#free hawaii
MyModernMet.com - May 17, 2022
For those looking to Hawai’i for a tropical getaway, Native Hawaiian Lily Hi'ilani Okimura has a message: please don’t come. Okimura regularly posts content about the issues affecting Pacific Islanders, and one recurring topic is tourism. The islands of Hawai’i have long been tourist destinations; in 2019, a record 10.4 million people visited the islands. This decreased during the first year of the pandemic, but in 2021 the crowds returned—even though tourists were asked to vacation elsewhere.
Tourism has proven harmful to Native Hawaiians. “A lot of tourists treat our land like it’s some theme park,” Okimura explains. “They will ignore warning signs, fenced-off areas, and ‘no trespassing’ signs, which can cause damage to our environment like erosion, vandalism, and pollution.” This includes approaching endangered animals when it is strictly off-limits. “For example, tourists will try to go near and touch monk seals and turtles at the beach, despite having MULTIPLE signs at our beaches warning people that these are endangered species and touching them will result in them paying a fine.”
“When people say they should be able to visit Hawai'i because ‘it’s part of the United States,’ I tell them they’re missing the point. Sure, you have the ‘right’ to travel wherever you want, but does that make it right?” Okimura continues. “Especially if the Indigenous people and other residents are asking visitors not to come due to a worldwide pandemic, our limited resources, and because our tourism industry exploits our people and culture. What does that say about you to disregard all of this because ‘What about my vacation?’”
Tourism Doesn’t Benefit Most Native Hawaiians.
Those who do work in the industry are overworked and underpaid. A majority (51%) of those experiencing homelessness on the islands are natives. Instead, tourism benefits large corporations and developers that are, by and large, not from Hawai’i.
If tourists are determined to visit Hawai’i, Okimura offers some ways to minimize the harm. One way is to avoid giving money to the hotel industry and Airbnbs, which non-residents mostly own. It’s best to stay with someone they know who already lives there. Another way is to experience Hawai’i beyond the typical touristy activities. Learn some of ōlelo Hawai'i (the Hawaiian language), and be sure to buy from locally-owned restaurants and businesses, particularly Native Hawaiian-owned. And finally, visitors should leave things as they found them. Pick up trash and don’t take anything from the environment like sand or rocks.
“Native Hawaiians have a deep connection to the ʻāina, the land,” Okimura shares. “We consider ourselves stewards of the land, and it is our kuleana, our responsibility, to take care of it, because in return, it takes care of us.”
Waikiki was like a ghost town in the middle of 2020. Instead of sunburned bodies sardined on the Hawaiian beach or the high-pitched squeals from tourists as their feet touched the warm ocean, there was just the sound of the wind and waves crashing on the shore.
For Starr Kalahiki, Native Hawaiian jazz singer and activist, those early quarantine days fostered healing—for both the land and the locals. “The response was immediate. The land was so, so happy,” she says from her blue-walled bedroom in Moanalua, about 10 miles northwest of Honolulu’s famous beach. “In Waikiki, you could smell the lipoa, you could smell the seaweed. You didn’t smell suntan lotion.”
Two hundred miles away, on Hawai’i Island, photographer Kapulei Flores felt the same: “It was so nice to be able to go to the beach and not have to worry about if it’s gonna be crowded. Just being able to freely walk around your own community, your own ’āina, was the best part.”
But for others, the change felt apocalyptic. Airports had no traffic; neither did the freeways. Streets weren’t flooded with people, hotels and restaurants were desolate. With tourism as the state’s biggest industry, Covid threw Hawai’i for a loop—and the islands already struggle with the effects of visitors.
A 1973 Seattle Daily Times article proclaimed the 50th state an ideal travel spot for Washingtonians: “Hawai’i is a destination that has just about everything for the vacationer, from the high-rise finery of bustling Waikiki to the quiet scenery of the neighborhood islands.”
In 2019, Hawai’i had a record year, bringing in 10.4 million tourists from around the globe—two million of those from Washington. Pre-pandemic, 170,000, on average, left Sea-Tac Airport for the islands every month. But when Covid hit, Hawai’i governor David Ige proclaimed a 14-day quarantine for all incoming travelers. The slightest violation of his restrictions would be met with a pricey fine or up to a year in prison.
For those first 10 months of 2020, total visitor arrivals in Hawai’i dropped 75 percent, from 30,000 to less than 1,000 per day. Travel from Washington to the islands declined only 35 percent to about 730,000 for the entirety of the year.
Though the pause in travel kept Hawai’i as one of the lowest Covid-infected states in the U.S., its unemployment skyrocketed, going from two percent to 20: “We went from the lowest unemployment to the highest in the whole United States in one month,” says Jerry Agrusa, travel industry management professor at the University of Hawai’i.
Then quarantine exceptions expanded, allowing visitors to bypass it with a negative test. The pre-travel testing program led to the highest number of visitors since before Covid in just the first month, and nearly half of those travelers flew out of Sea-Tac.
By the time 2021 came around, talk of a “hot-vaxxed summer” lingered in the air. Although Seattle logged record-breaking temperatures in June, nothing stopped Washingtonians from trading Golden Gardens for the North Shore.
Yet visitors cheated isolation requirements, ignored mask mandates, and even falsified vaccination cards—one forger was arrested with a fake card that read “Maderna” instead of Moderna. As delta spiked, the state saw some of the highest case numbers they’d seen all pandemic and Ige pleaded, “Now is not a good time to travel to Hawai’i.”
Covid cases and hospitalizations can be tallied and the number of tourists that entered each island can be counted, but it’s harder to determine a diminishing land. “How do you quantify ’āina that is eroding because there’s too many hikers?” says O’ahu singer Pōmaika’i Keawe. At Diamond Head State Park near Honolulu, a park coordinator counted more than 500 people on the trail one day last summer, despite Hawai’i’s social distancing measures.
In 2020, Hawai’i Tourism Authority tried to remedy the tourist problem, announcing a six-year plan that consists of reservation requirements for state parks, conservation fees, and even educational videos that spread cultural and environmental awareness. The plan hopes to change the stigma surrounding tourism and challenge visitors, giving them a more authentic experience. Agrusa thinks the real problem is there are just too many tourists.
Tourism has never been a black-and-white issue for Hawai’i. For many, the hospitality industry is their main source of income and is the main driving force for the state economy. But its effects are complicated. “Everyone equates Hawai’i with tourism,” says Agrusa, “but our real problem is housing.”
It started with short-term vacation rentals. During the 1980s, O’ahu was littered with STRs. Visitors intruded residential neighborhoods and by 1989, the island made them illegal. But in 2019, there were still an estimated 33,118 STRs statewide, and they contributed to the shortage of affordable full-time rental homes.
Some renters in Hawai’i spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing costs. Home value and property taxes continue to rise, pricing out many local residents who already struggle to stay in their homes. Still, out-of-state investors continue to buy up houses, condos, and apartments, especially in Waikiki. “We’re being uprooted for corporate foreign entities and companies who do not care about the land or the people or the effects,” says photographer Kapulei Flores.
Struggles over land are nothing new in Hawai’i, nor are how they intersect with its tourism. Mauna Kea, the globe’s largest mountain, is a premier site for astronomical observatories—and a popular visitor attraction. It is home to more telescopes than any other peak. When plans for another observatory were announced, Native Hawaiians protested the additional intrusion on a sacred space. Kia’i mauna, mountain protectors, have been protesting the installation since 2014. “We are doing our best to preserve what
we can so you can continue to come back,” says Keawe. “But you’re not going to have the same Hawai’i to come back to if you’re not helping us care for this place, and learn who we are, and why these places are important to us.”
In late 2021, locals in the state’s biggest city were dealt another blow. As tourists worried about restaurants being open for indoor dining, 93,000 people couldn’t even drink their own water—it was laced with petroleum from the nearby Navy fuel farm on O’ahu. This isn’t the first occurrence either. Since its creation in the 1940s, the well has leaked 180,000 gallons of gasoline into Hawai’i’s drinking water.
As mask mandates fell across the country, Hawai’i has remained the sole holdout with a statewide rule ending March 25. Two years into the pandemic, singer and activist Starr Kalahiki still has hope for a change in how outsiders affect life in Hawai’i; she imagines a world for both outsiders and Natives.
“What I wish is that it would be understood how sacred this place is and that it would be honored as such,” Kalahiki says, crying. “I don’t blame the world for not knowing how Hawai’i should be seen. I want to share the beauty of this place with the world, but in a safe way.”
More than Platitudes…
Recent actions at the State of Hawaii Legislature indicate a positive shift in the lawmakers’ willingness to address some important issues that matter to the Hawaiian nation.
The legislature recently passed some significant legislation acknowledging the Stateʻs wrong doing and malfeasance in its handling of its trust obligations to Hawaiians and the mismanagement of the assets of the Hawaiian nation.
We’ve heard platitudes, admissions and apologies before, but this time the state appears to be “putting its money where its mouth is.” Of course the money is the stateʻs attempt to buy its way out of a sticky situation. But nevertheless, money is the medium and measure used by the occupier to indicate its level of “concern”… Hopefully, this time the funds will produce real action, with real lands being put into Hawaiiansʻ hands, and real changes in attitudes and policies toward Hawaiians.
• The legislature budgeted nearly a billion dollars to begin fixing the 60-years of the Stateʻs criminal mismanagement of its Hawaiian Home Lands trust obligations. That consists of $600 million to actually place Hawaiians on their lands, and $328 million as a settlement in restitution to those who were left dangling (and dying) for decades on the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL) waiting list.
• The state is increasing its annual payments to operate the Office of Hawaiian Affairs from $15.1 million to $21.5 million (and an additional lump sum of $64 million for shortchanging OHA over the past 10 years), This moves the state a little closer, but still very short of its constitutionally mandated 20% (now calculated at $80 million a year) of the revenues from “Crown Lands” held in trust by the state.
Even seemingly minor legislation are significant indicators of the state’s new-found willingness to address (or placate) Hawaiian’s concerns. Here are a few examples:
• The state legislature designated that from now on, every July 31st, the first Hawaiian Kingdom holiday, Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea (Sovereignty Restoration Day) shall be a special day of observance in the State of Hawaii… Included in the legislation are directives to educate the general public about the significance of Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea.
• The state legislature issued an apology to the Hawaiian people for the 90-year ban of the Hawaiian Language from Hawaii public schools and public use, causing near extinction and immeasurable damage to ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi in the Hawaiian Islands.
• The legislature is requesting the US Postal Service to change the name of the Captain Cook post office to the original place name, Kaʻawaloa.
• The state legislature adopted a resolution to request the DLNR to change the name of the Russian Fort Elizabeth on Kauai to the original place name of Pāʻulaʻula.
• Although insider politics caused the legislature to drop the ball regarding changing the name of McKinley High School, overwhelming and irrefutable testimonies favoring the change are on the record of the legislative hearings.
• The state legislature appropriated $500,000 to continue restoration efforts of Kahoʻolawe through the fiscal year, 2022-2023.
• The state legislature passed a propodal to create a new commission for the administration and management of Mauna Kea. While this is clearly a move to continue the state’s support to build the thirty-meter telescope, it is clearly the state’s acknowledgement that they are stymied by the kūʻē of Kū Kiaʻi Mauna, Kapu Aloha and Aloha ʻĀina.
These recent actions has the Fake State of Hawaii ironically validating our national interests and adding to the momentum to Free Hawaii.
——
SIGN THIS PETITION…
Rename McKinley High School and remove the McKinley statue! He was the president who turned Hawaii from a peaceful, neutral country into a major hub of America’s war machine. Sign this online petition NOW! Tell everyone you know to sign it too! TinyURL.com/AlohaOeMcKinley
PLEASE KŌKUA…
Your kōkua, large or small, is vital to this effort…
To contribute, go to:
• GoFundMe – CAMPAIGN TO FREE HAWAII
• PayPal – use account email: [email protected]
• Other – To contribute in other ways (airline miles, travel vouchers, volunteer services, etc…) email us at: [email protected]
“FREE HAWAII” T-SHIRTS - etc.
Check out the great FREE HAWAII products you can purchase at…
http://www.robkajiwara.com/store/c8/free_hawaii_products
All proceeds are used to help the cause. MAHALO!
Malama Pono,
Leon Siu
Hawaiian National
Hawaii News Now - May 13, 2022
Six months after the Navy’s tainted water crisis went public, the state has released new maps showing the underground movement of the contamination.
For the first time, the public is seeing Department of Health maps of the plume of petroleum contamination based on Navy data. It shows the plume before last year’s fuel spills, during the height of the last year’s spill and what it looks like today.
“I was shocked, speechless just to see the extent of the contamination and how severe it was was really quite startling,” said Marti Townsend, former director of the Sierra Club of Hawaii.
“The contamination in the water supply existed before November 2021, it endures now and while the intensity has decreased, it’s clear that the plume is spreading towards the west,” she added.
During a Fuel Tank Advisory Committee convened by the state Department of Health, Board of Water Supply Manager and Chief Engineer Ernie Lau said he found the maps “disturbing and concerning.”
“Generally, what I see from those is that there appears to be a westerly movement of the contaminant plume looking like it’s going to move across Halawa Valley Road, is that correct,” asked Lau.
“The data as mapped certainly indicates, especially monitoring well 12, the one outside of Red Hill Navy property, is essentially our sentinel well now and it has shown the effects that you were saying,” said Fenix Grange, who is with the Health Department’s Hazard Evaluation and Emergency Response.
The agency says the plume at the moment seems to be stable and contracting. The polluted area is no longer feeding any water system. The Navy says after flushing and filtering, it’s water is safe to drink.
“As part of 1,600 samples that we’ve taken a part of the water distribution system, none of them have had indications of JP-5 contamination within the water,” said Capt. James “Gordie” Meyer, commanding officer of NAVFAC Hawaii.
Many in the community are still upset.
“The military poisoned our water, poisoned our children and then lied about it,” said one woman, who testified at the public meeting.
There’s also frustration that the Navy refuses to release its initial internal investigation.
“I want the report from January since that one’s already been written and I don’t really care that it’s only preliminary,” said Dr. Melanie Lau, member of the Hawaii Water Advisory Committee.
The Navy had no timeline for when it will drain the fuel and shut down the Red Hill tanks.
“I don’t expect them to be measured in multiple or several years for each of those steps, but I can’t commit to a timeline now,” said Meyer.
READ THE ENTIRE STORY HERE-https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-05-12/native-hawaiians-fighting-for-culture-language-and-land/101051550
The 150th Kamehameha Day…
The state of Hawaii legislature recently passed a resolution recognizing Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea (Sovereignty Restoration Day) as a significant event and holiday of the Hawaiian Kingdom. News reports said it was the first Hawaiian Kingdom holiday acknowledged by the legislature. It is not. That holiday is Kamehameha Day.
In fact, today, June 11, marks the 150th Anniversary of the celebration of Kamehameha Day, an official holiday of the Hawaiian Kingdom that continues to be earnestly celebrated by none other than the State of Hawaii. How cool is that? And how ironic!
The State of Hawaiiʻs primary argument against Hawaiians who assert that they are Hawaiian Kingdom subjects (or nationals) — living in the jurisdiction of the Hawaiian Kingdom, not the jurisdiction of State of Hawaii — is that the Hawaiian Kingdom no longer exists.
Yet every year (except for the covid years), the Stateʻs Kamehameha Day Celebration Commission mounts an all-out celebration of Kamehameha the Great, the founder of the Kingdom that the State claims ʻno longer existsʻ… but yet admits (through the U.S. 1993 Apology and in many of its own legislation) that in essence the Kingdomʻs sovereignty was never relinquished or extinguished. The celebration of Kamehameha Day is evidence that the Hawaiian Kingdom is alive!
On the other hand, where is the “Statehood” celebration? The State has not held a celebration in over 12 years! Yes, there is an official “Admissions Day” holiday in August, but there is no commission or committee designated to plan events, no parades, no gatherings, no parties, no speeches… nothing. It appears the State is ashamed and would rather not make a big deal about its birthday.
The tide has turned. Public doubt is growing regarding the legitimacy of the State of Hawaii… even within the ranks of state legislators and officials. More people turn out for Hawaiian actions and events than for anything else. Interest and support is growing and the nation is rising.
Two generations grew up reconnecting to their language and culture and learning about the great nation founded by Kamehameha, a nation nurtured into an amazing, progressive Kingdom by his successors and our kūpuna. We now have two generations who grew up hearing the truth of what happened to our sovereign nation and learning the profound way of kapu aloha to make things pono for the future… a Free Hawaii…
——
For the latest news and developments about our progress at the United Nations in both New York and Geneva, tune in to Free Hawaii News at
6 PM the first Friday of each month on ʻŌlelo Television, Channel 53.
Ua mau ke ea o ka ʻāina i ka pono. The sovereignty (life) of the land is perpetuated in righteousness.
——
SIGN THIS PETITION…
Rename McKinley High School and remove the McKinley statue! He was the president who turned Hawaii from a peaceful, neutral country into a major hub of America’s war machine. Sign this online petition NOW! Tell everyone you know to sign it too! TinyURL.com/AlohaOeMcKinley
PLEASE KŌKUA…
Your kōkua, large or small, is vital to this effort…
To contribute, go to:
• GoFundMe – CAMPAIGN TO FREE HAWAII
• PayPal – use account email: [email protected]
• Other – To contribute in other ways (airline miles, travel vouchers, volunteer services, etc…) email us at: [email protected]
“FREE HAWAII” T-SHIRTS - etc.
Check out the great FREE HAWAII products you can purchase at…
http://www.robkajiwara.com/store/c8/free_hawaii_products
All proceeds are used to help the cause. MAHALO!
Malama Pono,
Leon Siu
Hawaiian National
The Oracle billionaire is making his Hawaiian island more hospitable to the super-rich and pushing out families that have been there for generations.
Honolulu Star-Advertiser - June 9, 2022
It’s been over a decade since hundreds of Native Hawaiian burials were unearthed during a construction project at Kawaiaha‘o Church, setting off a storm of controversy and legal dispute that went all the way to the Hawaii Supreme Court.
On Wednesday the fate of those skeletal remains was finally determined by the Oahu Island Burial Council, which approved a plan to allow interment of iwi kupuna as close as possible to their original burial places at Honolulu’s oldest church.
When the council approved the Kawaiaha‘o Joint Burial Treatment Plan on a 5-0 vote, the crowd filling the state Department of Land and Natural Resources board room broke into applause. Afterward, hugs and tears were seen in the breezeway outside the board room.
“Indescribable joy and relief” is how Edward Halealoha Ayau described his feelings. Ayau is a burial and iwi kupuna repatriation expert who has been helping to work toward a resolution of the dispute for years.
“It took so long,” he said.
Following the vote, the descendants walked down Punchbowl Street to the historic church, where they prayed with Kahu Kenneth Makuakane and then paid their respects to the remains of their ancestors, which have been stored in the Mark A. Robinson Chapel beneath the main sanctuary since the bones were unearthed more than 10 years ago.
Among the descendants were council members Mana Caceres of Ewa and Diane Fitzsimmons of Waialua, each of whom recused themselves from Wednesday’s vote and then excused themselves from the rest of the meeting to join the procession to Kawaiaha‘o. Council member Brickwood Galuteria, a member of the Kawaiaha‘o congregation, also recused himself from the vote.
The approved burial plan, jointly written and supported by the church and the majority of recognized descendants, affects the remains of more than 600 individuals.
“The hard work starts now,” Suzanne Boatman, chairwoman of the Kawaiaha‘o board of trustees, said outside of the church.
“It’s about meeting their needs,” she added, pointing to the 18 or so descendants inside the sanctuary. There are 84 living recognized descendants.
There are also government permits needed to get the reinterment going and several lawsuits that require resolution, she said.
In his debut feature film, Christopher Kahunahana intertwines modern Hawaiian culture with the historical generational ills of native people living in a post-colonial economy.
“We want to change the conversation that people have surrounding Hawaii. The tourist industry has marketed, spent billions and billions of dollars exploiting and marketing Hawaii as a paradise for people to come… [Native Hawaiians] are supposed to host and entertain guests,” Kahunahana told ABC News.
“It has displaced Hawaiians, so without Hawaiians, what is Hawaii but just beautiful beaches and sunsets?” he added.
“Waikiki,” the first narrative feature written and directed by a native Hawaiian, debuted at the Urban World Film Festival in 2020. Kahunahana said the film is about reclaiming the Hawaiian narrative during an ongoing history of exploitation.
“In order to market Hawaii as a tourist destination, [non-native filmmakers of the past] had to remove the culture and overlay images of sexualization of women and our culture and exoticize us and ‘other’ us,” said Kahunahana.
“As a Kanaka Maoli, Hawaii is our home. My ancestors’ bones are here,” he added.
Kanaka Maoli means a “real or true person” of Hawaii. Kahunahana said that language matters, or as Hawaiians say “ʻŌlelo” matters, like thinking critically about using terms like “mainland” for the United States.
“That makes us a colony,” said Kahunahana. “I mean something as simple as that will change people’s understanding of relationships here and I think that’s a good place to start.”
He added that oftentimes non-Hawaiian filmmakers will change the meaning of traditional Hawaiian words.
“For instance, they say, ‘Ohana means nobody gets left behind,’ which is not true,” said Kahunahana. “And so once they’re able to change your language, and make people believe your language is something that it’s not, I think that’s kind of one of the final straws.”
Through his work, Kahunahana is changing the cinematic landscape with more authentic storytelling about Hawaii. For starters, he stresses the importance of addressing the current mental health, domestic abuse and homelessness issues within the community, which he said is often deliberately hidden.
Although organizations like the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and the Department of Hawaiian Homelands have made it a mandate to provide land to Native Hawaiians, Kahunahana said the program is chronically underfunded.
“There’s a generation of people still waiting for land allotments. People have to understand that it’s systematic and it is created to keep Hawaiians from creating intergenerational wealth,” said Kahunahana, who added that without land, people struggle to take out loans to send their children to college. “They need people to work at the hotel as a busboy, waiter or entertainer.”
Land displacement, pollution and suppression of Native Hawaiian voices are motifs often threaded throughout Kahunahana’s work. As a personal example, Kahunahana points to the ongoing movement in Haleakala and Mauna Kea where, during post-production of Waikiki, he volunteered his time to advocate the protection of natural Hawaiian land.
He was a member of a team that traveled to Mauna Kea, the tallest peak in the Pacific and occupied the land to protest the state government, engineers and research universities who plan to construct the Thirty Meter Telescope on the mountain, which is a sacred site to Native Hawaiian people. At one demonstration, several protesters were initially arrested, which spurred further outrage.The film’s release was delayed while Kahunahana camped on the mountain for nearly six months.
“It was very emotional and it kind of gave context as to why as a Kanaka Maoli filmmaker we do what we do,” said Kahunahana. “Waikiki deals with some of those issues, but Mauna Kea was the issue in the present tense and it required all of our support, so I was happy to contribute to that.”
According to a press release from the Thirty Meter Telescope project, the project is currently engaged in “meaningful dialogue with Native Hawaiians.” The project also launched a few educational initiatives, including The Hawaii Island New Knowledge (THINK) Fund in 2014 to better prepare Hawaii Island students for careers in STEM.
In May, the Hawaii state legislature passed House Bill 2024 in an effort to establish an 11-member board called the Mauna Kea Stewardship and Oversight Authority that would oversee the management and human activity of the project on Mauna Kea. The board would include Native Hawaiians, educators, the mayor of Hawaii County among others, according to the bill.
The bill is currently under review by the governor.
Kahunahana said it’s not enough. He said it disregards the importance of the purpose behind the land for native people.
“When you change the [mountain], which has value in our culture as a relative or references to our creation myths or our ancestors, you take those away. The place becomes empty,” said Kahunahana.
Over the past two decades, Kahunahana has been recognized for numerous awards for his writing, filmmaking and art that often puts Native Hawaiians as the subject.
“Film is fun, but film also has the opportunity to say something,” he said. “If you feel something, I think you have some responsibility to say something.”
In October 2021, Kahunahana was tapped to join a panel of AANHPI industry leaders, including Daniel Dae Kim and Jon M. Chu, to award the Future Gold Film Fellowship, aimed at uplifting other AANHPI storytellers. He also attended the Gold Gala hosted by Gold House, an AAPNHI-led community to promote creatives, that celebrated the 100 most influential Asian American and Pacific Islanders in the entertainment and tech industries.
He said he was honored to be given the ability to give visibility, not only to the people of Hawaii, but to the AANHPI community as a whole.
“I felt blessed to experience the joy and to celebrate the accomplishments of the Asian American community,” he said. “I think it not only brings light to and celebrates our similarities, but it also highlights our differences and to have our differences supported and highlighted in that way.
Stop Playing the Victim…
Steven Biko, the great South African writer and activist said: “The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed.” How true! If we keep thinking of ourselves as oppressed victims, we remain oppressed victims. If we think of the United States is the boss, we bind ourselves to being subservient and perpetuate the oppression.
On the other hand, if we think and act as a free people, then we are a free people… and whatever constraints imposed by the U.S. and the Fake State are merely temporary obstacles… obstacles that we can overcome.
Our country is not going to be “given back” to us. It never went anywhere. It’s still here! Yes, the intruder has really messed things up, but we can fix it and rebuild it into a country that reflects the best of who we are as a people, and a unique culture in a global community.
The time of thinking of ourselves as a nation in distress has passed. We are a nation on the rise! And the more we assert it, not in a prideful way, but rooted and confident in Aloha ʻĀina and Kapu Aloha, the sooner our nation will be restored.
In fact, have you noticed the progress weʻre making? Recently the State of Hawaii has been making numerous concessions and even siding with us on key issues… like demanding the US Navy close its giant fuel storage facility at Kapūkakī (Red Hill); proposing a new, collaborative management system for Mauna Kea; appropriating a billion dollars to begin making up for a hundred years of criminal negligence of the Hawaiian Home Lands trust… Even smaller things like — renaming part of Waimanalo Beach Park to Hūnānāniho; renaming a Kona post office Kaʻawaloa instead of Captain Cook; renaming Central Middle School to Princess Ruth Ke’elikōlani Middle School; recognizing Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea (Sovereignty Restoration Day) as a significant event and holiday of the Hawaiian Kingdom — not to mention the numerous celebrations and kūʻe actions by thousands of people … all serving to remind us that the Lāhui is growing!
Yes, there have been many egregious wrongs committed against us, but we need to focus on making things pono for the future. Thatʻs how we will Free Hawaii…
For the latest news and developments about our progress at the United Nations in both New York and Geneva, tune in to Free Hawaii News at 6 PM the first Friday of every month on `Ōlelo Television, Channel 53.
Ua mau ke ea o ka ʻāina i ka pono. The sovereignty (life) of the land is perpetuated in righteousness.
——
SIGN THIS PETITION…
Rename McKinley High School and remove the McKinley statue! He was the president who turned Hawaii from a peaceful, neutral country into a major hub of America’s war machine. Sign this online petition NOW! Tell everyone you know to sign it too! TinyURL.com/AlohaOeMcKinley
PLEASE KŌKUA…
Your kōkua, large or small, is vital to this effort…
To contribute, go to:
• GoFundMe – CAMPAIGN TO FREE HAWAII
• PayPal – use account email: [email protected]
• Other – To contribute in other ways (airline miles, travel vouchers, volunteer services, etc…) email us at: [email protected]
“FREE HAWAII” T-SHIRTS - etc.
Check out the great FREE HAWAII products you can purchase at…
http://www.robkajiwara.com/store/c8/free_hawaii_products
All proceeds are used to help the cause. MAHALO!
Malama Pono,
Leon Siu
Hawaiian National
