Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 38, Number 7, 1 July 2021 — Ea Mai ka Lāhui [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Ea Mai ka Lāhui

By Imaikalani Winchester

Tn Hawai'i, the month of July is an important time to celebrate justice and independence for Hawaiians, not Americans.

M This month commemorates a critical moment in our national history: ka Lā Ho'iho'i Ea, or Sovereignty Restoration Day, our first Hawaiian national holiday. Ka Lā Ho'iho'i Ea was established on July 31, 1843, after British forces, under Captain George Paulet, temporarily occupied Hawai'i and raised the Union Jack over the Hawaiian nation for five months. The matter was resolved when Admiral Richard Thomas sailed to Hawai'i to remove Paulet and restore ea - Hawaiian sovereign authority - to King Kamehameha III.

Kauikeaouli honored this act of pono, or justice, by naming the site where the restoration ceremony took plaee after Admiral Thomas. Thomas Square heeame the very first puhlie park in the Hawaiian Kingdom, and it remains a significant national monument to justice and sovereignty for Hawaiians today. For 50 years, from 1843 to 1893, Lā Ho'iho'i Ea was celebrated widely throughout the kingdom. Games and feasts in celebration of the holiday lasted up to 10 days. The Hawaiian language newspapers documented these national observances for decades. This national holiday, however, was banned following the infamous Ameriean overthrow of 1893, an act designed to systematically suffocate the memory of Hawaiian independence and to appropriate the symbols of Hawaiian nationality as ornaments of American occupation. Like our mother tongue, our national memory

was nearly torn from us. But in 1986, in an act of love and resistance, Lā Ho'iho'i Ea was resuscitated by a new generation of po'e aloha aina. Dr. Richard Kekuni Blaisdell, renowned physician and Hawaiian independence leader, led the revitalized celebration of ka Lā Ho'iho'i Ea with a puhlie gathering at Thomas Square. Blaisdell believed that the over-representation of Kānaka Maoli in the worst indicators of heahh and wellbeing - poverty and homelessness,

crime and incarceration, depression and suicide - could all be linked to the overthrow of Hawai'i and the dislocation of the Hawaiian people from their land and country. He believed that the only way to reverse and repair this eondition was to "ho'iho'i ea," restore Hawaiian sovereignty and put Hawaiian lands and government back under Hawaiian control. Today, the celebration of ka Lā Ho'iho'i Ea across our lāhui continues rising in var- I ious communities and by I

present generations. The reclamation of our holidays is a good sign of our progress and momenīum as a lāhui. Together in solidarity - from Thomas Square to Wai'anae, from Hāmākua to Ulupō, from Waimea to New York City, from Lahaina to Tokyo - communities join the effort to resuscitate our national memory through the raising of the hae Hawai'i on July 31 at noon, in a conscious and political declaration that the Hawaiian Kingdom lives!

If we are to rise as a nation again, we must make ourselves whole. We must repair the breaks in our historieal and political identity and fill the dark pockets of our memory, obscured by the Americanization of our lāhui. The emancipation of our nation lies with the restoration of our consciousness, the struggle to resist American indoctrination, and the committment to transform the condition of occupation to one of liberation and self-de-termination. The contemporary eel-

ebration of ka Lā Ho'iho'i Ea reminds us that justice is possible if we fight for it. It reminds us that powerful nations of the world ean still do what is right, despite their own self-interest. Lā Ho'iho'i Ea reminds us that our actions to restore our nation must continue for our children and their descendants. Many of our keiki today speak our native lan0 guage, attend Hawaiian schools, and celebrate

Hawaiian national holidays like Lā Ho'iho'i Ea and Lā Kū'oko'a (Hawaiian Independence Day), as naturally as they would celebrate Christmas or New Year's Eve. We have filled the gap in our collective memory, and they are becoming more whole than the generation before them. In this month of July, we eall upon our lāhui to assemble in collective celebration and to reassert the truth of our history. We must demand that the just and righteous example of the British also be followed by the United States of America, in the name of pono. We Hawaiians must continue to struggle for justice and pono. One simple step you ean take is to fly your hae Hawai'i throughout the month of July and start celebrating Lā Ho'iho'i Ea with your 'ohana. We also weleome you to join us, Lā Ho'iho'i Ea - Honolulu, in celebrating our history, our resistance and our independence, through a series of events scheduled throughout the month. E mau ke ea o ka aina i ka pono! ■ For more information and a calendar of events visit: www.lahoihoiea.org Imai Winchester is a Kanaka Maoli educator-activist from the island ofO'ahu. He has the heen the lead organizerfor the celebration ofka Lā Ho'iho'i Ea at Thomas Square since 2005 with the help and support ofcommunity activists, artists,farmers, educators, and healers. He is a son, a brother, a husband and a father who loves his family with all his heart.

Lō Ho'iho'i Eo is celebroted on July 31. Here, ko hoe Howoi'i is roised ot Thomos Square in Honolulu during lost year's celef)ration.

Goodyear-Kaopua ond Imoi Winchester ore the orgonizers for Lō Ho'iho'i Ea - Honolulu. - Photos: Courtesy