Like other local haoles and, I think, Hawai'i residents generally, I welcomed the advent of statehood in 1959. At last we were part of the Union! Old Glory had a star for us, we could select our own governor, have our own U.S. senators and representatives and vote for president. I did hear that Hawaiian elders were grumbling, but they seemed to me to be out of touch with reality.
It took the Kalama Valley struggle in 1970 to wake me up. Hawaiian activists were occupying a pig farm to prevent its relocation for a subdivision. Mary Choy and I decided to drive out to the farm to volunteer our help. We were stopped at the gate, and I was told to go away and work with my own people. Mary was told that she could enter. Whoa! This wasn't the Hawai'i I knew!
Then in 1982, I took part in an access of several days to Kaho'olawe, where I met and had heart-to-heart talks with many Kaho'olawe 'Ohana members. Consulting my notes, I find these included the founder and leader of the 'Ohana, Dr. Emmet Aluli, and also Uncle Harry Mitchell, Uncle Les Kululoio, Colette Machado, Aunty Edith Murakami, Jimmy Manago, Yuklin Aluli and Mililani Trask.
In the evenings, we would gather for talks, mana'o and music. I remember one of the speakers, Rick Warshauer, a botanist with the University of Hawai'i, who discussed the possibility of introducing specific plants into deep fissures and gullies in the hardpan. Good soil washes down these gullies to the sea, and such plants would entrap the soil like a dam, growing bigger as soil accumulated above it, permitting seeds in the soil to germinate, gradually restoring the island's flora.
Looking back, I think that the music sessions were the most affecting for me in my Kaho'olawe experience. Keli'i Ioane sang "Mr. Hawaiian, Where Are You?" and "Don't be Afraid, Haole Boy," and I still can recall some of the lyrics. Kaliko Kanaele and Nahoa Lucas sang in Hawaiian — some were movement songs and some were old songs in praise of place. Kanaele had a baritone voice so unaffected that it came forth almost conversationally. Lucas, a younger man, was a tenor more inclined to belt (out) his songs with joie-de-vivre. I did not return from Kaho'olawe the same fellow who had sailed there a few days before.
On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the illegal overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawai'i, the Congress of the United States apologized for the overthrow. The Hawaiian people and their friends aren't sure what to do now. Maybe we can learn from the Singing Revolution in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania that helped to bring down the Soviet Union a while back. The beautiful songs of our last sovereign, Queen Lili'uokalani, are now available. We could sing them together as one big community every Sunday afternoon sitting on the grass at 'Iolani Palace — and see what happens.
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