Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 39, Number 8, 1 ʻAukake 2022 — E Hū e nā Kawowo: The Renaissance of Kānaka Civic Engagement [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

E Hū e nā Kawowo: The Renaissance of Kānaka Civic Engagement

V HE LEO HOU V ^ A NEW VOICE *

By Hema Watson, Grade 12 Hālau Kū Mana Public Charter School Enā hoaloha mai i uka a i kai, mai i luna a i lalo, aloha! Contemporary kānaka civic movements in the 1970s, or the "Hawaiian Renaissance," reflected a rise in kānaka consciousness. Kānaka had to awaken from the effects of eolonialism, whieh cut our people off from understanding, with a pure sense, who we truly were and our strength as a nation. Clyde Maurice Kalani Ohelo, one of the early leaders of the Hawaiian Renaissance, fought the 1971 evictions in Kalama Valley on O'ahu. Ohelo emphasized the importance of education in his awakening: "My job was to raise social and political consciousness. And to raise social and political consciousness, you would have to do tons and tons of research. And [in] those days, we used to put all our research into our heads. We didn't have computers. We didn't have all the high-tech things we have today." George Helm is perhaps the greatest po'e aloha aina laureate who went up against the illegal bombing and U. S. military occupation of Kaho'olawe. His discourses on aloha aina inspire us today to ho ola. Helm knew exactly who he was and his kuleana: "I am a Hawaiian and I've inherited the soul of my kupuna...The truth is, there is man and there is environment. One does not supersede the other. The breath in man is the breath of Papa (the earth). Man is the caretaker of the land that maintains his life and nourishes his soul." Herb Kāne dreamt that the stars would lead Hōkūle'a to Tahiti. Captain Nainoa Ihompson remembers that the rebirth

Hōlau Ko Mana senior Hema Watson authored both the He Leo Hou and Ka Leo o nā 'Ōpio columns this month. - Photo: Courtesy

of traditional voyaging "pulled together this deep, instinctual, almost innate need to be who I am, by knowing who I was. It allowed me to know that I'm going to be within the domain of powerful learning. I'm going to be in the domain of rich learning." In order to truly understand who we are as kānaka and our strength as a nation we ean start by relearning who we are. As we highlight these movements and the incredible leaders involved, we see how the past has influenced the present. One of the largest recent examples of our Hawaiian force occurred at Maunakea. At one point, there were over 8,000 people on the mauna. That movement led the push for elean water and the demilitarization of Kapūkakī. Ohelo, Helm, Kāne and Thompson eame to a clearer sense of their identity and role in protecting our aina. We, too, must follow in their footsteps so we ean be civically engaged and survive as a lāhui. Now, we look to the future...B This is the second ofthree articles dedicated to telling the story ofthe past, present, andfuture ofkānaka civic engagement in Hawai'i by Hema Watson.