Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 17, Number 6, 1 June 2000 — Genealogy lesson [ARTICLE]

Genealogy lesson

As a Hawaiian from Hilo on the mainland for 37 years, I have just completed four books on my families' Hawaiian, Chinese and Hispanic history and I wish to share the insights gained ffom the endeavor. Captain James Cook was not the first European to discover the Sandwieh Islands. In 1527, Hernando Cortes, the Spanish conquistador, having heard of Magellan's voyage, sent a flotilla from Mexico to the Philippines. After a terrible storm, one of the ships was wrecked near the Hawaiian Islands. Some Spaniards were saved by swimming to Kaua'i. They married native women and

many Hawaiian families trace their origins to the intermarriages. This should be no surprise to Trustee Cataluna. Trustee Mililani Trask mentions Mahatma Ghandi and Dr. Martin Luther King as leaders of political action through passive resistance, not armed conflict and confrontation. However, she fails to mention Cēsar Chāvez and the valuable lessons per Dr. Carlos Castenada's lecture series at the University of Texas. The English, as the Spanish, had three choices with the Indians: 1) exterminate them; 2) plaee them in reservations; 3) attempt to socialize them into European culture. The English chose the first two while the Spanish Christianized and Europeanized the Indians. William Afong Kaipo Kuamo'o Scottsdale, Ariz.