This paper refutes a claim made by Roger Keesing in his 1989 essay, in which he states that the current state of cultural identity in the Pacific is a reactive creation that only exists due to the implementation of colonialism and its western ideals. I draw from local movements and organizations such as #ProtectMaunaKea and Waiwai Collective in arguing that the creation of these metaphorical and physical spaces should be deemed responsive rather than reactive due to their driving intention. The concept of reaction versus response will be analyzed through three theories – time-space compression, third space, and oppositional consciousness. Through a combination of these theories as well as literature and ethnographic study, this paper will explain how purposeful identity creation grants agency to the oppressed party rather than the oppressor, and this intentional creation directly contradicts Keesing’s claim that culture creation is a reaction to colonialism. In choosing how and in which ways to respond to the systemic oppressions of colonialism, I argue that those being oppressed under these systems have the means to reclaim the agency that was forcibly taken from them upon the imposition of these ideals.