Eō People of Hawaiʻi

Eō Kanaka ʻOiwi Maoli

Answer, respond, people of Hawaiʻi.

The seafaring people who took hold of the stars and lassoed na moku,

Islands seated in brine.

Who else but you could have sustained thousands,

Whos family tree coupled with Earth and Sky?

Who matched disease and manipulation with song and chant,

Who fought Manifest Destiny through smuggled word and whisper.

Is there no right or wrong?

Legal or illegal?

Desolated numbers as innumerable as the stars we interpreted,

Struggle to regain our Islands seated in brine.

In our own land we are peculiar.

Our tongues convulse a foreign alphabet .

Annexation and Statehood still bitter on the palate.  

Answer the call of the despaired,

Whos feet drag along pavement.

My brothers and sisters have forgotten.

But one calls, and we remember,

And we answer, respond.

People of Hawaiʻi,

Kanaka Maoli.

Remember what courage we once had.

Remember Puʻukoholā, where we became one.

Remember the Queen in her eloquence and wisdom.

Remember Ke Aliʻi Pauahi, and her vision for the keiki.

We are more than grass skirts and longboards.

We are more than a Disneyfied, Haolefied, concoction.

We are more than a bruised people,

Tredded on by Manifest Destiny.

We are more than a pit stop,

A mere speck,

A port for Uncle Samʻs fleet.

We fight to be seen, heard.

We fight for Native peoples.
We call for justice,

From Maunakea,

From homestead, from Universities.

Kanaka Maoli call to Lady Liberty,

No answer, no response.

- Traci A.