Why does Hawaii keep the Union Jack on its flag?

9 comments
  1. Historical reasons?

    Why does Maine keep a dude with a scythe? Not too much scythe use around me these days.

  2. The inclusion of the Union Jack of the United Kingdom is a mark of the Royal Navy’s historical relations with the Hawaiian Kingdom, particularly with King Kamehameha I. The flag continued to be used after the 1893 overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom.

  3. It’s an assertion that Hawaii was a fully independent state that later became an American territory and eventual state.

    “Yes, we’re American now, but we don’t care that thirteen colonies broke away from England, we’re going to keep the Union Jack.”

    >In 1990, Governor of Hawaii John Waihee proclaimed July 31 to be Lā Hae Hawaiʻi, the Hawaiian Flag Day. It has been celebrated each year since then. It is the same date as Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea, Sovereignty Restoration Day, a holiday of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi that is celebrated by proponents of the Hawaiian sovereignty movement.

  4. Same reason why we and Alabama have the Burgundian Cross on ours. It’s a part of their history that they felt like incorporating into their flag.

  5. Because it was a part of their national flag back when they were an independent country. Hawaii was never a British colony, for the record. A Union Jack was gifted to the Hawaiian monarchy by British sailors, the design of which was modified into the current flag. So it doesn’t have the same meaning it has in former British colonies.

  6. There’s actually a small place on the Big Island that is considered British soil. Captain Cook is buried there, and there’s a small, white obelisk. It’s just to the side of the beach (Kealakekua bay) where he “discovered” the islands, and where he was killed by the natives years later. You can kayak over to it from Napo’opo’o beach, and the snorkeling is the bomb

  7. Same reason the New York State flag has a Phrygian cap on it: history. (The New York City flag has Knickerbocker colors but hasn’t been Dutch since the 1660s.)

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