Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander (NHPI) is a term used to identify the Indigenous peoples of Oceania. Inheriting cultures that are thousands of years old, the NHPI communities (contemporarily divided into Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia) are highly diverse and unique, while sharing many commonalities and values as Indigenous peoples of land and ocean. The NHPI Alliance aims to serve all NHPI communities living within the United States, which includes all 49 States, Hawaii, Guåhan and the CNMI, and American Samoa.

While NHPI is a label commonly used today to describe our communities, we recognize the colonial reality these labels historically and currently play throughout our islands, our culture, and our communities. Our identities and relationality predate Western labels.

NHPIs in the US

The history of NHPI communities in the United States is deeply connected to our region’s colonial relationship and militarized history. Whether through the overthrow of the sovereign Hawaiian Kingdom, or via the unequal, unilateral rule of the US Congress under the precedent of the Insular Cases, NHPI territory and communities have been integral to the advancement of the US economic and militarist expansion project while simultaneously being most impacted by its domestic and global effects.

Hawaii, American Samoa, and the Marianas Islands (CNMI & Guam) are the three main centers of NHPI communities outside of the contiguous US. Many Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders moved to the US after serving in the armed forces, often in search of educational opportunities for our youth and better economic prospects. The NHPI community in the US is the fastest growing racial group of the 21st century. Currently, seven out of ten NHPI in the US reside in the contiguous US as of 2010. States with some of the largest NHPI populations include:

• California (361,000)

• Washington (94,000)

• Texas (73,000)

• Florida (55,080)

• New York (52,500)

• Utah (48,370)