Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 3, Number 9, 1 September 1986 — He Mau Ninau Ola [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]
He Mau Ninau Ola
J ' . :. ....: • ■ ■■■ ■ .. • ' ' * - - .- . Some Health Questions by Kekuni Blai$dell, M.D.
Ninau: E kauka, I have just read E Ola Mau, the Hawaiian Health Needs Study Report of December, 1985. I am dismayed to see that you and others exhort us Hawanans to return to old-time Hawaiian religion, with belief in 'au makua and mana, and use of Hawaiian language, as "essential to restoringand
maintaining our culture, and thus, our health." Shame on you. As Americans and Christians, we Hawanans need to look torward into the 21st century and not back ward to the 18th century, if we are to survive as a people. Pane: Your views are widely heid and may even prevail in our current, haoie-dominated society Similar views motivated the missionaries beginning in 1820, the Kamehameha Schools founded in 1887, and Amenean annexationists aided by the U.S. Navy who, m 1893, ended native Hawaiian rule and took our lands.
The result has been further deHawaiianization of Hawai'i and us po'e Hawai'i, and our having the worst health profile of all ethnic groups īn our homeland. We a!so fare poorly in the schools, in eeonomie indices and in crime statistics. Thus, ill-health is on!y one of several wounds that we bear as a conquered indigenous people. Some, perhaps you also, would say that most of us po'e Hawai'i have "failed" to adapt to the Amenean eeonomie, social, poiitical and educational system, unlike many Asian immigrants. Yet, too many of us po'e Hawai'i have heartily embraced some harmful western ways, such as "junk food" with too mueh fat, sodium and sugar, inadequate dietary fibre; tobacco, aleohol and other ehemieal addictions; laek of physical fitness; and malcoping with ko'i-ko'i (stress).
Further, the modern western heahh care system imposed on us has ignored our plight. What ean and should be do about this pilikianui? E Ola Mau, a new organization of concerned native Hawaiian health professionals with the same name as the Hawaiian health report, has suggested that three main options lie before us: 1. We continue to neglect our needs as ka lahui Hawai'i (Hawaiian nahon), by accepting assimilation into, and subjugation by, the mainstream of non-Hawaiian American society. This means that our identity as a race, our culture and our lan-
guage will completely disappear, with perhaps only remnants of phoney Hawaiianism for the commercial amusement of gullible tourists.
2. We resist extinction as a people by revitalizing our mea pono Hawai'i (culture) a me olelo makuahine (mother tongue) Through our restored seifesteem, coping skills and support systems, we ean then reassert our native Hawanan rights for selfdetermination, eeonomie self-sufficiency, regam ?ng our land base and other natural resources for pursuit of meanmgfui hves and thus, improved health. 3. We engage the kako'o (support) of non-po'e Hawai'i as wel! as our own, such as you, īn the histoncal, mora! and iegal rightness of our cause. For we recognize that we are a feeble mmority in our native land, unsophisticated in modern management techniques, and without kala (money) īn a kala-controlled society.
Yet, in the face of the grim status of our lahui, we retain some strengths. We have not oniy survived in spite of predictions that we are a dying race. we now have the highest birth rate and we are the fastest growing racial group m Hawai'i nei. We have kept our spirituality with reverance for ail of nature and especially our aloha 'aina, rather than exp!oiting our natural resources for material goods and waste. We prefer group affiliation and sharing over competitive profitmaking and domination of others. We desrre a lit'estyle
close to the land and sea, as opposed to fast-car freeways and highrise condominia. And some of our 'opio (young people) are discovering the joy of learning from the few remaining kupuna the wisdom of mele (chants), hula, holowa'a (canoeing), lawai'a (fishing), 'oihana mahi'ai (planting), and lapa'au (Hawaiian medicine). Even some non-po'e Hawai'i admire us for these values, holding that "spintualism is the highest form of political consciousness." As the 21st century nears, such values "may hold the key to the reversal of western civilization with its propiises of unimaginable suffering and destruction."
Perhaps eaeh person who considers himself "Hawaiian" should think about what this term means to him Does it, or should it, necessarily mean being Amenean and Christian. Does it, or should it, necessarily mean abandoning our 'aumakua and belief in mana and ho'omana? Should we be ashamed of respecting our ancestral roots? In future columns, we will ho'omau i keia kukakuka e pili ana i he mau ninau ola.