Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 23, Number 6, 1 June 2006 — Hijacking heritage [ARTICLE]

Hijacking heritage

When I wrote my 'Apelila letter, I knew that it would spark a tirade of responses and debate. To accuse me of being a racist and a proponent of exclusionism means that you read something other than what I wrote. Nowhere in my letter did I imply that I wanted all non-Hawaiians to get off the 'āina. And I would be remiss to not acknowledge that many nonHawaiians embrace Hawaiians and their plight. But for anyone to say that the Hawaiian culture has not been hijacked, I would question your sincerity. Go to 'Iolani Palaee and sit in that room where my See LETTERS on page 05

LETTERS

CūūtiūUūd fram page 05 queen was imprisoned and then ask yourself how you could say that my culture isn't being hijacked. Browse through the Mahele Book and see how Gerrit Pannele Iudd and his clones tricked, hijacked and stole land from my people, or how he refused to release funds for the smallpox virus because he wanted them to have the cowpox vaccination exclusively. Lastly, ask my tūtūs how they were beaten for speaking their own language in school. In closing, I encourage all of you to continue to raise your Hawaiian flags. As for mine, it is proudly displayed upside down. Eric Konohia U'u īemple Hills, Maryland