It's bizarre that some people actually believe that, in the absence of "colonization," indigenous people didn't have clearly defined power structures where oppression and subjugation were defining features of the system.  You would have to be completely and totally ignorant of Hawaiian history to believe that to be the case.  It is self-evidently obvious that the ruling class in Hawaii PRIOR to haole contact was FAR worse by any reasonable standard.  The words "oppression" and "subjugation" would take on a whole new meaning if we go back to the previous system that was in place.  I would argue that kapu wasn't even really comparable to colonialism in terms of its brutality.  Apples to oranges.

But these facts are inconvenient because they don't fit the narrative.  Our peaceful, loving, idyllic paradise in the popular imagination is reminiscent of how people viewed the Aztecs before major archeology discoveries were made and we learned more about their brutal society.