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Sovereign Sunday
draws small crowd
A speaker downplays
By Leila Fujimori
divisiveness among groups
Star-BulletinKaleikoa Kaeo says the silent majority of Hawaiians is no longer silent.
The Hawaiian language instructor at the University of Hawaii dismissed the apparent divisiveness among sovereignty groups: "Some say speak with only one voice, one platform, but that's a Eurocentric idea. We have an array of ideas and we agree 99 percent of the time. We just disagree on the finer points."
Many are too caught up with sovereignty, Kaeo said, but "we need to first wake up people to culture, history, language, and the politics will work itself out."
Kaeo was a speaker at yesterday's Sovereign Sunday, the annual commemoration of the 1893 U.S. overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy. The event, which has drawn several hundred in the past, had a small turnout at Iolani Palace.
"OHA can't represent us," said Kekuni Blaisdell, organizer of the event. "OHA can't give us self-determination and sovereignty" because it is part of the state.
Terms such as Native Hawaiian and Native American only serve to further oppress the kanaka maoli, said Blaisdell, who heads the sovereignty group Ka Pakaukau. He prefers the term kanaka maoli, which was used by ancient Hawaiians to mean the real people, Blaisdell said.
Several Hawaiian sovereignty groups and individuals promoted the re-emergence of the kanaka maoli nation or Hawaiian sovereignty movement in speech, song, hula and chant at the observance.
Kihei Soli Niheu predicted that by 2020 Hawaiians will be able to exercise self-determination, but not without an aggressive campaign. He sees a system of elders leading the community to govern itself.
An early Hawaiian activist envisioned Hawaiians returning to the land, becoming self-sufficient and eating native foods such as poi.
Niheu said, "When the cost of poi equals the cost of rice, we've been decolonized."
