Voyagers

Haunani Kay Trask is Professor of Hawaiian Studies at the University of Hawai‘i, and served for ten years as the Director of the University of Hawai‘i’s Center for Hawaiian Studies. She is also one of the founders and leading members of Kalahui Hawai‘i, the largest native sovereignty organisation in Hawai‘i. She has represented Hawai‘i’s indigenous people at the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Peoples in Geneva, and at numerous indigenous gatherings in Samiland (Norway), Aotearoa (New Zealand) and Indian nations throughout the United States and Canada. She has published many articles on the struggle for self-determination of Hawai‘i’s indigenous people, and books, including From a
Native Daughter: Colonialism and Sovereignty in Hawai‘i. She served as a scriptwriter and co-producer of the award-winning documentary film Act of War: The Overthrow of the Hawai‘ian Nation.

 
Pūowaina: Flag Day

for Ka‘iana, Lākea, Mililani, Hulali, and Kalai‘ola‘a

Bring ginger, yellow
and white, broken stalks
with glossy leaves.

              Bring leihulu,
              palapalai, pikake. Bring
              kapa, beaten fine

                            as skin. Bring
                            the children
                            to chant

                                          for our dead,
                                          then stand
                                          with the lāhui

                                                        and burn
                                                        their American
                                                        flag.

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Last updated 04 July, 2004