Stop Draining and Taking From Hawaiʻi

Hawaiʻi is just an island in the pacific according to Jeff Sessions, but many Kanaka Maoli (“true people” in hawaiian) and Hawaiian people alike would like to see Hawaiʻi become its own country once more.  Similar to how white people stole from Native Americans, they stole from the Native Hawaiians. These haole’s (“without breath” in Hawaiian) came and desecrated their world, they stole their sovereignty. “…the hawaiian people will be made slaves to the United States. Their trampling on and beating and defecating on all the people.” Not only is the land being destroyed for condos, resorts, restaurants and more but the people are being pushed out and blocked from different locations such as beaches and hotels.

“What’s difficult about being from Hawaii is that everyone has a postcard view of your home. Hawaii lives vividly in people’s minds as nothing more than a weeklong vacation – a space of escape, fantasy and paradise. But Hawaii is much more than a tropical destination or a pretty movie backdrop — just as Aloha is way more than a greeting.

The ongoing appropriation and commercialization of all things Hawaiian only makes it clearer as to why it is inappropriate for those with no ties to Hawaii, its language, culture and people to invoke the Hawaiian language. This is uniquely true for aloha – a term that has been bastardized and diminished with its continual use.

Most who invoke the term aloha do not know its true meaning. Aloha actually comes from two Hawaiian words: Alo – which means the front of a person, the part of our bodies that we share and take in people. And Ha, which is our breath. When we are in each other’s presence with the front of our bodies, we are exchanging the breath of life. That’s Aloha.”

 “Tourism is not here to sell haole (white) culture. It is here because we are the native people of this aina (land). It is our culture the tourists come to see. It is our land the tourists come to pollute. Without beautiful Hawaiian women dancing, there would be no tourism. Tourism deforms culture to the point of cultural prostitution. When I say prostitution in this context I refer to the entire institution that defines a woman as an object of degraded and victimized sexual value for use and exchange through the medium of money. Examples in Hawaii are the prostitution of the land and things Hawaiian and the prostitution of women’s roles. Hawaii is itself the female object of degradation. Our aina are no longer the source of food and shelter, but rather the source of money. Land is now called real estate, rather than papa, our word for mother. Beautiful areas, once sacred to my people, are now expensive resorts. Now, even access to beaches and near hotels is strictly regulated or denied to the local people altogether. High schools and hotels funnel teenagers from kitchens to gardens to honeymoon suites in preparation for jobs in the state’s lowest-paid industry. Tourism displaces Hawaiians, and those who work do so at the lowest level…”

 – The Aloha Industry: For Hawaiian women, tourism is not a neutral industry.-Haunani Kay Trask

“When the culture and way of life of a people are all but engulfed by a history beyond their control, their sense of loss may extend down through generations; and their dismay may be shared by many members of the larger community. As the State of Hawai’i attempts to address these realities, it must, as always, seek the political consensus that begins with a sense of shared purpose. One of the necessary beginning points is this principle: The Constitution of the United States, too, has become the heritage of all the citizens of Hawai’i.”

Which can roughly be translated to “Hawaiians need to get over the illegal overthrow and occupation and the near total decimation of their way of life and accept that the u.s. of murica has legal control over their bodies, minds, and spirits. practice one love!” according to Tumblr user bittertofu.