the bureau again I’m again I I’m only bringing it down to the
11:05
fact that these are the issues that we’d like to see somehow discussed and um things should be more open and the media should be more available you know we’re Public Access television on Maui if we’re lucky we’ll have someone play it on other islands and different places and of course on the net but um we’re not the court of law and we’re not court of law that is recog ized by the United States and the Kingdom of Hawaii who is the international courts I I guess the it would be uh the international Court
11:40
actually the um in the Constitution of the United States it says that when two Nations come together that the Supreme Court is the uh final is where it goes it doesn’t go in in V Court Supreme Court it goes to the Supreme Court United States that’s the reason the bo from was shied out couldn’t K because he was from another Nation I don’t you remember that story there was a young boy who was over here and they had to ship them out unrelated to this so I hope that’s what’s happening here I’m
12:12
going to let you talk in a second I’m hoping that by all of you seeing this out there that you will make your voices or have your voices be heard so that we can have more public forums about this and bring these issues up these issues are not without controversy no matter what way way you feel about this or what facts you have or don’t have I think many of us feel it’s time we kind of came more in sights with this issue I know a lot of people here who don’t really know the facts are more
12:48
afraid of losing property that they have and being kicked out of this area and from what I’ve had conversations with you and also with the king of K how he knew yeah I’ll be right back um that was and is not the intention of the Hawaiian Kingdom but that stuff needs to be discussed but these issues these legal issues need a public forum other than just some Public Access television show like me uh so what is the most important reason you’re here today what what did you want to get on camera share I I
13:22
wanted to share the frustration to the kamole people they they have a very very difficult in life they’ve been occupied 115 113 years and when we were at the palace and they took the queen in and locked her up they didn’t let her out like they did us they kept her in there they kept her in there because they want to divide it’s divide and con but the these are the tribe of Joseph they they are the 11th tribe of Israel and most people don’t know that or they don’t even want to know it know
14:00
this is a righteous group of people they have never harmed anybody they’ve only been harmed lot of kamo has been harm when the first happened they would come around and take them and put him over in lobby not lobby but place where the uh where the leprosy is kala Papa Papa M and that’s where they were thrown and and a lot of families have told me that story that that is their family life is that whenever anybody would talk up about the king or queen they would it was just a queen then they would take
14:35
take them away because they were El that’s the reason in Happy Valley there’s a no name uh Cemetery which is all the O El who were a lot of them were all buried with no name so their bodies wouldn’t be dug up because that’s what they did look at what they did in when they dug up what it 600 800 iies you know to put a hotel on you know this is this is an act of genocide to the kakami people and it’s still going on today it’s going on in an illegal group of people who believe that
15:14
they have the right to do it so I’m glad that that you’re here with us today and I’m hoping that all of you out here will uh raise your voices so that we can have more public discussion these are issues that are long been standing there’s been a division between a lot of people here because of um I think mostly fear I don’t think that any Americans would in any way want to deny the Hawaiian people their rights I do feel that once lands are bought and sold un and there was wrongful jurisdiction originally things
15:55
get complicated that’s right but I am aware that the king is aware but they were 100 years later and so many of these issues uh uh can happen it was none of the current people that are alive that that did any of these atrocities and all the things that are happened we are now dealt with so I’m hoping that we can do this in a way that can satisfy it I think the nurg trial say a lot it is a duty of every to question whether the agency of the government is working with the bound of their authori and that’s what America is
16:28
not doing I’m not working in the bound of their Authority they’re working the bound of their occupying that’s what they like to do they like to occupy all I’m really saying by this is that I I want to diffuse the fire I’m just using that word and I want and I’m just sharing that I want to diffuse the fire and set up a real dialogue so that uh we can have discussion in a more productive way right that may not be my role but if my role is to be here to give you this opportunity to talk I’m here that’s
16:58
right I hope that uh akahi Nei and theah W and any other representatives of the government of Hawaii that feel that they want to be heard can find a place here at our show well I think that they certainly can they certainly have I think you gave uh you went down in nio and and did that one did you not I understand well this this issue time ago you know I I don’t think that this can be discounted anymore I wouldn’t want to put words in your mouth but I or the king but I would guess that uh this
17:31
isn’t the last we’re going to hear of this issue you know Google was number two story in the world it is a big story around the world and whether people look in a why and say it’s not a story it’s a story for the rest of every mon every government you know because after all we occupy them by by the a war we came in here just like there’s no difference between this and Iraq no difference I guess we’ve been doing all time I don’t know but this has uh has been given back all of its Authority and
18:07
it should be hopefully that all Americans will embrace it because embracing it will be the True Justice of the world that’s that’s what has to be done and whether whether you think that it’s not right or not wrong it’s really not your issue the issue happened in 1893 when they over what is going you so passionate that you’re right on the front of this gu oh because I’m an American I’m American you know I me I like to live by the Constitution I like to have you know article one article 3
18:40
and article six is what contains in here and and when you see something is so drastically wrong and then you see the cocka Bell wow how could anybody you know and the cocka Bell is make them American Indians is to take away all their land that’s what they want they want the land these are discussions left for another day I think that’s right I know but I had I just wanted to be sure clear the reason I thought it was important here is there was a alleged violence and that from what you said is
19:15
not the truth not the so I hope that people will look and and what’s going on with an open mind and see if we can get some meaningful discussions and move this forward so we don’t have to go over the same ground again and again but I would like to say one thing about about when the police officer drove away and she said that she was being attacked and and the officer were driving away that wasn’t true the officer drove away long before she came over to try to get out the gate and that’s what she may call
19:47
tap the door was being shut and I was stopping her from being hit that might have been it but that that’s to come and and stuff like that and there really no violence these people are not violent can you give me the web address of the kingdom and anywhere where people can go up and get into a blog or dialogue about this but you can go to WWF freeh hawaii.org and www.free.org okay and that’s that’s the the main the main site is there a blog site there no there’s not a blog site there the matter of fact the free Hawaii
20:25
is only a repository of of papers so that you can make your own decision okay so that’s an information site if people want to get in touch with uh in some communication with the Kingdom of Hawaii how do they do that that may be pretty hard okay then I’m going to volunteer if you want to send emails to me Mama Maui m m ma AI at maac.com and in the subject put Kingdom of Hawaii and uh I will relay the messages for you that’s really good because we don’t have any anything like that you know they’re
21:04
just busy trying to keep keep everything going anyway I’m doing that as a service I hope that the king and the queen will consider coming either on our show or on some show where we can be able to show this I’m going to put this piece up on the net that you will see and um I hope it gets viewership and input from all around the world and maybe we can uh somehow be helpful in moving this St forward I’ve met aai and and his wife aai W very nice people very much in dialogue not in any way
22:19
president and and being born in an occupied State I don’t think that he is American I think any when it comes down to it when in 1960 when the United Nations said that it didn’t meet the birds of self discrimination I think it’s a far stretch to take it there to to to say that he is okay well obviously that’s something that U that’s all neither you nor I can you know immediately address thank you for coming and joining us we also want to thank has beans we are at a a coffee house that is virtually across
22:54
from the paa post office where there’s a cup of coffee they’ve been very gracious host to let us use this location we hope that you’ll come here and uh say Hello to Jen and Jill and um we want to thank you for all joining us today Bob anything less you’d like to say before we leave I’d like to I would like to thank you very very much for for having here and and you know you no one should have fear that they’re going to be thrown out of their ears the the international rule doesn’t
23:28
allow for that if you’re just a person working and and living and everything International you’re protected you’re protected and I know that he doesn’t want to do anything like that he is not against people he is for his people thank you Bob thank you all for joining us Aloha good Bob huh very good see you got nobody out there passion he does you know I have a passion for it that it right yeah
