Schlagwort: Poka Laenui

Kapu System of traditional Hawaiian religious practice

Laenui-Poka
On a separate facebook page entitled Building an Intellectual Culture, there is a brief description of the `ai Noa or the “free eating” in Hawaii which initiated the downfall of the traditional kapu system. I thought that my comments and discussion with the author, Umi Perkins who is by the way son of the late Leialoha Perkins and nephew of Peter Apo, both children of Aunty Margaret Apo who lived for a long time in Makaha, and along with her husband, Peter, who were both friends of mine. You may want to go to that page and check out the background of these comments. He has many other interesting postings there.
I wrote:
An analysis of the `Ai Noa and the breaking of the kapu system
This is about your #4 Mo`olelo series, regarding the `Ai kapu.
It seems your treatment of the `ai kapu and the `ai noa which took place in 1819 was too short an analysis of this historical event which changed the course of Hawaii’s history. I speak not due to the lack of details of the circumstance and the event but for a lack of inquiry into the motivations of the parties.
Yes, indeed, the details are a lot, and the purpose of your writing may not be as a historical record but more of a summary of the event. But I believe that the breaking of the `aikapu must acknowledge the recent death of Kamehameha, the passing of the political “torch” to his son, Liholiho, the assignment of Ka`ahumanu into a newly created Kuhina nui or “Queen Consort” of uncertain definition, the passing of the religious “torch” to Kamehameha’s “nephew” Kekuaokalani for the continuing care of the war god Kuka`ilimoku, and the fact that Hewahewa, Kamehameha’s lead Kahuna was not given that continuing role of such care.
The Hawaiian chiefs and priests were remarkably familiar with the mo`olelo of our people. They were especially familiar with the history of the long and peaceful reign of Liloa, of his son Hakau to whom Liloa passed the “torch” of political authority, and to his other son Umi the religious “torch” to care for the war god, Kuka`ilimoku. Over time, Umi accrued the favor of important kahunas who abandoned Hakau, gathered his forces and in a battle against Hakau, was triumphant. Hakau was sacrificed in fire.
Generations later, when Kalaniopu`u, King of Hawai`i passed, he also split his kingdom giving the political power to Kiwala`o, his son and the religious care of Kuka`ilimoku to Kamehameha, his nephew. Kamehameha, over time, was able to accrue greater power, married Kiwala`o’s daughter, Keopuolani as well as Ka`ahumanu who has been referred to as Kiwala`o’s wife. Over time, Kiwala`o was killed in battle after which Kamehameha fought to unite the Hawai`i island and eventually all the islands.
Kamehameha, at his death followed the same unusual pattern of splitting the political and the religious kuleana between Liholiho, King of the nation along with Ka`ahuman as the Kuhina nui. But to his nephew Kekuaokalani he gave the care of Kuka`ilimoku. Ka`ahumanu was especially wise in political affairs. It was to her whom Kamehameha essentially vested the political power in, as the Kuhina nui, as compared to Liholiho, his eldest son who was into his very early 20s and had not been experienced in war. Ka`ahumanu could understand the political patterns of a divided kingdom and saw the eventuality of the one who held the care of Kuka`ilimoku overcome the relative who ruled the political affairs.
Thus, Ka`ahuman, with Keopuolani, mother of Liholiho aligned with her, knew that in order to preserve Liholiho’s rule, would have to break the power of Kekuaokalani, of Kuka`ilimoku, and of the kapu religious order, creating a total devastation of the religious system so that there would be no room for Kekuaokalani to regain a foothold and rebuild to power.
Liholiho resisted the invite by Ka`ahumanu and his mother Keopuolani to join them in breaking the `ai kapu. He had previously spoken with his cousin Kekuaokalani and pledged that he would not join in such an act. But the two ladies persisted. Liholiho took a group out to sea on a ship and partied, got very drunk with liquor and women before returning to Kailua. Upon his return, he then went to the feast of Ka`ahumanu and Keopuolani and joined them and his younger brother, Kauikeauoli, who was not yet Kamehameha III, and ate with them, thereby affirming the violation of the `ai kapu. That was the `ai noa, the freeing of the kapu, which than unraveled the religious order of Hawaii.
Kekuaokalani, hearing of this `ai noa occurring in Kailua, gathered his forces and marched to Kailua. Liholiho’s forces met the oncoming opposition on the plains of Kuamo`o and as this battle ensued, Kekuaokalani was shot and killed and his wife Manono, comforting him on the battlefield, was also shot and killed.
Thus, the destruction of Kekuaokalani, of Kuka`ilimoku, of the kapu system, as well as Manono came about. The political order was thereby sustained for the Kamehameha direct descendants for a period.
Na`u kamana`o. I offer them for your consideration.
Aloha a hui hou,
Pōkā Laenui,
Hawaiian National
Umi Perkins
Author
When this all comes out in its final form, the ʻaikapu section will follow the Kamehameha history (unification) – Iʻm just releasing these on the blog in short posts and as works in progress. But yes Iʻll keep in mind to make more of a continuation of the thread of the kapu underlying whatʻs going on at the time
Also, Noelani Arista is arguing in her book against the idea of total abolition of kapu or ʻaikapu, which Iʻll have to take into account
I also have a separate post on the battle of Kuamoʻo
Poka Laenui
I’m most anxious to see all of this. I must agree with Noelani Arista regarding the total abolition of the kapu system. Indeed, many of our Hawaiian people continued to respect the system of kapu long after the `ai noa.
Abraham Pi`ianaia would speak of his father or grand father who continued to pay his respect to the traditional gods in back of his home.
My wife’s grandmother, a kahuna whose specialty included La`au Lapa`au had patients in lower Kalihi line up around the block to her house to see her for healing. She had been a deacon at Kawaiha`o Church and started her own Christian church in Kalihi. In her house, one room was dedicated to the Christian religion, and another room, she kept her gods of Hawaii where her medicine was kept. Puanani, as a child who had just returned with her from Church turned to her grandmother and said, „Grandma, I’m confused! We just came back from church and when I come home, how come you have two rooms, one for Christ and the other for the old gods!“
Grandma said, „I keep them in separate rooms so they no fight!“
Yes, there are many other examples of the „old“ system still alive. There are spirits which continue to roam the land such as the night marchers, there are the akualele which continue to fly across the sky. As long as the regard for mana continue to persist, which was the foundation of the kapu system, the „old“ system will persist.
Comments:
Poka Laenui
I should have noted that in many of the Halau hula as well as in the pa lua, the old kapu systems or practices are carried out.
Kalehua Krug
ʻAi noa was also used as a sign of mourning and recorded during numerous times throughout our history. The ʻai noa was probably the nail in the Hawaiian coffin as it pertained to the death of culture, languge and political sovereignty. Liholiho ate under duress and abiding by the rules of mourning his fatherʻs death. Religious abolition came when those against Kekuaokalani sided with the missionaries. Kūkāʻilimoku had no place in the political discussion as Christianity became the religion of politics in Hawaiʻi.
Interview of „Tales of Hawaii“ with
Leialoha Perkins
Kumulipo  –  Mon 27.Nov. 2017, in Makaha Surfside, Waianae
Umi Perkins
Earliest Commercial Activity on Hawai’ian Islands – 24.Jan. 2018 at Kamehameha Campus, Honolulu
by Categories: BlogTags: , , , Hinterlasse einen Kommentar

Cost of living in Hawaii

Laenui-Poka

Cost of living in Hawaii is a major concern. Let’s take a look at how housing investments affect this concern.

There is embedded within the psyche of our community a theory generally expressed by the term, “Free Country.” Around that concept we have seen wound the principle of contract, of capitalism, of economic principles of investments and return on investments. We have been led to a belief that these principles, if we just leave them alone and let them work themselves out, there will be an “invisible hand” which will swoop down on the society and make everything right.

Yet, we are constantly reminded of the misery which our population continually experiences, which has gone on for at least 40 years that I am aware of. This misery is the sickness of homelessness, where we see a growing population of individuals and now families, forced to live without proper shelter, and in that life-style they are tossed into, often being tagged with criminal violations and treated in the society with deep prejudices because of those houseless conditions. Those homeless cases are the extremes. There are many more individuals and families hiding in places away from public notice and police detection. And there are those in our population who are simply unable to afford the cost of owning their own home, or renting a home.

The ills of a homeless condition reach far beyond the matter of shelter for an individual or a family. From such a condition flows the impact on a deteriorating health, loss of employment, a personal sense of loss of self-worth, a break-up of the family unit, fear, alcoholism and drug abuse, shame. Homeless communities are forming and being chased out of public areas of hiding, to seek other hiding places. Some have even gone under freeways, under bridges, up into mountains, along crevices at the seashore, in abandoned vehicles, etc.

We have a tyranny of the market that has gone berserk. Hawaii’s housing sales have become a world-wide competition such that foreigners and aliens are free to transport their monies across our Hawai`i borders with little resistance. That world capital investment game can see a large flow of money entering our shores and purchasing as many housing units including condominiums, tying up the market and sitting on these units till the next buyer decides to invest and a trade-off occurs. The State government says nothing of it because they are happy to tax these transactions and the counties too profit by the increase in “property values” determined by the increase sale transactions, which only goes to fill up the counties’ coffers. Our banks and other financial institutions say nothing about it because they too are tied into this affair, profiting from the economic activities of lending and collecting for the increased construction and the increased services they produce.

Let us be mindful that it is not only foreigners (those living in the U.S.A. mainland) and aliens (those living outside of U.S.A. mainland, but not of Hawai`i) who are important aspects of our problem of housing shortage, but they also include residents of Hawai`i who also see Hawai`i housing as investment opportunities. Many of these investors see the increasing housing demand as favorable for their investments, giving little or no attention to the social ills which they contribute to by this investment!

The other part of this economic cycle lacking the proper social consciousness are sellers of such real property, whose general interest is found in a profit motive and will naturally sell to the highest buyer.

The government, generally expected to act as the watchdog over the social and economic wellness of the society, have not connected the economic activity adequately with the social impact such activity is having and is engaged in supporting these economic activities.

We need to call for a new public policy aimed at making homes available to our residents. One way of doing this is to limit to 1 resident an individual is entitled. There should no longer be any hording of real property for investment purposes. If a buyer is not going to use said property as his/her primary residence, there will be a penalty to pay for the purchase and for the continuing annual retention of such residence to assist in the housing shortage which exist in Hawaii.

Any person owning more than one residential unit in Hawaii will be prohibited from purchasing another unless and until that person has relinquished his current residence to a local buyer in Hawaii who will use said residence as his/her home.

There will be attempts by some individuals to disperse their real property residential ownerships to members of their family who may not actually use such other real property as their residence. There may be attempts to name children still living in the same family household as residence of another home which the investor wishes to retain.

Laws will have to be adjusted to meet those attempts to circumvent the policy, including investigations and penalties whenever a person claims to reside in a property and it is found not to be the case. Any transfer of title to real property to a person who does not truly reside on said property, or if the transfer is merely a sham covered over with a title transfer, but with a side agreement or understanding that the property will be returned or managed under the instruction of the transferring person, if found out, the “side agreement or understanding” should be considered an attempt to defraud the government and such a side agreement could be set aside or declared null and void and the transfer will be recognized as valid without any such side agreement.

There may be other attempts to circumvent the law and such attempts will have to be dealt with by the courts or the legislature after the initial policy and the guidelines and legal codes adopted to carry out the policy is made. There are other experiences in Pacific Island nations which follow somewhat similar prohibitions against certain types of investments, and although there have been attempts to circumvent the law, the legal systems have dealt with such situations.

Real estate in Hawaii is too important to be used with such a negative impact as the type of homelessness which we suffer today. We should not have to continue under the present condition which sees the incoming flight of capital to Hawai`i while at the same time, we witness the outgoing flight of our local population because they can’t even afford to have a home in Hawai`i.

Yes, the adoption and practice of this policy of limiting investing families only one residential unit will take time to become a practice. But if we are serious about controlling Hawaii’s future for Hawaii’s people, this is certainly one place where we need to begin that control.

Poka Laenui for the Hawaii National Transitional Authority Working Group

 

Link:
Hawaiian Perspectives

 

by Categories: BlogTags: , , , , , , , Hinterlasse einen Kommentar

Choose Federal Recognition or Free Hawaiian Kingdom

Laenui-Poka

This is a re-post on another page, (Aha Aloha Aina). I am re-posting believing it important to be shared here as well.

A woman writes, “Why would you choose federal recognition when you can have a free Hawaiian Kingdom with reparations for the illegal occupation?”

1st, she presents the question as either one or the other, i.e. one automatically eliminates the other! Federal Recognition OR Independence. I challenge that limited view of the fight for Hawaiian Sovereignty. As a Hawaiian National, I will not limit my fight for Hawaiian Sovereignty by sticking my head in the sand and pretend that there is no other reality. As I stand in the U.S. Courts and challenge the jurisdiction of the courts over myself or my clients, I also prepare to use the laws of the United States, of Hawaii, of the applicable rules of court, of the U.S. & Hawaii Constitutions, the Ordinance of the various counties, etc. in defense of my clients. I will also use international laws and principles to assert such defense. The fact that I declare myself a Hawaiian national in no way foreclose my right and responsibility to my clients, to raise all appropriate defenses, wherever found.

Of course, those who do not want the Hawaiians to have sovereignty are glad to see this all or nothing approach. It means there will be no trouble with Hawaiian nationals who will not fight but just complain about lack of U.S. jurisdiction as they are marched (defiantly) off to jail!

There is also the other extreme side of Federal Recognition. Those are the folks who do not want Hawaiian independence, wants to stay now and forever, a part of the United States. At most, they can go along with a degree of reparation – ala the Native Alaskan Settlement Claims Act, or the Aloha bill with an attached extermination clause! They see Hawaiian rights only to the extent of Indigenous people’s rights to autonomy within a U.S. colonial regime.

As for me, I choose to use whatever tool, weapon, device, tactic, or advocacy that is appropriate to the fight for Hawaiian sovereignty. As I’ve said before, “The quest is not to walk the straight path, but to learn to walk the crooked path straight!” To the extent Federal Recognition can provide advantages which can be used to advance our education, the protection of Hawaiian trusts, loan programs, etc., I say use those advantages. To the extent Federal Recognition will give greater assurance to the protection of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, to the protection of the Hawaiian Homestead programs, to the protection of and recovery of Native Hawaiian burial and other sacred sites, to the protection and practice of our traditional religious forms, to secure the perpetuation of our environment, I believe we should champion those provisions.

Any time any program within Federal Recognition calls for the extinguishment of our right to self-determination or any other right established in international law, we should fight against it and always stand firm that any declaration of such extinguishment made by the colonial administration is legally and morally invalid. We need not wait to see that call for extinguishment when Federal Recognition comes into effect. Even today, without Federal Recognition, the State and Federal government’s agents carry on a pretense that we must accept extinguishment of our National claims in order to work within the U.S. systems. We need to be vigilant to those attempts and stop it in its tracts.

An example of this practice was employed against me by Federal Judge Sam King who insisted that I could not practice law in the Federal Court if I refuse to say I was a U.S. citizen. He found me in contempt of court. I challenged that determination and the result is that I continue to be authorized to practice law in all the Federal and State courts in Hawaii, without having to declare U.S. citizenship. There are many other examples of such tactics to erase our identity as Hawaiian nationals. Many of our public schools continue to practice the morning American pledge of allegiance as part of the school day. My daughter, when in the 1st grade at Wai`anae, told her teacher she would not join in because the American government stole the Hawaiian nation from our Queen. The next day, a boy in her class said that if Pua`Ena need not say that pledge, he was not going to say it as well. Within a month, the full class refused to join in that pledge. Our vigilance in protecting our national identity must be a constant alert, regardless of whether Federal Recognition is accorded us by the U.S. government.

Progress has been made. You may recall the State/OHA attempt to call a Native Hawaiian Convention, sometimes called the Na`i Aupuni convention in 2016. Three significant things occurred there. 1 – the State/OHA did not require one be a U.S. citizen in order to be nominated or vote for delegate in that election process. 2 – the U.S. government’s Department of the Interior changed course in its final rule, dropping the requirement that a member of a Federally Recognized Hawaiian nation must be a U.S. citizen! 3 – the members of that congregation agreed that we should continue to strive for our full rights of self-determination as understood in international law! The failures of that gathering were numerous but let us not also observe those positive aspects of that aha. (My full evaluation is scheduled to be published soon.)

Hawaiian Independence and Federal Recognition contain numerous common attributes. We need to see the potential for both pathways to unite our people as we continue to strive to bring about our sovereignty. A nation divided against itself cannot stand.

A hui hou. Poka Laenui

by Categories: BlogTags: , , , , , , Hinterlasse einen Kommentar

Economic fairness in tourism in Hawaii

Laenui-Poka

Earlier, I addressed one aspect of economic fairness in tourism in Hawaii, and elsewhere. There are many other concerns but this is just a sample of the type of equity or pono we need to infuse with all of our activities.
The next area which I did not address is the humanity aspect of tourism, what’s good and what’s bad. Tourism or visiting is not good or bad in and of itself. People’s curiosity, wonderment, and discovery are wonderful things for the human spirit. Exchange of understandings, appreciation and friendliness are traits we should all support. But when that exchange of humanity is turned into an economic commodity within a run-away capitalist system, we degrade the beauty in this exchange and degrade the people who are used as pawns and “economic factors”. We somehow lose the essence of human interaction with a pretend sense of “Aloha” which cheapens the tourist experience and ourselves who engage in it merely for economic profit. We can compare it to fresh flower leis picked and sewn by human hands and plastic leis manufactured in chemical laboratories and mass produced on conveyor belts.
We need to reassess tourism as an exchange, first and foremost, of humanity and for Hawaii, Aloha. In all interactions among guests and hosts, we must cherish those interactions as valued cultural expressions of ourselves. Guests should come to our shores with some understanding of who they are, where they come from and what values they have. They need to explore what’s in their own baggage and what they can share with people they will interact with. Money is not the only commodity of trade on their end. They could also commit to learning of the history and cultures of Hawaii and return to their homelands as ambassadors of pono.
On our part, we must see tourism as people wanting to fulfill a part of their human spirit to explore, to understand, to experience, to learn of the vast treasures in this prism called Hawaii, which somehow is a window into many other parts of the world. We should be proud of our Hawaii, yet be frank about the challenges we face, in our environment, in our economic system, in our colonization by the U.S., and in our hopes and dreams of a future for Hawaii and the world.
In this fair treatment of Tourism from a humanities perspective, we can convert this important economic activity into a boon for Hawaiian political rights, for cultural rights of our multiple cultures, for religious tolerance and appreciation, for environmental protection, and many more things of great value to our society.
Aloha `aina, Poka Laenui

by Categories: BlogTags: , , , , , , , Hinterlasse einen Kommentar

Welcome – Welcome to Hawaiian Perspectives

Poka Laenui
January 5

This is a facebook entry on Jan. 3, 2019 in a different person’s account. However, it seems the subject is important enough that I thought I should share it on my own facebook account. A person named Vernal writes: My argument stands firm, Fed Wreck is of no benefit to Hawaiians as it is presented, it is in my opinion a surrender of all Hawaiian Rights to an empire bent on establishing total colonization since failing to properly annex Hawaii as prescribed by international law. I see they’re maneuvering as an attempt to convince Hawaii to disregard the illegalities used to possess the Hawaiian Islands and forget the history of failure and just all out aggression, oppression, and belligerent military occupation of lands they do not pay for. America is not a picture of perfection, they lie to their people with propaganda about having to go to war to protect American Freedom when there is no threat of any kind. We need not be an American Colony, so why are we?

Here is my reply: Mahalo for your well stated position on Federal Recognition and the implied juxtaposition for Hawaiian Independence. I believe your statement is very valid. I understand it very well.
I also believe that there are other Hawaiian nationals who have reason for their own to support Federal Recognition as a pathway to pono. Here are some of the arguments on the other side of the question:
1) Federal Recognition is not equivalent to Extinguishment of our International Rights of Hawaii and her citizens/nationals. If you review the earlier expressions of Federal Recognition under the various proposed statutes introduced by Akaka and Inouye, those versions were also clear that the statute would not constitute an extinguishment of the international rights of the people. I kept my eyes on this point while the Akaka bill winded its way through the legislative process. If you see any words of such extinguishment, please point them out to me. Let me also note that the DOI final rules do not limit membership in that Hawaiian nation they speak of NEED NOT BE U.S. CITIZENS! Did you know that?

2) The concept that a colonizer is free to extinguish human rights and fundamental freedoms, as well as international humanitarian and decolonization rights simply by a domestic law or declaration of that colonizer is contrary to the whole principle of international law. That does not stop such colonizers as the United States of America from trying to do so, but it also demands that we remain eleu and step into the fray whenever that attempt is made. (See the International Call for the UN to review the action taken to remove Hawaii from the list of places to be decolonized, as well as the UN General Assembly Resolution we are submitting to specifically achieve that – found at www.hawaiianperspectives.org under United Nations Tab)

3) If you review the document which came out of the Na`i Aupuni congregation in March 2016, you may be interested to note that the Preambular statement was very clear regarding our rights in the international community. It read in part: We reaffirm the National Sovereignty of the Nation. We reserve all rights to Sovereignty and Self-determination, including the pursuit of independence. (See paragraph 2 of Preamble, Constitution of the Native Hawaiian Nation)

It repeats itself in stating: Article 4 – National Right to Self-Determination

The Nation has the right to self-determination, including but not limited to, the right to determine the political status of the Nation and freely pursue economic, social, cultural, and other endeavors.

You can find the proposed Constitution of the Native Hawaiian Nation at www.hawaiianpersepctives.org under documents tab, Hawaiian Sovereignty

4) I agree with your statement, America is not a picture of perfection. Even most who support Federal Recognition agree with that statement. Your declaration that “they lie to their people with propaganda about having to go to war to protect American Freedom where there is no threat of any kind” is merely the beginning of the imperfection of the U.S. government! That list could continue much longer.

5) However, that does not mean that for some people who are so steeped in colonization, will have no temporary or permanent benefit under Federal Recognition. Here are some reasons why others may say they can find some merit in Federal Recognition:

a) This would be greater assurance that the Hawaiian Homestead program will be more firmly protected as opposed to the precarious position it has today as a racially discriminatory program; We can have the protective umbrella of our homesteads while we continue to fight for our independence!
b) The protection over the Ali`i Trusts will be insured by Federal Recognition such that Kamehameha Schools would be able to continue with its policy of native Hawaiian preferences rather than having to go to court and pay off litigants before a final decision is made by the U.S. Supreme Court against the School’s tax status;
c) Other trust such as Lili`uokalani Trust will be protected even more firmly as a not-for-profit organization even though it has a generally preferential treatment to native Hawaiian orphans, half orphans, and Hawaiian communities,
d) Special legislation regarding Native Hawaiian Health and Native Hawaiian Education will be protected if Federal Recognition of the Hawaiian people is passed,
e) Protection of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, and perhaps limiting the people who can seek the office of Trusteeship as well as those who can vote limited to only the po`e Hawaii instead of anyone else in Hawaii, including the opportunity to design a place among native Hawaiians who are not living in Hawaii and those who may declare themselves Hawaiian nationals rather than limited to only U.S. Citizens, as is the present requirement;
f) Establishment and extension of a Native Hawaiian school system without having to face the suits against discrimination;
g) Establishment of a Native Hawaiian national banking system across all of the Hawaiian islands;
h) Development of a Pacific Island consortium of trade, sports, cultural exchange which is limited to Hawaii and other Pacific Islanders to the exclusion of the U.S. government, somewhat of a similar kind as the Kuna people of Panama.
i) Many other possibilities can be achieved under Federal Recognition, limited only to our imagination and willingness to pursue.

6) Federal Recognition need not be an end. It can be a stepping stone to greater international recognition. Study the decolonization path of Vanuatu, previously the New Hebrides, colonized by two colonizers, England and France in what was called a Condominium arrangement. Because of the competing colonial laws which both ruled over the local people, everyone agreed to create a third entity, an internal colonial structure over which the local people could develop their own government over their own affairs, a sort of Colonial (Federal) Recognition. The people went along with that arrangement, formed their government, and subsequently took a vote, one for decolonization. That vote outcome began the process of this colony, New Hebrides to emerge into that beautiful nation of Vanuatu, independent and free.

7) Once a “nation” is recognized by the Feds, whatever colonial limitation is placed over that “nation”, it is more than just a legal structure created by Federal Law. It becomes a political personality whose growth and expansion, when managed properly, can eventually become the next Vanuatu of the Pacific. It can have a political presence in the Pacific Islands Forum, a status in one of the United Nations special categories with standing at its various committees, at the U.N. General Assembly, as a transitional authority or as a liberation organization. Such a political entity need not be limited by Federal Recognition laws but can grow and expand far beyond such limitations. That is the story of empowerment!

I have tried to present another perspective to Federal Recognition. But more important than being posed as a choice between this OR Independence, I suggest the Hawaiian nation and our quest for Pono is broad enough not to be limited by that limiting word of exclusion, “OR’. Hawaiian nationhood is broad enough to be inclusive.

We can move forward, and we should move forward in a broad expression of our human rights and fundamental freedoms. We should move forward under an INCLUSIVE banner of “AND”. We should not be dividing ourselves as one or another side but recognize that we are all struggling for the same goal, Pono in our Hawaiian nation.

Against I recite Abraham Lincoln’s caution: “A Nation Divided Against itself cannot long Stand.” As well as Jonah Kuhiō waring, “Stop acting like the alamihi crab, pulling one another down as we try to get out of the bucket!” Inclusion is the path toward Pono.

A hui hou,

hawaiianperspectives.org
Welcome – Welcome to Hawaiian Perspectives
We apologize for the inconvenience, the website is gradually improving!…
by Categories: BlogTags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Hinterlasse einen Kommentar