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View Point
I read with interest the Oct. 6 View Point column by Leihinahina Sullivan and Healani Sonoda, "Trask sisters founded the sovereignty movement." I agree that the Trasks, Mililani and Haunani-Kay, have been at the very core of the Hawaiian sovereignty movement for more than 20 years. Sovereignty
movement needs
new visionPerhaps radicalism of Trask sisters
should give way to message of preservationIt has been a long hard fight. We need to be grateful for the accomplishments that were won, no matter how small or how large. What is important is that a movement had been started, a vision given.
But after 20 years, maybe it is time for a new vision.
Our people have been a simple people, not simple by education but by simplicity of heart. Hawaiians are a trusting people looking for leadership and guidance.
Now, however, there are so many different opinions and beliefs. Every time a new movement rises up, the people are divided once more.
The land has too many voices with too many visions, which means the strength of our people will never be strong. It will take someone with a vision to unite our people -- not by opinions, or beliefs, or by issues of land, or sovereignty rule.
Our cry should be, "Preserve us, the people. Unite us, the people." We should not be remembered for the divisions that rise among us, or the things that we fought for.
Yes, they are important -- but aren't our people more important than the issues put before us?
How can we allow issues and beliefs to separate and divide us? We must be of one vision, one voice, one people. When that one voice is found, the one vision will be revealed. Then we who are the very remnants of the Hawaiian race will lay down our walls of separation and follow. It is the way of the Hawaiian spirit, our way of aloha.
I have often thought of Queen Liliuokalani, who was led away as a captive. She didn't fight because she had the wisdom to know that her people would be annihilated. Our forces were too small against the opposition.
However, I've often thought that maybe she had something else in mind. Could the legacy Liliuokalani intended to leave behind for her people have been one of peace and not the sword?
She chose to keep her people from war.
People often complain that we lost a lot when the kingdom was overthrown, but I don't think our queen would agree. We have gained more.
Hawaii's motto is, "Ua mau ke ia o ka aina I ka pono." (The life of the land is preserved in righteousness.) I believe Liliuokalani sought to preserve the righteousness that is found in the land of our hearts. Did she?
When there is no more "fruit" for the people to eat from, it is time to move on. It is time for new leadership for Hawaiians. It must be a leadership of maturity and love for the people.
We will all know this leadership because we can read the signs. Hawaiians are a people birthed with "signs" and many of us still know how to read them.
Look at what happened with the Office of Hawaiian Affairs trustees. The leadership read the "signs" and, united, all of the trustees gave up their seats.
With their mass resignation, they stood together, united. That is a message of power.
If we, as a people, can change what we think for the sake of righteousness, then we can change what we do for the sake of our Hawaiian heritage. The choice is still ours.
Lee Makua Totten is a certified wellness
counselor who lives in Kaneohe.