Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 24, Number 10, 1 October 2007 — Aloha is reciprocal [ARTICLE]

Aloha is reciprocal

To the heart of the matter, Mr. Twigg-Smith, your assuranee to not "be harmful to those of Hawaiian blood" is baseless. Regardless of your opinion on the matter, sovereignty is a discussion for and by nā kanaka maoli. At minimum, we should respect eaeh others' cultural histories, as I do not advise African Americans on how to mend their Ameiiean past. To dismiss the role of race in Hawai'i is to deny the physical, social and emotional hardships that many in Hawai'i's missionary, plantation and modern eras experienced. Race has always mattered. Further, Hawai'i's "weleoming spirit" does not equate to "assimilation." Aloha is reciprocal. What reciprocity were nā kanaka maoli or ka 'āina given by those welcomed by Hawai'i's shores? Despite your desire to have Hawai'i be "the kind of plaee it has been over the years for all of us, non-Hawaiians and Hawaiians alike," there is nothing romantic about the displacement, disfranchisement and disempowerment of nā kanaka maoli since the 1800s. There are those of us who want tomorrow's history to be quite different. Ka'iulani Kauwilanuimakahaikalani Piper Kula, Maui