Birthday of Haunani-Kay Trask
Oct. 3, 1949
Haunani-Kay Trask at the ʻOnipaʻa Peace March on Jan. 17, 1993. At this speech she famously said “We are not American! Say it in your heart, say it when you sleep! We are not American, we will die as Hawaiians, we will never be Americans!”
Adapted from Cultural Survival's article and wikipedia:
Born on this day in 1949, Dr. Haunani-Kay Trask (Kanaka Maoli) was a scholar, poet, and champion of sovereignty for Hawaiian Peoples. She was a founding member of Ka Lahui Hawai’i, an organization that promotes Hawaiian self-determination for Native Hawaiians and Hawaiian self-governance. She was professor emerita at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, where she founded and directed the Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies. Dr. Trask also spoke about the detrimental effects of tourism on Hawai’i and Hawaiian culture. Today, tourists outnumber Hawaiian residents by six to one and Native Hawaiians by thirty to one, and Dr. Trask argued that the true impact of tourism on the people and land of Hawai’i is devastating. She considered tourism to be cultural prostitution—prostitution of the land, the culture, and the roles of women in Hawai’i.
Born on this day in 1949, Dr. Haunani-Kay Trask (Kanaka Maoli) was a scholar, poet, and champion of sovereignty for Hawaiian Peoples. She was a founding member of Ka Lahui Hawai’i, an organization that promotes Hawaiian self-determination for Native Hawaiians and Hawaiian self-governance. She was professor emerita at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, where she founded and directed the Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies. Dr. Trask also spoke about the detrimental effects of tourism on Hawai’i and Hawaiian culture. Today, tourists outnumber Hawaiian residents by six to one and Native Hawaiians by thirty to one, and Dr. Trask argued that the true impact of tourism on the people and land of Hawai’i is devastating. She considered tourism to be cultural prostitution—prostitution of the land, the culture, and the roles of women in Hawai’i.