What is amazingly sad is that, to this day, most of the world is still ignorant of the history of the Hawaiian Islands, the suffering of generations of Hawaiians, and their exemplary response to injustice. This is true in spite of the fact that people from all over the world enjoy Hawaiian vacations and come to live permanently in the Aloha State. I submit that even the following very inadequate thumbnail sketch is preferable to perpetuating that ignorance.
Dominated by the American Caucasians who trickled and then flooded into these hospitable islands, Hawaiians were forcibly and subtly deprived of their personal pride and public culture - their land, their spiritual practices, their names, their language, and the joy and confidence of their Hawaiian hearts. Decimated by Caucasian diseases brought by whalers in the early 19th century, the dwindling population endured these suppressions by Christian missionaries, then were dominated and exploited by business interests while their monarchs worked to lead their heretofore isolated people into the culture of the world at large. The kapu system that had been the backbone of an efficient, sustainable lifestyle had been abandoned by Kamehameha II in 1819. Christianity and capitalism filled the vacuum
Very intelligent people, many Hawaiians adapted and adopted western European and American ways, rapidly becoming more literate than their invaders. For invasion it turned out to be when, at the request of American businessmen, American Marines landed on January 17, 1893 to depose Queen Liliu`okalani and the progressive American exploitation of Hawaiian hospitality was exposed. America declared Hawai’i a territory of the United States in 1898 and, in spite of 33,000 Hawaiian signatures against it, made Hawai’i the 50th state in 1959.
The indigenous Hawaiian culture went underground. Although the hula was revived in the 1870s by King David Kalakaua, even during his reign most Hawaiian cultural practices, especially aloha aina (love and stewardship of the land) and the ahupua`a culture, existed only in quiet pockets, publicly acknowledged by only a few. Ancient taro patches were abandoned, the streams that fed them were clogged with debris and slumping banks, the walls and gateways of ancient fishponds fell into disrepair.
When I was in Hawai`i in the 60s, I was shocked to observe that if local friends had a mixed genetic heritage, their Hawaiian ethnicity was mentioned last and without pride or joy - just as a fact. Whatever they thought privately, publicly they deferred to the ethnic stereotype of the unimportant, lazy, good-for-nothing Hawaiian that was bestowed and perpetuated by the plantation bosses upon a whole race of men and women too quietly proud and smart to do slave labor in the sugar cane fields. Some friends even scoffed “Yeah, I jes’ one lazy, stupid kanaka.” It was often hard to tell whether they really felt that way or not. Tellingly, comedian Frank DeLima was making fun of all the plentiful racial stereotypes in the islands - except the Hawaiians. The guilt and pain of that racial history was too tender, too tragic, too outrageous to mock.
When I returned in the 90s things were much different. Hop-scotching through history, in the 50s, Arthur Godfrey had popularized the Hawaiian ukulele and the Pink Palace of the Pacific, and Hawai`i’s steel guitar had made it to the country and western music world on the continent.
On into the 60s, while Charles King and Elvis Presley were singing hapa-haole Hawaiian music (songs in English about Hawai`i), Gabby Pahinui, the Sunday Manoa, Eddie Kamae, Sonny Chillingsworth and others had resurrected, popularized and recorded authentic, traditional Hawaiian music, including kiho`alo (slack key). They inspired a generation of solo spin-offs, new Hawaiian songwriters, instrumentalists and singers that today continue to swell the genre with new recruits. At the same time, in rural areas, Hawaiians began physical and political struggles to reclaim water rights and to raise taro for an indigenous population hungry for poi. I helped a Hawaiian run for a seat on the city council. He and other community activists were protesting the eviction of Hawaiian families in Kalama Valley. Student and faculty movements at the University of Hawai`i were raising the issues of racism and discrimination against the rights of Hawaiians, demanding academic focus on the facts of Hawaiian history and culture.
In the mid 70s, the double hulled canoe, Hokule`a, was launched and during the 80s and beyond, the sailing exploits of the Polynesian Voyaging Society have galvanized public interest. Hawaiian pride and joy in the skills of their intrepid ancestors quietly moved out into the sunshine.
By the 90s, the Polynesian voyaging culture had come of age and spread to other Pacific islands. The Hawaiian Sovereignty movement was making waves, the United Church of Christ and President Clinton had apologized for the illegal overthrown of Queen Lili`uokalani’s monarchy and on January 17, 1993 there were poignant, painful commemorations of that atrocity and heartfelt pledges to make things right for the Hawaiian nation. Fishponds on Molokai were repaired and restocked. Frank DeLima began making light fun of Hawaiians.
What I observed in my 16½ years of serving and wandering among Hawaiians during the 1990s was a personal, social, cultural, and political metamorphosis from aloha to aloha. A child’s first sense of aloha is born in family relationships and innocence. At that stage aloha is not a choice but a given. I noticed that this time of childhood innocence was often followed by a period of ignorance, learned repression, or denial of the history. Depending on family preferences, the level of a person's desire to avoid unpleasantness, and social circumstances, that period might last many years, even into adulthood.
Since the Hawaiian renaissance, however, it’s hard for a Hawaiian to avoid that painful awakening to the facts of the colonization. That awakening may be so traumatic as to overwhelm her innate gifts of aloha. The resulting fury at the Caucasian race is present-day, devastating, and indiscriminate, sometimes even resulting in very mixed feelings, avoidance, or rejection of relatives and friends who are Caucasian. Boys and men in particular may feel an impotent rage toward their victimized grandparents and great-grandparents and toward Queen Lili`uokalani for not permitting her people to engage in armed resistance to her overthrow. It becomes difficult to feel compassion for the generation that “gave up” their Hawaiian heritage.
For some, this anger is all they are left with, but most Hawaiians also know of the Queen’s choice to forgive those who betrayed her, imprisoned her, and destroyed her monarchy. Her gracious dignity and constant, strong aloha are examples difficult to ignore. And then there’s Auntie Betsy who married Uncle Kekoa, and Grampa Frank who made six hapa haole kids with Tutu Leilani, one of whom is your own dad. And you grew up with a couple of “good haole" boys, and your sister’s got a haole boyfriend. It is hard to hate white folks you have loved and who love you and who are in your life as family and in school day by day because of what their race did to yours 150 years ago. When you make exceptions for them, you begin to let go of generalizing and reliving the past.You eventually learn to hate the sin and at least tolerate the sinners - even those whose presence and mindless lack of cultural awareness continues the insult. You understand picking your friends by their behavior rather than the color of their skin and start choosing your battles rather than be constantly at war with an entire race. Since they're an entrenched part of your world, you either live angry, or make a choice to live aloha for the sake of your loved ones and your own peace of mind, and in order to do the work of making things right from today forward.
The world would do well to observe this Hawaiian metamorphosis from the aloha of innocence to fully conscious, fully chosen aloha. The later may not be without scars, lingering specific wariness or distrust, and some raw spots, but it beats being miserable with and about your family, friends, and neighbors. Because most Hawaiians who begin the journey of cultural awakening and awareness do seem to come through to the rebirth of aloha, Hawai`i continues to be a land known for the relatively comfortable unity of its incredible diversity. Were the people of other nations able to emulate this journey, achieve this personal, cultural and political metamorphosis, for the sake of living maturely and peacefully with the global diversity of our shrinking planet, perhaps one day Frank DeLima would be able to make jokes about Arabs and Israelis, and Muslims and Christians, and....
Reclaiming aloha restores a Hawaiian’s Polynesian integrity. Imagine what that spirit could do for the world if we all knew Hawaiian history and learned to live aloha.
Hawaiian Metamorphosis by Abby Freeborn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. For permission to use contact randmxcentric@gmail.com
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