‘Cultural People Have to Become Political’: Seattle Aims to Raise Funds for the Protectors of Mauna Kea

In 1985, professor and author Dr. Haunani-Kay Trask said, “You cannot just dance hula and go to Hawaiian language class at night and think you’re going to get a land base. You can’t do that. Cultural people have to become political. It’s not just political people like me who need to be more cultural. Our culture can’t just be ornamental or recreational. That’s what Waikiki is.”

She continues, “Our culture has to be the core of our existence, the core of our anger, the core of our mana (power). That is what culture is for.” Watch full speech here.

After watching that speech for the hundredth time, the delivery and message struck a deep chord with me. Trask’s words urged me to explore my own identity as a millennial kanaka maoli (Native Hawaiian). What does it really mean to be an indigenious person whose culture comes from a complex and complicated past? And what could I do to support my lāhui (people) thousands of miles away from home, on the ‘mainland’.

A month ago, a friend messaged me a live link on Instagram of a group of kūpuna (elders) being arrested and dragged off into white vans on Mauna Kea. By the end of the day, she texted me an Instagram post of familiar faces — some childhood friends, my college professors, and other prominent Native Hawaiians in the community, tied onto a cattle guard blocking the access road to Mauna Kea.

Suddenly, a wave of emotions washed over me and I immediately started weeping. In that moment, I could physically, mentally, and emotionally share their pain because I knew this was bigger than just a thirty meter telescope being built on Mauna Kea — this was an accumulation of issues that has spanned over generations. And let’s just say, I booked the first one-way flight out to Kona, Hawai‘i that week to join my lāhui on Mauna Kea.

Most of the world doesn’t know the issues facing Hawai‘i — the crushing rising cost of living, increased homelessness, and even more specifically the issues facing the Native Hawaiian populations. 33% of the homeless in Hawai‘i are Native Hawaiian, 40% of the prison population are Native Hawaiians, and only 4% of Native Hawaiians continue to college, with less than 2.5% graduating. I’m not mentioning these stats to depress you, but I want to highlight the direct effects of colonialism to an indigenous population. If you strip away a peoples’ language, culture, land, and identity, you leave them almost powerless.

But that is why the worldwide gathering at Mauna Kea is so special and monumental because you are witnessing the resistance of the Hawaiian people, and you, yes you, could play a role in supporting it.

For those of you in Seattle, we are hosting a grassroots organized #ProtectMaunakea fundraiser on Saturday, Sept. 14th at The Collective Seattle. E komo mai (come in) help raise funds to cover the legal fees of the kiaʻi (protectors) who are fighting battles on the mountain but also in the courts. The event is ‘ohana (family)-friendly and centered as a place of learning, education, and a showcase of cultural practices.

Stand in solidarity with us in our movement to protect the sacred. Support Mauna Kea. Kū Kiaʻi Mauna!

“Our story remains unwritten. It rests within the culture, which is inseparable from the land. To know this is to know our history. To write this is to write of the land and the people who are born from her.”

— Haunani-Kay Trask, From A Native Daughter