This transcription is adapted from Haunani-Kay Trask’s speech delivered at the ʻOnipaʻa Commemoration on January 17, 1993, at ʻIolani Palace. It combines elements from the video recording uploaded by Hawaiian Voice on YouTube and the transcription by Joan Lander (Na Maka o ka ʻĀina), ensuring accuracy and preserving the speech’s original tone and cadence.
Audience: Aloha.
Haunani-Kay Trask: Aloha, Ka Lāhui Hawai'i.
Audience: Aloha.
Haunani-Kay Trask: Aloha the indigenous people of these islands, aloha to you, my love to you because you are still here. The intention was to kill everyone of us, and we are still here 100 years to the day that the racist American country took over our sovereignty. [applause and cheers]
I am not an American. I am not an American. I am not an American. I am not an American. I am not an American. I am not an American. Do you think they can hear us now? Do you think John Waihe’e is listening? Do to think Dan Inouye is listening? How about the office of Hawaiian Affairs? We are not American. We are not American. We are not American. 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. [applause and cheers]
I am here to explain what sovereignty, as many people say, is a feeling. The other day in the paper, I read sovereignty is aloha, it’s love. Later on someone said it’s pride. No. Sovereignty is government. Sovereignty is government. It is an attribute of nationhood. We already have aloha. We already have pride. We already know who we are.Are we sovereign? No. Because we don't have a government. Because we don't control a land base. Sovereignty is not a feeling. It is the power of government. It is political power. It is politics.
Hawaiians are always being told, especially at the university, join the Democratic Party. I am here to tell you that my grandfather helped to found the Democratic Party. And I repudiate it in front of everyone. I repudiate the Democratic Party just like I repudiate the Republicans. If the Republican Party gave us sugar, the Democrats gave us Waikiki. If the Republican Party gave us racism, the Democrats gave us another form of racism. We are not 50% Hawaiian. We are Hawaiian. Period. [applause and cheers]
Many years ago the Soviet Union, now called Russia, invaded Europe and divided it up. Recently Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait. The Soviet Union is no longer in Europe. Saddam Hussein has been pushed out of Kuwait. But the United States has not been pushed out of Hawai'i.
They invaded this place. They put the marines here. They took our queen.
They put her in prison. Maha'oi haole, racist haole. [applause and cheers]
We will not forget, any more than the people in Latvia and Lithuania and Estonia forgot, any more than the Maori of Aotearoa forget, an more than the Tahitians forgot against the French. We will never forget what the Americans have done to us, never. [Audience member: Never] Never, never, never. [applause and cheers]
The Americans, my people, are our enemies and you must understand that. Tjeu are our enemies. They took our land, they imprisoned our queen, they banned our language, they forcibly made us a colony of the United States. America always says they are democratic. Lies. That is a lie. They have never been democratic with native people; they have never been democratic with Indians; thy have never been democratic with Hawaiians. [applause and cheers]
The United States of America is the most powerful imperialist country in the world. tpowerful imperialist country in the worldm in the world. They control the United Nations; they control the Pacific Ocean, all these nuclear submarines circulating throughout the Pacific. The United States of America is to be political. Hawaiians must leanr to be politial. They must learn to analyze. We cannot say any longer, oh, they are Haaiian, make nice. 'A'ole, 'a'ole. Hawaiians were fierce. And people tell me, Haunani, you are so un-Hawaiian.
I tell them how would you know? How would you know what a Hawaiian is? We have been so brainwashed with missionary bullshit. Be nice. [applause and cheers]
Kamehameha was a warrior; he made war. His father Kahekili was a warrior; he made war. When did Hawaiians lose their land? When they stopped making war. That's the truth. That is the truth.
Give up Christianity; I say that to you right now. Give it up, because it tells our people, ho'oponopono,
make nice. I say kū'ē, kū'ē, kū'ē, kū'ē, kū'ē, kū'ē. Fight, fight, fight. Don't make nice. Never make nice.
When people say to me, Haunani, you should speak softly. Haunani, you should bear in your heart aloha for the governor. Let me tell you about the governor, the first elected Hawaiian governor. For five years, Mililani and I worked in the legislature to get a right-to-sue bill. That's all, a little civil right, that's all. Not sovereignty, just a little civil right so we could go into court like everybody else in the state of Hawai'i and bring claims against the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands and the state of Hawai'i for mismanaging our lands, for giving it to the military, as Lilikalā has told you.
We were resisted by George Ariyoshi. We were resisted by Governor John Waihe'e, the first Hawaiian governor of this state who doesn't even pronounce his name correctly. [laughter and applause]
For five years we asked for a right to sue, be we didn’t get a right to sue. We got a commission to which we can bring claims so that they , the appointees of the governor, we decide if our Hawaiians should get their land. Bullshit. That’s what that is. Bullshit. [laughter and applause]
When I first came here to speak about sovereignty, there were maybe twenty people. People said we were crazy to fight for sovereignty. We were off the wall. We went to the legislature for a right-to-sue bill. We got nothing, nothing. Does the Democratic Party support a right-
to-sue bill? No. The state of Hawai'i is an agent of the United States of America. They are twinsies. The state is here; America is in D.C.
It doesn't matter who is in state office. I have come to learn that painfully. It doesn't matter whether it's a Kepanī, whether it's a Kanaka, whether it's a Filipino. It doesn't matter because they represent the state of Hawai'i. Ka Lāhui Hawai'i represents Hawaiians, Hawaiians. [applause and cheers]
I am not interested; I am not interested in feelings. I have my own feelings. They break my heart. That's what I share with my 'ohana. But to you, my people, what I say is: politics, politics, politics. This march today took years of organizing. Ka Lāhui Hawai'i has worked years to enroll Hawaiians. There are many sovereignty organizations, but there is only one Ka Lāhui Hawai'i. There is only one group that has taken all that time to do a constitution, to enroll citizens.
That's what nationhood is: it's government. It's not a feeling. Please don't let people mislead you. People keep saying I was born sovereign. I was not born sovereign. I was born a colonized woman of color, oppressed in this colony by the United States of Hawai'i. [applause and cheers]
I was not born sovereign. I am trying to be sovereign. I’m trying to make a government. We need to understand what is at stake, Hawaiians, what is at stake. It doesn't matter that John Waihe'e lowered the flag. It should be burned to the ground. [applause and cheers]
It doesn't matter; it doesn't matter that there's a four-day break. It doesn't matter. What matters is who controls the land, the water, the resources. Who has a government? Who speaks nation to nation?
Mililani and I have gone to the Congress to see if we could get around Dan Inouye. Impossible in the Senate. Maybe in the House. Maybe, maybe. It's very difficult; it's very difficult to do politics in the state of Hawai'i. All the sovereignty people here who have worked for years know what they do to you when you support sovereignty. They take away your job; they send people to slash your tires. I'm telling you this so you understand what is at stake.
George Helm and Kimo Mitchell, who are part of the In Memoriam for this gathering, were murdered. Never believe that they were lost at sea. They were not lost at sea. They were murdered. [applause and cheers]
We just don't know. We can't put the finger on who killed them.
You know why Ka Lāhui had so much security today during the march? Because we know we can be killed too. Ten years ago when there were twenty of us, it didn't matter. They weren't afraid. Why do you think Waihe'e says he supports sovereignty now? Because he’s afraid. [applause and cheers]
Why do you think the Office of Hawaiian Affairs is saying they believe in a nation within a nation? I had to laugh. I had to laugh. We told them about that idea first, we did, Mililani and I. A nation within a nation.
They can't even pronounce the word sovereignty. They don't know how to spell it.
The state of Hawai'i is an agent of the United States of America. The Office of Hawaiian Affairs is an agent of the state of Hawai'i. It's very simple. A … B … C. There's no way we can be sovereign with Office of Hawaiian Affairs. They didn't even support it until all of this outpouring, all of you came forward to say you support it. [applause]
We need legislation through the Congress of the United States to recognize that we are a native people. They don’t even recognize that. We have to go around Dan Inouye. We have to beat Dan Inouye in office. He needs to get out of office. [applause and cheers]
We need to beat Danny Akake. Everybody says he’s such a nice guy. We don’t need nice guys in Congress. He should come home, pau already. What we need is a fighter. We need somebody who is fierce. [applause]
The age has passed for Hawaiians to be nice. The age has passed for Hawaiians to ho’oponopono. I’ve never practiced it. I don’t want to. I believe in fighting to the death. And if we lose, we go down and die and we lose. But I am not making any deals. I am not going to say maybe this, maybe that. OHA, you take the ceded lands. No. I don’t recognize that one-hundred-and-twelve- million-dollar settlement. And too bad for Clayton Hee, neither does John Waihe’e. He’s not paying a penny. [laughter]
Ā hoka, that's what the Hawaiians say. Ā hoka to you, the hewa you did, OHA. Now you have no money. No. I don't recognize the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. I campaigned against them; I worked against them.
When we went for the right-to-sue bill, did they support us? No. The Office of Hawaiian Affairs did not support us. The only reason they talk nation to nation now is because they're afraid. They're afraid. The Democratic Party is afraid, which is actually the same thing as OHA. The state is afraid.
This kind of gathering sends a message. The message is many, many people in Hawai'i are beginning to be aware of sovereignty. They are beginning to hear Ka Lāhui's voice. They are beginning to think that maybe, maybe Hawaiians should get their land back. And it should not go to the Hawaiian Homes Commission, appointed by the governor.
Hello? That is not democracy.
Did you ever notice that the United States goes around the world bombing other people, telling them that they're not democratic? They should come bomb Waihe'e's house. He's not democratic either. [laughter]
Why don’t they send the U.S. Marines arrest him? He’s not democratic. If you believe in democracy, you practice what you believe in. The Hawaiians deserve the right to sue bill. Period. We deserve a nation. We deserve land, water, and resources. That’s the truth. Period. That’s the truth. None of this negotiation.
When John Waihe’e ran for office the first time against Patsy Mink and Cec Heftel and even the Libertarian candidate, they asked him- because we had done such a good job in organizing and bringing to the attention of the press the right-to-sue-bill they asked him on television, do you support litigation rights for Hawaiians? You know what he said? No. He said no, I support negotiation. Every other person supported litigation rights, the right-to-sue bill. Patsy Mink, Cec Heftel believe it or not, two non-Hawaiians. Waihe’e was elected because he didn’t support the right-to-sue bill. Thats the way politics works in the state of Hawai’i.
I am so proud to be here. I am so proud to be angry. I am so proud to be a Hawaiian. I am so proud to talk to you because it took my whole life to get here, and I’ll be damned if I’m ever going to lie in front of my people.
Trask, Haunani-Kay. Speech at the ʻOnipaʻa Commemoration. 17 Jan. 1993, ʻIolani Palace, Honolulu. Adapted transcript by Winnie Dau, based on sources from Joan Lander and Hawaiian Voice. YouTube, uploaded by Hawaiian Voice, 4 July 2022, www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwWNigoZ5ro.
Glossary of Hawaiian Terms
The following glossary provides definitions for Hawaiian words and phrases used in Haunani-Kay Trask’s speech. Defintions are adepated from Mary Kawena Pukui and Samuel H. Elbert’s Hawaiian Dictionary (University of Hawaiʻi Press, 1986), and contextualized with cultural and political usage.
ʻOnipaʻa – Steadfast, immovable, firm. The personal motto of Queen Liliʻuokalani; often used to signify
loyalty and resistance.
Aloha – Love, compassion, or peace; also used as a greeting or farewell. In the speech, it references deeper cultural values.
Ka Lāhui Hawaiʻi – “The Hawaiian Nation,” a contemporary Native Hawaiian political sovereignty
movement.
ʻĀina – Land, especially land that feeds. Central in Hawaiian culture and identity.
Haole – Foreigner, typically a white or non-Hawaiian outsider.
Mahaʻoi – Presumptuous, meddling, impertinent. Used to criticize outsiders or behavior considered disrespectful.
ʻAʻole – No; a word of negation or refusal.
Kūʻē – To resist, protest, or oppose. Common in political movements.
Ho‘oponopono – Traditional practice of reconciliation and conflict resolution within families.
ʻOhana – Family, including extended or chosen family.
Ā hoka – “Serves you right!” An expression of just consequence.
Hewa – Wrongdoing, sin, or error.
Kanaka – Person, human being. Here, used specifically to refer to Native Hawaiians.
Kepanī – Japanese person; a localized term derived from “Nippon.”
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