Why do you equate a nation in distress from a purely an economical/financial perspective?
Just because a few Hawaiians had the means to acquire and dress up their vehicle the way they like it does not mean their nation is not in distress. Need I remind you that Hawaiians are almost at the bottom of every socio-economic metric in Hawaii.
====================
Anyway, getting back to topic…
The post that got crashed yesterday was basically an essay about the fact that neither the state nor federal government is going to roll over and play dead while Hawaiian activists take over 8 million acres of land. As far as I can see, nobody amongst the activists have a clue how to manage 8 million acres of land.
The rest of the post described how useless protesting with signs and flags are. Those people are much better off going back to school and working rather than spending precious time and money on air fare and camping gear. Even that illegal shack must have cost somebody some big bucks for materials….and for what? That shack could have been built on a lot to house some real people in distress, such as domestic abuse victims or victims of unfortunate tragedies. (eg.fires, floods)
The Hawaiian nation is not in distress. Places like Somalia, Afghanistan or the Philippines are nations in distress. The only distressed kanaka are those who choose to live a distressed lifestyle of drug abuse or criminal behavior. They chose poorly.
With few exceptions, America has given everyone a good shot at leading a happy, safe, and prosperous life. That includes all kanaka maoli. But like anything else in life, you have to work for it.
I was going to post a fabulous picture of my pure Hawaiian grandmother and kids circa 1930. The kids looked like ragamuffins and had no shoes or sandals. Yet they grew up and achieved happy productive lives. One became a nurse at Queens, one became a teacher and counselor, one became a police officer, my mom wrote cookbooks and articles in the newspaper and invented a popular juice drink.
My point is this:
If you are going to protest something you better be damn sure you have something to protest about.
If a kanaka is at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder, it was because they made some poor choices. Not because they are oppressed.