the rise of ams cases. and, m.i.t. technology reviews to and thegula inequity of care based on affordability. and look at betsy devos is proposed to changes -- changes. we will discuss it with sarah brown was a reporter for the comical of higher education -- chronicle of higher education. join the discussion. c-span, where history unfolds daily. created as aan was public service by america's cable-television company. today, we continue to bring unfiltered coverage of congress,

the white house, the supreme court, and public policy events in washington dc and around the country. c-span is brought to you by your cable or satellite provider. announcer: next, an american history tv exclusive. to cities tour visits hawaii learn more about its unique literary in history life. we bring the literary and historic sites to our viewers. you can watch more of our visits at c-span.org/citiestour. >> this valley is considered a very sacred valley. that is due to the 700 year presence of high priest that once resided in or presided over this valley. this is an area where he would

whoever was the high people queen, of the island, he was one of the most trusted advisors to whoever rule the island. such -- someone of such high rank, you would need the commoners to work the land. fishermen, farmers, the healers. everyone who would have been division.e basic land within this land division, everything would have been provided for either naturally or farmed here. this is what we would call the living site. this is our homestead.

this would have been for a family of high rank. it is believed to have been the true highe last priest of the island. every structure had its own function. our homes today, we have rooms dedicated for different functions like the kitchen, cooking, the living room, relaxing and entertaining, bedroom for sleeping. -- ine hawaiian homestead the hawaiian homestead, the clusters of structures were separate for a different function. it was not under one roof. it was in a different structure. we have the canoe house, the sleeping house, the women's the areause, we have here recommends food would be house, ween's eating

a couple feeding house and a house appealing. is af sight from us now building dedicated to the farmer respite wouldere be taken. the work started before the sun came up. when the sun was quite hot, he came into rest for a few hours and finished off the day. this is what you are looking at. we have a little over 5000 different plans from all over tropical from similar or subtropical climates. a good number of those plants are labeled.

they come in three bank colors. -- three colors. they tell you something. they come in green, red, and blue. the green tells you there is plantly no threat to that . the red tells you they are rare or endangered, and the blue gives you additional information be at cultural or scientific. this collection is the hibiscus hybridization. it has long been thought that between florida and california, they were the producers of the , butvarieties of hibiscus in actuality, it was hawaii pepper boost -- that produced the most variety. rightiese some of the hybridized to produce the over

300 varieties now found worldwide. none of these varieties are native hawaiian. -- nine of these varieties are native hawaiian. only two of the varieties have a sense -- scent. you can smell it before the sun comes up or after the sun goes down. both of them are native hawaiian varieties. it is nice to walk through here. the tells you the story of hibiscus hybridization and gives you information on the different varieties found here. this is a garden. garden.a color is poy.nt here

to mashd be akin potato, but with a very smooth consistency. this is also part of our creation stories of how we came to be. root that is what is boiled, baked, or steamed. it is light potato mashed with water. amount, you could feed may be for people on two good size ones or three people. with the same amount, if you pounded it, you could feed twice as many people. hawaiians were the only one in the pacific who made poy out of it. everyone else baked it and ate

it like a baked potato, but hawaiians were the only one that pounded it. that younothing in poy can get allergic to. we send it to our relatives when they have babies. , poi wass in europe sent over to them and by the time it got there, it was sour. many of the guys learned to eat sour poi. but wen acquired taste, poi introducesr a lot of probiotics into our system. stem. leaves, we eat the

part of it is cut off along with the stem which is dried out and put back in the ground and grown again. garden butryland mainly they are wetland. hear in thisnd garden, all of the signs are red. there are well over 300 different varieties grown in hawaii. are maybe 100 varieties. we grow close to 72 varieties. one of our creation stories says we come from this plant, and we are part of the earth just like

this plant is. welcome to the waterfall. names.erfall as two this itis falling like is free-flowing or purging. when there's not much water due to lack of rainfall and our watershed, it is called something else which means trickling water. what are in a wine culture is one of our natural resources that is always to be protected and conserved. and the wind language, wai is our word for freshwater. kai is the word for saltwater.

freshwater is named the water of life. without water, you have no life. the usage of water, protection of water, it is very important. waiwai is our word for wealth. not much material but the amount of water you have access to. the freshwater the customer land is the word for stream. there are some he laws that or ared or have to do associated with the protection of freshwater. , if you didn't have it, you didn't have life.

along the stream it runs from, things were set up along the way to do different things. streama place along the to take a bath, a place along ,he stream to wash your clothes gather water for the gardens. the water from the streams ran or a littlestem stream outlets through your garden and right back into the stream. othered the fish and animals that live in our stream system. purpose for everything. iat we do as a people, what was taught is that we live in a state of emergency meaning we only live for today, but what we do today, and what we create, we not only think of today but we

are doing this thinking of our grandchildren and great-grandchildren. water, wecare of the are on a cancer tracing -- conservation land which means everything in the valley is protected, and the protection of the water goes along with that. able to enjoy it, but also for them to understand how important water is for us and we should never take it for granted. if this were in the time of our ancestors, this would probably not be a swimming hole. this would be a place where they would be on the miss -- where they would be conscious of that. you would not find any buddy in

the water and that is how precious water is to us. there are stories of the water , where many in battle came to this waterfall to heal their wounds. water is very important to hawaiians. we hope you learn about how precious our water is to us. due to the disconnection we suffered as a people, to become american or early on to become british, we have really been separated from our cultural practices and therefore, ourselves. what we're doing and cultural practices and places like this is helping us to remember. helping us to plug back in. it is important for us as hawaiian and indigenous people to know who we are and no our place -- know our place.

this was the last official residence of the monarchs in hawaii. they had a palace built as a message to the world. by the time the palace was was internationally recognized by over half of the independent nations. so we were an independent nation, constitutional monarchy. diplomatic relations recognized by the major powers of the world. great britain, france, the united states, russia. feelers outr everywhere to try to do business to make hawaii a stronger nation. education is really important. by the time this palace was hadt, completed in 1882, it an almost 100% -- rate.

. . . . . meaning we don't only live for today. but what we do today and how we are today and when we make and create. we not only think of today but we are doing this thinking of our grandchildren and great grandchildren. so taking care of the water. . . . . . . off-limits to that. but everything would have been done in the stream. if this is where your drinking water was gathered, then you would not find anybody in the water. and that's how precious water is to us. and there are stories. waimea. waimea. . came from this waterfall. in order to heal th the wind can come in and keep the building a lot cooler. the idea was this was a place for -- to entertain and have meetings. rather than live. traditionally in hawaii, a royal would have a compound where they would be a structure where they would have meetings and audiences and entertain and other structures for eating, cooking food, hanging out with family, sleeping. so this is where he did his entertaining. one of the really interesting facts about the palace is that

the staircase is the only staircase. normally in homes of this size you have a back for staff. it didn't happen here. and i kind of suspect it has to do with the fact that the men designing the palace, the men working to have the palace built, had not seen a back stairs. so they just built the one staircase. also kalakala liked new technology so there was hot and cold running water, telephones, gas lights, gas lights were replaced by electric lights in 1887. so iolani palace had electric lights four years before the hite house in washington, d.c. this is a throne room. audiences, receptions, balls. if you had been visiting hawaii in the 19th century you would have invited with the rest of your crew and grilled you about

what you were doing here, why -- what you wanted to see and then he would have connected you with the people you wanted to meet. the more i read with the guests the more convinced i am he was networking. so in the room right now, in the case are western symbols of rank, the crown, the sword and the scepter. ordered for the coronation. that seems to be the only time they were ever actually used or worn. hawaiian symbols of rank, the standards set up by the thrones and between the thrones. traditionally were topa on a shaft of some sort, stood in front of a royal residence and preceded royalty in processions. so you'll see pulou on the second floor railing and on the pillars of all four of our gates. the royal family according to 19th century newspaper articles

tended to stand in front of the throne rather than sit on them. that's usually a frequently asked question. who sat where? well, they stood in front of the dais with their honored guests who would be from all over the globe. the two gowns you see in the room today, the lilaq gown is a copy of the gown that she had made shortly after she became queen. the peacock gown is a copy of a gown kala's wife had made to wear to queen victoria's golden jubilee in london. victoria became queen when kala was 7 months old when she celebrated 50 years on the british thrown, kala sent his wife, sister and about five other people to england to represent the hawaiian kingdom in london at the events there. queen victoria asked the women in attendance to wear something that would remind the rest of

her guests of their home countries. so chose feathers. hawaii is so young in terms of geology that we don't have precious metals or gem stones. so traditionally in hawaii, the elie or royalty used feathers. these are two of four gowns we have re-created. another gown is a black gown with yellow feather lai, also made for the london trip. and a black ribbon gown that kalani had made for the trip to london. mia kalani is in that gown this her portrait which is in the blue room. this is the imprisonment room. kalani became queen in 1891 after her brother's death. two years later, when she attempted to introduce a new constitution which would have returned voting rights to the

native hawaiian community, and taken away from the noncitizen residents who had been allowed to vote, she was illegally overthrown by a group of 13 local residents of american and european ancestry. they created a provisional government. they were immediately recognized by the american minister, mr. stevens. this caused him some problems career-wise. because according to the u.s. constitutional law, only congress and the president can recognize foreign governments. the provisional government had sent the commission to washington, d.c., to lobby for annexation. they were supported by president harrison. kalani supporters sent a commission to lobby against annexation. inauguration of presidents occurred in march that year. until the 20th century actually. harrison was a lame duck president. cleveland became president. he withdrew the treaty from congress and decided instead of

listening to the two commissions that had come from hawaii, for and against -- for and against annexation, he wanted to know for himself what was going on. so he spent -- sent out a special commissioner, commissioner blout, became to hawaii and did an investigation, looked at legal documents and looked at the constitutions and looked at the provisional government proclamation. they looked -- he did -- they did -- he did interviews. his 1,400-page report concluded as the united states is concerned kalani is the person we should be dealing with on a diplomatic level. in the meantime, kalani supporters were making plans to restore her and her political party to power. the republic of hawaii became hearing rumors. they began arresting individuals. they arrested over 100 individuals, tried and convicted them of treason and sentenced them to death.

kalani subsequently was arrested in january of 1895. she was brought here and held prisoner in this suite of rooms for a period of a little under eight months. no writing materials initially. so the quilt in this case was begun so she could speak to the future about who she was and what had happened to her. he center panel is autobiographical. she was allowed writing materials and her music seems to have become a great comfort to her during this period of time. her song the queen's prayer was written in this suite of rooms. kalani was being held prisoner and had to undergo a trial in what had been her throne room and convicted of being accessory to the plot and sentenced to five years' hard labor and $5,000. to back up a little bit shortly before the trial, she abdicated her and for her and for her su

in exchange for having the sentences of the people that had convicted -- commuted from death to life. kalani was eventually paroled and then pardoned as were all the other people that had been convicted. after her pardon, traveled to washington, d.c., to lobby against annexation. assisted by petitions from over 90% of the hawaiian community. their lobbying efforts failed. we were annexed in 1898. we became a territory in june of 1900. kalani lived another 17 years. she died at age 79 and 1917. but we would rather imagine or remember her for her music. over 150 compositions to her credit. her best known song aloa-0. y and created a trust directing her trustees for children who had lost parents or living in extreme poverty. but today 100 plus years after

her death, our last queen is still caring for her community today. the palace represents a time when we were as i said a little while ago an independently recognized internationally recognized independent nation. this represents who we were as a community. nd is a point of played. because we were powerful and independent. nd in control. >> the battleship missouri. 53,000 ton flagship of admiral halsey's third fleet becomes the scene of an unforgettable ceremony marking the complete and formal surrender of japan. in the bay of tokyo itself the united states destroyer buchanan comes alongside bringing representatives of the

allied powers to witness the final capitulation. general of the army douglas mcarthur, supreme allied commander for the occupation of japan, boards the missouri. the pacific fleet commander nemitz recommend general southerland and halsey aboard. admiral nemitz to the veranda deck where a 20--minute ceremony is to take place. sunday, september 2, 1945. >> right now we are on the veranda deck of the missouri. but thanks to the event of september 2, 1945, we now call this deck the surrender deck where september 2, 1945 the japanese signed the unconditional surrender ending world war ii. behind me here is where the table sat that day. the ship looked different a big

dfrnt. the shady canopy overhead was not installed. and behind me was rotated 30 degrees to starboard in order to make more room on the deck for all the officials that would be onboard. if you looked around and above us that day you would have seen thousands of the missouri -- members of the missouri crew, crews from other ships hanging on to anything that they could, trying to get a glimpse of what was about to occur on this deck. now, at 9:00 in the morning, the ceremony was supposed to start members of the japanese delegation were making their way onboard. there were 11 of them and up on the ladder behind me and on this deck at 9:02 general douglas mcarthur, admiral halsey and admiral nemitz descended to start the ceremony. the first opening words the first person to sign the surrender documents would have been been signing on behalf of the japanese delegation. the next person would be general on behalf of the japanese military. the third person to sign those documents was general douglas mcarthur himself. he signed the supreme allied commander he did not actually represent the united states.

that would be the fourth person to sign admiral nemitz. following the nemitz the rest of the allies signed in order china, great britain, the ussr, australia, canada, france, netherlands and new zealand each in turn. there are two copies of the surrender documents and there are two copies because one was to be kept by the united states and one was to be kept by japan. so we do not display the originals for obvious reasons. we have replicas onboard. the originals are in the national archives in washington, d.c., and a war museum in tokyo. we also have a replica of one of mcarthur's pens. he used six pens to sign the documents which sounds a bit strange. he only had to sign his name twice one on each copy but six pens for douglas, mac and arthur on the first document and douglas mac arthur on the second document. and he did this for very simple reason and one that we actually still do today if you look at lawmakers when they sign important laws. what he wanted to do was give these pens away as souvenirs. following the last signature mcarthur stepped up to the microphone and said these

proceedings are closed. he gave a signal. and above the missouri over 1,000 allied aircraft stood in formation. from the beginning of the ceremony at 9:02 to the end at 9:25. 23 minutes. that's all it took to end the bloodiest conflict in human history. we're back on the u.s.s. missouri. and we've now come to recognize this part of the ship for an event that happened in world war two. and it is a touching event and it tells you a lot about the ship and its crew. particularly commanding officer. now, in the battle of okinawa the last great naval battle of world war ii, the missouri saw herself under kamikaze attack. now, cam case is a word that now means a lot in the united states and other allied countries. and has a lot of feelings attached to it because of world war ii. but the word is far older. it actually dates back to the 13th century when twice japan found itself under threat of

invasion from a mongolian fleet. twice that fleet was wiped out by a typhoon. this is viewed as divine intervention so the storm named kamikaze or divine wind. this wind is what the japanese called upon in last year of the war particularly the battle of okinawa to save the country one more time from the threat of invasion. and it's this threat the missouri found herself facing april 11, 1945. that day the pilot was spotted about 7,000 yards off the battleship missouri starboard side where we're standing currently. he came in low. missouri's 20 mills and her quad 40's and five inch guns also took up firing on the kamikaze hitting him a few times but still he came in. and at 14:42 in the afternoon april 11, 1945, he slammed his plane into the side of the missouri. just behind here where you see these two mooring bins. now, that day, the left wing of his plane the fuselage and the 500-pound bomb he was carrying fell into the ocean. they did not cause any harm directly to the missouri or her crew. the bomb did not detonate. the right wing, however, flew

on the missouri. it spilled aviation fuel and wreckage as far forward as the surrender deck. and ignited a huge fire. so the impact of other ships on the missouri thought she was singering. her crew was so good and so fast and -- in their response they put the fire out in minutes. and they did a head count afterward and found that no one from the missouri's crew had been killed and only a few minor injuries. now, as they began to clean up the wreckage of the wing and the parts that had spilled on the deck of the missouri back here, they found the body of the pilot. captain callahan the ship's first commanding officer after finding out that the pilot's body had landed onboard the missouri made the order to take the pilot's body below deck to prepare for a full military funeral. you can imagine members of the missouri who were not particularly happy but they respected their commanding officer. and they followed through. and that night, several members of the crew stayed up and hand sewn a japanese rising sun naval because in order to be given a proper military funeral you must be buried beneath the flag of your country.

the next morning april 12, 1945, on deck behind me, there was a funeral held for the pilot. six men stood, holding the body of the pilot with the bugler and chaplain and captain falk said a dead enemy is no longer your enemy and at 9:00 in the morning the chaplain said commit his body to the deep. not many people have ever heard of this story. even though it's one at that we like to tell at the missouri. and the reason why no one has heard of it it got no press coverage and no one talked about it. and that's because tape 12, 1945, the day of the funeral, washes the day that president roosevelt died. a day that harry s. truman sworn in as the negotiation president of the united states. so now we're inside the captain's import captain on the missouri. very large space and very well decorated and for the captain of the missouri when the ship is in port specifically. or when he's got visiting dignitaries and he needs to act as a diplomat in a foreign port. so the u. is s. missouri

memorial association has a very large historic collection. a large part of it has actually been donated former crew members. and the collection itself spans from the turn of the century with the original battleship missouri all the way to modern day with the current u.s.s. missouri submarine. so while we're in here we've pulled out some artifacts for display. the two you see here are two very important pieces of the ship's history. they are both fragments of the plane, the kamikaze plane that hit the missouri in 1945. so the piece upon the left still has factory paint on it. while the piece on the right was taken by a crew member and actually fashioned into a -- and painted. you have two very different pieces of that plane here and have very different lives and both ended up here back on the missouri. so the next few things that we have on display here today are again, from the kamikaze attack on the missouri, in the 1940's, these two artifacts are

actually two pieces from something larger. and they were both recovered by two members of h division which is the medical division onboard the missouri. when captain callahan gave the order after the kamikaze attack to take the pilot down below deck to -- for disperserring and the -- in the dispensery they prepared the body for funeral and at some point, in that process, the commanding officer of that division, dr. lampson, as well as the corpsman as well came upon two fragments of the scarf that that pilot was wearing and we have them here. one is quite small. and this one from the medical officer is point -- quite large. they both bear the same pattern. it's a very -- floral pattern in addition to the oil and the things you can see on them. they are two of our most fragile artifacts. and in the coming year, as we

redo our display, for the 75th anniversary of that attack, one of these fragments will actually go on display to the general public. before now, as they're so fragile we tend to keep them in a climate controlled area. so one of the most important set of artifacts that we have onboard the ship are known as surrender cards. and they were given to crew of the missouri who are onboard for the surrender ceremony as a way to verify and for them to prove to everyone that they were onboard. each one is signed. you can look very closely. is signed here by the fleet admiral. halsey and nemitz. and you also get the captain, commanding officer murray. and then you also get douglas mcarthur's signature. and then it bears the name of each individual crew member. so this one is for a.l. drew, radioman third class.

and we have only a handful of them. they're incredibly rare. and incredibly important to telling the story of the surrender onboard the missouri. the next two documents are actually show the timing for september 2, 1945. they recorded each person comes onboard from nemitz to macarthur to the japanese officials to when the ceremony ends in 9:25 when each person and ship leaves as well. and you will note that the ceremony ends at 9:25. and the japanese officials have left the missouri by 9:29 in the morning. so we've already seen how detailed a battle ship schedule and plan can be. and one of the things we have in our collection are the plans of the day. they detail everything that will happen onboard that day down to exact times. and we have one from august 30, 1945, that bears a line written in it by the ship's second in command. commander leon that is

incredibly telling and bears the weight of what was to happen in a few days' time onboard. it says we have the energy, ability, and strength to prepare for and to put on a glorious show for the grand finale. each of us does all he can in this last push, then and i said long ago in newport before the commissioning, when our grandchildren gather around and say grand pap, what did you do during the great war? we will all answer simply, i was on the missouri. as she sates today the u.s.s. missouri is bow to bow with u.s.s. arizona. and in world war ii the start for the americans was the attack on pearl harbor, december 7, 1941. for the americans and the rest of the world, the final end of world war ii was that surrender ceremony september 2, 1945, aboard the missouri. so by having the missouri sitting here in pearl harbor, we have the bookends of world war ii for the united states. the beginning on the arizona and the end on the missouri.

and as she sits bow to bow with the arizona, the u.s.s. missouri, 16 inch guns pointed symbolically over that ship. and able to stand watch over those sailors forever entombed in the arizona's hull. >> so we air at the newsroom for honolulu civil beat. an online news outlet that's been here in honolulu for about the past eight years or so. and it is a nonprofit news site and tries to fill a need for in depth and investigative journalism in hawaii. i've covered everything from immigration to education to transportation, transportation is really my main focus here in hawaii. honolulu is building a 20-mile, 21-station rail project. elevated rail project. and it's been very controversial around the island

. and the costs have continued to go up. which you see in other rail projects. but out here, it has been pretty stark. it's currently projected to cost about $9 billion including financing. and it's just been -- and it's -- the cost has risen by about $3 billion since the end of 2014. so residents have watched the cost of this transportation project go -- you know, continued to rise. it's been controversial because it is an extremely expensive project to build and there's just been a lot of skepticism as to how much of a dent it will really make in traffic. really what a lot of the transportation and planning officials point to they say look, it will be that much worse in the future in future decades if we don't build this. it's not that it's necessarily going to get better than what

it is at existing levels. but we do need to do something like this in order to at least try and contain the congestion to the level that you're seeing today. so you will still see like the lone h-1 freeway that goes -- that cuts across the south shore. that will still be congested. that will be something that residents here will continue to grapple with. but the argument is at the very least, you will have this option to get on a train that hopefully will be reliable and you'll basically know that you can get on this train a bunch of times and bypass all the congestion and cut through downtown and get to where you want to be. a lot of the controversy also has to do with like the design and the fact that you would have to take a bus in a lot of places. it -- at most stations you wouldn't be able to just walk to the station kind of like you're in new york or chicago or something like that.

and just -- and you'll really rely on some sort of a first step whether that's somebody dropping you off or whether that's parking and limited parking areas. that basically that you'll be kind of fighting traffic just to get to the rail line. we've had a great bus system by and large. but we've never had like a fixed rail transportation system. they're building this brand new from scratch. it's not something that people are used to. and it was incredibly expensive from the get-go and only getting more expensive. when you look at $9 billion, and a 20-mile system, you know, people are saying couldn't we have done something that was a little more cost effective? the funding is by and large state -- it's a state tax. it is a surcharge on our general excise tax for the island of oahu. the half cent surcharge. there's $1.55 billion in

federal funding from the f.t.a. the more expensive this project gets e. the smaller of a slice -- gets, the smaller of a slice of funding, the federal funding. so basically the federal government has said you've gotten your share. this $1.55 billion, this is as much as you're going to get. you're on the hook to complete this project as you've promised. and that's been part of the issue and the dynamic here is the hawaii would lose that -- its federal funding if it doesn't complete the project the way it agreed to under its deal with the f.t.a. every time it runs into a financial challenge where it runs over budget, they need to go to the legislature and it causes all sorts of political chaos when they have to go to the statehouse and say again, we need more money. even for the most ardent supporters of the project, you know, it's kind of become a

headache as far as trying to see this through to the end. so the real main successful legal challenge against rail, which helped delay the project for a year was brought forward by a native hawaiian practitioner, a -- who basically a traditional cultural practitioner who argued that this project was being biment improperly and that they hadn't fully completed all of the archeological surveys that they needed to do before they started building. and it halted the whole project. because one of the key issues out here is there's a lot of what they call easy kupuna in the ground and basically the ancestral remains of ancient -- of hawaiians, from generations past. suspect oftentimes what happens out here when you build, you encounter as they're digging, they encounter bones and remains of generations past, of

ancient hawaiians. so they did have to do a survey to find out that -- where they were going to put these pillars in the ground that they were not going to build on top of these ancestral remains. and if they did encounter ancestral remains, there's a whole process that we have codified here in the state. where you either elect to kind of put a protective cement coating to leave them in place, or you remove them and you put them in an area where, you know, they will be protected going forward. it's a whole process. and very unique here in hawaii. and it's something that's played out with the rail project. and it actually even helped to stall the project for about a year until they were able to complete the full archeological survey along the line. the other issue right now is they're building it. it's under way. so you're talking about building the largest public

works project in hawaii's history:and you're building basically what amounts to like a second freeway that's displacing businesses along the way. that's causing a lot of traffic headaches. and they haven't even gotten into downtown at this point. they haven't really gotten into the heart of the city and the urban core. and people are really bracing for just the havoc that will be created when you have to, you know, build this massive public works project into what is already a very crowded and ongested city. >> aloha. my name is kalani english and the leader of the state senate and i welcome you to hawaii and a brief tour of our capital. so the hawaiian history is very, very unique and in america we were an independent monarchy and a provisional

government and then a republic and then a territory and then now a state. so behind us is the first state capital of hawaii which was the palace, the iolani palace was a royal palace and it became the seat of the provisional government of hawaii. and then the seat of the territorial government. and then when hawaii became a state, up until -- we joined the union in 1959, from 1959 until 1968, this was the state capital. the senate sat in the throne room. the representatives sat in the dining room on the opposite side. and around the building were add-ons for the offices. so this was the first state capital, the iolani palace, on the palace grounds are the coordination of buildings in the front. on the other side where the kings and queens of hawaii were crowned. and today for the inauguration of our governors. our governors take the oath of

office in the pavilion and we have the military barracks on the palace grounds now. this was moved here when they built the new capital which we will be going through in a few minutes. but they moved that barracks, brick by brick, rebuilt it here on the palace grounds to preserve it. and so they could build the new capital in the 1960's. so follow me this way and we'll head -- head out toward the new capital. we're coming to the palace gates. and i would like to point out to you the royal coat of arms r the arms, the kingdom of hawaii. crown of hawaii, the cape behind and the motto of the kingdom of hawaii, the life of the land is preserved in righteousness.

the hawaiian flag, the sticks, a certain to signify area. and all of this supporting the crown of hawaii. this evolved, the state seal evolved from this coat of arms. so on the palace grounds, is today in modern times only the hawaiian flag will fly on the palace grounds. not the american flag and we still use the royal coat of arms on this piece of property. as we come out of the palace gates, and come to now we're entering to the modern era. and we come to this new state capital. the capital was finished in 1969. opened in 1969. and it was built to symbolize the islands of hawaii. so if you look at it carefully, and you can see that completely surrounded by water.

and this is brackish water. from the springs underground here. and completely surrounded by water to symbolize we are an island state and always surrounded by water and water is integrated into everything that we do. the columns are -- represent coconut trees. and we want -- one of the staples of life for us in hawaii. and if you look at it, it's -- it comes up and you can see the coconut branches at the top. now, there are eight columns going down and eight across. why is this significant? the eight major hawaiian islands are represented by each of these columns. actually, the state of hawaii has 132 islands. the northern islands uninhabited but the southern islands, the eight inhabited islands or seven ininhabited and one uninhabited part of the major chains and each represented on one of these columns. if you look up you'll see the new seal of the state of hawaii which is based on the coat of arms of the kingdom of hawaii.

so from here, i'm going to -- we're going to walk over and stop at the queen's statue. which is a memorial to the queen, last queen of hawaii, queen lolikalani and go into the capital and i'll show you the rest of the buildings. so now we're between the palace. and the new capital building. and between that, we have a statue of queen lolical ane the last monarch of hawaii and passed away in 1917. but she was overthrown in 1893 by american forces. american military landed and surrounded the government buildings. and overthrew the queen. part of what was going on was in her hand she is holding the constitution of 1893. the creation chant of the native hawaiians, and the song that she wrote called aloha oy. the queen was trying to restore the civil rights of the hawaiian people. so her brother, king kalau was forced to sign the constitution in 1887 called the bayonet constitution because they

surrounded him in the palace and pointed bayonets at him and said sign this constitution. but what it did was it stripped the civil rights of native hawaiians from voting, from participating in government. and when the queen ascended to the thrown in 1891, her promise to the people is that she would restore their civil rights. so that constitution that she is holding was restoring the civil rights of the native hawaiian people. the american and western sugar planters were not happy with that idea. and so that's what triggered the landing of american troops and the takeover of the government. so the statue in many ways represents the transition from with the t system queen to a modern democracy. and you know, it's ironic that she was overthrown for trying to restore democracy and sism rights to her own people. so we honor the queen here. and this is why she's given

this central spot between the palace and the new capital building. as a reminder of our past suspect a reminder of what hawaii went flew. and also a reminder of the great love that the hawaiian people had for their monarch and for their queen. i want to welcome you now to the center of the hawaii state capital. this is the rotunda area. it's the public square. and it's completely even with the street. so if you look at it, everything is wide open. everybody can come in here. it's built to be accessible by the public. the public.by we are very unique again as a state capital that we don't have a dome. so the architects and the people of h-when they were building this, decided that instead the public. we are very of a dome, like a volcano and everything comes from the center and house chambers up and five floors to the governor's office and then out to the people.

so we have a wide oach -- open side as the dome and then this piece of art by sato called a corius. about a million pieces of -- supposed to be a reflection of the sky on water. and it's to show that the balance of the heavens and the earth. and the balance of -- as above so below. everything has to be in balance. there's one red piece in this that the artist put in. and that's -- people come in here to see that are with that red piece of pile is. so the hawaii state capital is built to be open and built to be accessible like this. now we've come into the senate chambers at the capital in honolulu. and the chambers are very unique in hawaii because we're shaped like a volcano. like an island. if you look at the chamber itself we're actually

underground. so the people sit on the ground level and come in and they sit above the senators. and that was specifically built into the building to remind the senators that we work for the people and also to allow the people the opportunity to observe all of the proceedings. the senate chamber is very unique in that it represents -- it represents the ocean and the moon. the chandelier in the middle is made up of about 600 or more nautilus shelves. and it represents the moon. the tapestry behind that is reminiscent of the canoes coming across the ocean from the south. from at that heat and i from the south -- tahiti and from the south pacific and how the polynesians came to these islands. and we have a blue carpet which represents the ocean, the calming effects of the ocean and the calming effect of the moon. so the opposite -- the house chambers, directly opposite of

us, everything is red. golden orb. a tapestry in the background representing the volcanoes and the fires. so the idea is that the two-year terms of the lower house, deals with the heat of the moment issues. the senate is the more calming, cooling effect. and together we make one. all of the furniture in here is made out of precious wood called koa wood. hawaiian hardwood. today, it would be almost impossible to find enough wood to do this. and it's -- it's very, very valuable wood. but the chambers itself is very, very large and it's built to carry the voice. so we can almost whisper on this side and you can hear it on the other end of the room. so hawaii became a state in 1959. and we were admitted to the union as a package. remember, there were two territories left at that time.

eligible for statehood that was alaska and hawaii. and alaska was democratic and hawaii was republican. so the debate in congress at the time was balance of power. they couldn't admit one without admitting the other because two republican senators, two democratic senators, it would keep the same balance of power. what they didn't expect was for alaska to turn republican and for hawaii to turn democratic and that's what happens. just before statehood, the party politics switched and hawaii went democratic and alaska went republican. but again, it didn't change the balance of power in the national level so both states were admitted. but as we talked about earlier, from the palace, coming over, to here, you know, the senate evoflede from the house of nobles and the kingdom of hawaii. and after the american takeover here, the throne room became the senate chambers.

and so we sort of followed from there, from the monarchy, into the modern repush and then into part of the united states. the senate in hawaii still has the notion of the house of nobles as the house of representatives came from the house of commons. so interesting fact for hawaii is that our common law is actually british common law. because we were independent and we followed the british system before this. so when you start looking at common law in hawaii, people from north america, when they come here and oh, wait, the common law is different. yes. because we're actually british based. the beginning of statehood, hawaii really embraced the ideas of democracy and one of the most significant ones was, well, let's see. early 1970's. hawaii adopted the prepaid health care act which many

years later, the federal government copied and it became obamacare. so we have prepaid medical for everybody in hawaii. and that was put in place in the early 1970's. president obama used this as a model to create the national health care system that was in place then and trying to be dismantled now. but what we've said is whatever the federal government does, we would like to maintain what we've originally had. because we've had it before the federal legislation and if it should go away, then we want it to remain. hawaii was one of the first states to legalize abortion. and that was in the late -- right after roe vs. wade. and they quickly adopted the legislation here and we were one of the first to adopt -- legalize abortion. so hawaii was really advanced at the time in social policy multicultural policy.

we have been able to pass workers' rights and pass union rights. and sick leave and family leave, things like that:in the early years. today, gender equality, marriage equality, now we're talking about housing equality and allowing for people to nondiscrimination in housing. so we still have the ideals of a vibrant democracy alive here in the he state legislature. -- hawaii state legislature. the native hawaiians are not recognized by the federal government. like most americans, not all but most american indian tribes are recognized as native peoples and have a government to government relationship. but the federal government, not in hawaii. so a couple of things that we did in 1978, there was a constitutional convention.

we created the fourth branch of government. in hawaii there are four branches. the fourth branch, executive, judiciary, legislative and then the office of hawaiian affairs. and the office of hawaiian affairs is set up to look after the interests of the native hawaiian. look after over the former crown lands and ceded lands and make sure the revenues off of thoth lands belong to the office and native hawaiians are actually make it to the office of hawaiian affairs for the betterment of the hawaiian people. cultural issues. language issues. hawaii guarantees two languages. so you have hawaiian and english. and for example, the senate, our order of the day is issued in hawaiian and english. hawaiian first and then english. and anyone can come and testify in hawaiian. or in english. banks in hawaii will accept checks written in hawaiian and english. and in fact bank of hawaii, if you go to their machines, you have about five different

languages. and chinese, japanese, english, and hawaiian. hawaii is the southern most state in the united states. so people from the south say we're the south. actually, we're the south. all right? so we are way, way south. and that's the thing about hawaii is we are the most remote land mass anywhere on the planet. anywhere on the whole planet. you get to hawaii, it's a five-hour, 5 1/2 hour flight from anywhere to get here. by ship, three or four days. so we are isolated. and like you said, when you got here, you realize how different this place is. we -- we are a set of islands that are dependent on the outside for everything. we're dependent outside for our food, for our power and electricity, for all of the built material structures

around me, everything is imported. so that's the thing that most people when they come here, the first thing they realize is this is a different place. it feels like the rest of the country. same currency and same language, same forms of government. but it's different. something's different. and that's the difference. our extreme isolation. so for us to be a vibrant and healthy society, we have to become a lot more self-sufficient suspect we're looking at that. energy. you know, hawaii, our goal is 100% energy within the next 20 years. so we're on our way. we're starting to innovate and come up with ways to do that. looking at food, same thing. how do we create food independence? looking at our building materials and how do we use better materials and cheaper materials that we don't have to import? so i think for someone visiting for the first time, understanding that hawaii is a

unique culture, a unique place suspect a unique history. and we're one of the many hades of the american society. >> you really spark this incredible revival of pride in these places where, you know, the native people were second class citizens and seeing this canoe is just like a symbol of our ancestors' ingenuity and brilliance. a way to show in modern day like how those voyages could have occurred. we are here at the honolulu community college, marine education and training center. this is an off campus site of

-- part of the university of hawaii system. and the polynesian voyage society has called this place home for the last 14 years now. and that's one of the reasons why hopefully be at the back here because this is voyaging society is the main steward, care taker, home for the last 14 years. when the voyaging society was formed, again, their first -- one of their first goals was to build this performance accurate replica of a voyaging canoe ecause for maybe 5 moon or 600 years we didn't have these voyaging canoes here in hawaii and throughout polynesia. and people of course wondered how did the first people that came to hawaii, how did they get here? and that was the question really on other polynesian islands as well. so polynesian is really a

modern name for a group of islands that stand from in the north hawaii to the southeast, easter island, and the southwest is new zealand. and so that forms this triangle with islands and in between you ve like at that hit i -- tahiti. this is the cook islands that have similar language and culture. there are that three kind of groups of islands in the pacific today. polynesia is one of them. micronesia is another. micronesia, a tinely island, that's where actually hopefully melonesia which includes like fiji and caledonia and knows islands. and then polynesia is really the last of our pacific ocean,

the last of the islands that were settled by people who would have migrated from the west to the east. and so our stories tell us, our history tells us that our ancestors came on voyaging canoes from tahiti marcasa, part of the pacific. and because we didn't have an actual canoe here, again, it would be important to build that replica of the canoe to prove and to show that this is what our ancestors did. so really with the building to show that people did migrate with purpose, with intention, and had the skill and ability to build canoes of the natural materials they had and then rely on the -- to craft thousands of miles of open ocean in order to explore and discover new islands. and eventually once the first

people got here to hawaii, they said go back to the islands they came from and then more waves of people could come here to actually settle and then stay on this island. was rst voyage in 1976 from here to tahiti. and that was natch gate -- navigator y our -- who i think polynesian voyaging society was really lucky to be introduced to him because they were looking for a traditional navigator. someone who wouldn't use instruments to find -- to get to tahiti. and with -- in 31 days he successfully navigated down to tahiti and actually first , archipelago ands before tahiti. that first trip actually was -- it had its challenges. the dynamics of the people

nboard, and so actually papa mua went home from tahiti instead of navigating back to hawaii. and the second attempt to voyage to tahiti again, was in 1978. and unfortunately, the voyage ended in tragedy really just off of -- within our hawaii waters. at's the voyage when eddie oko -- the canoe, they left in less than ideal conditions. it was stormy. they left their magic island and part of it was the pressure that crowds of people were there. they said goodbye. welcome -- wished them off. well journey. but when they got into the channel, they actually -- they ran into trouble because the hulse are filling with water. the channel is very rough. and the canoe actually flipped

over. so upside down. still afloat. and they were getting far enough off of the islands that they were worried that the airplanes flying over wouldn't very -- at they were it was very small chance that there would be any boats in the area. so eddie aco, one of the crew members strapped his surf board to the canoe and magic island thinking he would surf the big waves in tahiti. an incredible hawaiian hero. he was one of the first lifeguards in waimea bay. and never lost anybody on his shift. and he's just -- such a well respected waterman. and big wave surfer. but he used his surf board and convinced the captain to let him paddle and his nature -- not just job in waimea bay to save people but in his nature and he saw this canoe upside

down and just couldn't stand to see her that way. and convinced the captain to let him paddle to get help. and he -- the captain made him strap on a life vest. and the only thing they saw after he left was the life vest coming back so he wasn't even after he left the canoe. so we have this wonderful plaque onboard that commemorates the sacrifice that eddie made. and of course those of us who have kind of inherited the legacy with his story, the importance of safety and leadership. the canoes, they stand for so many important things. in addition to -- first trying to relearn this skill of navigation, and how did our ancestors even sail this type of vessel? it became more important over the years that she has so much more that she could teach us. d it's a small state and how

-- small space suspect how you can live in a small space with 12 people and get along and get to your destination and taking care of your resources and the water onboard, the food. and also taking care of her. so she's really over the 40 years of voyaging, been like a microcosm of an island and really in this most recent voyage we did, like of our planet, we can apply the same lessons, the same things it takes to be a good crew member onboard one of these canoes it takes to be a good steward of the islands we live on. and this earth that we live on. >> there's about a half a million people in urban honolulu give or take. and there's just short of a million people island wide. hawaii is facing many of the same issues you see on the mainland. it just might be a little more pronounced because it's so small and land is so valuable

here. we have the highest homeless population per capita. but that is also reflective of a broader housing crisis. by far we don't have enough affordable housing in hawaii. the vast majority of residents out here are priced out of the local housing market. it's up there, the market is up there with the new york and san franciscos of the world. and that's -- it's really just a function of the limited space. even if you look at these islands on a map as small as they are to begin with, so much of the habital area is just around the coast. because they're volcanic islands. and the mountains are -- are the mountains. so really just a small amount of space. and i think that the state overall is just coping with that's just --

in honolulu, it's a very congested city. parts of it were built haphazardly and people are just trying to get a handle on how -- how we can all -- how we can make this work better. >> native hawaiians continue to face issues of being disenfranchised within their own homeland. when you look at statistics with health and education and all of the usual kind of social measurement they continue to face challenges to the point where they've been swept aside. e overthrow of queen lolikalani was 125 years ago but in hawaii, they are members of the community, it's like it was yesterday. and it continues to inform the conversation as far as land issues, as far as what's going n with mount akai on the big

island. two very large mountains that were principally formed that montakai and nd 2 or 13 existing telescopes on akalakai and one of the best places for astronomy and to observe the heavens. but it's also considered a very sacred place for native hawaiians traditionally. and there are plans to build a 30 meter telescope that -- the largest telescope up there by far. it's been extremely controversial in hawaii. the most recent polls i remember seeing, did show that a majority of native hawaiians oppose the construction of mount akai. it's often framed as a science versus culture issue. and many hawaiians are irked by

that. but yeah, it's -- it's been a very controversial thing that we've been -- we've been covering for the last several years. there was a -- basically an injunction by the supreme court to stop construction until they had the proper permits in place. and that is still continuing to work itself out. when that court order came down, it very much emboldened people that are protesting this telescope and they actually like -- to describe themselves as the protectors of the mount. and that's one flare-up that has been a big part of the last five years or so. but it does speak to a lot of the -- you know, the general undercurrent here of hawaiians and the issues that they faced historically. announcer: our visit to hawaii is an american history tv exclusive. and we showed it today to introduce you to c-span's

cities tour. for seven years now we've traveled to u.s. cities, bringing the literary scene and historic sites to our viewers. you can watch more of our visits at c-span.org/citiestour. a discussion how to treat opioid addiction in the u.s. and the u.s. public interest research group talks about their the research group talks about their report on safety. after that dr. priscilla chan, a pediatrician and philanthropist married to zarqa -- mark zuckerberg. and then mark green administered for the u.s. agency for international development. talkshow host dr. drew pinski, secretary of state allison glenn greines -- alison lundergan grimes, and chris christie talked about the opioid epidemic from the politicon