Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 29, Number 3, 1 March 2012 — Let's save ourselves [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Let's save ourselves

By Kapulani Anīonio woke up this morning with a bad feeling in my na'au. It's the 17th of January, 2012. More than a century ago, our kingdom was overthrown. I wondered, as a lāhui, what have we done since then? We've survived. We've heeome more educated about our history. We've made stronger eonnections to our culture. We've heeome more vocal in asserting and defending our rights. As a result, our pride as Hawaiians has soared. Maika'i nō, but we are still not flourishing. We are still the most represented in prisons, still the least educated, still dying of diabetes, still affected by drug addiction and domestic violence. What will it take to remedy these problems? Some say the answer is independence. If we ean eall the shots politically, all our troubles will be over. I used to be an enthusiastic advocate for independence. I recognized that the injustice done to our Queen and people needed to be made right. With nationhood, we'd eall the shots. We'd be in charge, but how would we defend ourselves from invading countries? What would our government structure be? How would we sustain ourselves economically? The list of questions was long, but in those early days of the sovereignty movement, my likeminded activist friends and I managed to find answers that were satisfying. We'd follow our dream. As sovereignty heeame a more familiar concept, Hawaiians heeame empowered. We had a vision. We gathered at 'Iolani Palaee in '93 for the 100th-year

observance of the overthrow. I will never forget how united we were by the words of Haunani-Kay Trask. How proud we stood filling the palaee grounds to capacity. How purposeful we felt holding our signs of resistance. How cultural we seemed, in our chants and protocol. How territorial our men were when two Caucasian instigators marched by displaying their American flag. How elated we were when passersby honked their horns in support. There we were, thousands of po'e kānaka, moved to heal our broken nation. On that perfect day, we were one. As time went on, we fractured. Independence heeame too scary an option for some. The nation-within-a-nation model was more palatable to most. Infighting, bickering, mistrust and other forms of ugliness added to our plight. Today, some push for the Akaka bill while others push just as hard for independence. All this pushing but still no movement. I'm tired of waiting for independence, for Akaka, for the next Kamehameha, for the movement to get going again. Let's not wait. We have the power to do for ourselves now. Let's teach our kids that education is vital because we need Hawaiians leading every field and every profession. Let's learn to be self-sufficient again by growing whatever we ean, on even the smallest patch of dirt. Let's mālama the oeean and work on increasing our fish population. Let's start a political party; create a huge voting bloc. Because we kū'ē the current system, we've been trying to instigate change from the margins of society, refusing to be a part of it. Why not be a part and make change from the inside? E nā Hawai'i, we ean run Hawai'i now if we wanted to. We spend so mueh time resisting the idea that we were taken over by America, but while

we're in it why not use the political system to our advantage? And, if nationhood really is something we are serious about achieving then eaeh and every one of us should be making moves to get us there. We need to value education, get healthy, stay out of jail and take care of our homeland. In doing so, we strengthen ourselves and the lāhui. We are not helpless victims. Let's turn our beloved flag right-side up again, because although our nation may still be in distress, no one is coming to save us. The time has eome for us to save ourselves. ■ Kapulani Antonio, a \ongtime educator in Hawaiian Studies, teaches Hawaiian history at Kamehameha Schools-Maui. The views expressed in this Community Forum are those ofthe autlior and do not necessariīy reflect the views ofthe Office of Hawaiian Affairs.

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