HANA, Maui – Most call it Hana, some the “Heart of Hawai’i,” and many Native Hawaiians here call it Kapueokahi.
It is the center of Hana, a deep blue bay which lies between the arms of two rocky points in the Hawaiian Islands. One point, Ku’aiki, is a large hill which overlooks the bay, while the other, Keanini, is an old lava shelf gently sloping to the open sea.
The bay lies in the shadow of a 10,000 foot volcano, Haleakala; its peak cupped and veiled in a crown of gray clouds. The bay rests 2,000 miles from anywhere, except for its island neighbors: Hawaii, Moloka’i, Lana’i, Oahu and Kauai.
Here, the rhythms of the day are not dictated by man, but by the ocean, the land and the sky. The bay calls to everyone in the community, children and adults Native and non-Native.
Here, 200 years after original contact with the West, and the many changes which that meeting has brought, the underlining life, character and culture of Hana seems to have remained since the first people arrived here on Maui.
Maui, a legendary Hawaiian demigod, is said to have thrown from his canoe here near Kau’iki, a magic fishing hook into the sea and pulled all of the Hawaiian islands from the depths below. His great achievement is remembered here in the continuing culture of fishing and canoe paddling, both central activities of the community. The fishing boats are now motorized and the canoes fiberglass, but the culture remains.
From a hill overlooking the bay and the daily practices by the local canoe club, a Hale or traditional Hawaiian house sits, keeping a watchful eye on possible runs of fish. It is called the Akule Hui Haleor fisherman’s club and it is where the fishermen and older men and women of the community gather to talk, tell stories, watch for fish and just hang out.
Over a small hill above them is the old Hana School, now a community center where children gather to play baseball, learn about art, Native language and practice hula, an ancient Native Hawaiian dance and song passed down over generations.
And still beyond there, the number of Native Hawaiian cultural sites being repaired and preserved continues to grow, while traditional methods of farming and use of traditional crops such as taro, a tuber similar to a potato, are utilized and developed.
“The taro, the canoe, the Akule Hui Hale and the hula; it’s all connected,” said John Lind, a Native Hawaiian taro farmer and founding member of the Hana Canoe Club. “It’s about the culture and the community.”
Hana’s people are diverse, with permanent and part-time residents from all over the world. Yet, it retains its Native Hawaiian character, contrary to the forces of history, colonization and assimilation. The history of these islands is a reflection of what occurred to numerous Indigenous peoples across the United States and throughout the world.
Historians, both Native and non-Native, say Native Hawaiians have lived here since their ancestors first sailed from Polynesian islands thousands of miles to the south. They traveled using highly refined skills in sailing, canoeing, fishing and horticulture, establishing villages and kingdoms all over the Pacific.
They brought with them many of the plants and animals, such as coconuts, taro, hens and pigs, which are found on the islands of Hawaii today. They sailed huge double outrigger canoes, carrying sea-going farms of crops for food and to feed livestock for the journey.
Once on the islands, they built great stone and wooden temples called Heiaus, cleared fields for planting, roads for travel and built huge fish ponds, stocked with fish to eat.
Native Hawaiians continued in their traditional way, unchecked, until the arrival of Capt. James Cook of England in 1778. The results of Western contact with the Native people of Hawaii were similar to those of Indian people in the mainland.
Populations fell dramatically as traditional systems began to collapse and disease spread. Western contact also turned traditional economies and land management practices into ones geared more toward international trade, impacting the community much like the allotment and termination acts imposed on Indian people.
One important development, however, differed from the experience of Native people in the mainland. Just after Western contact, Native Hawaiians united under one mo’i or king of all the islands, King Kamehameha, and asserted their sovereign rights.
From the beginning of contact and throughout the 19th century, Western nations recognized the Hawaiian monarchy as sovereign. However, during the 19th century, Westerners slowly began to gain control of large tracts of land. They soon established a growing plantation economy, mostly supported by sugar. They brought in large numbers of workers from other countries as their primary labor force. By the end of the century, non-Natives, largely Americans, had gained a major economic and political foothold throughout the islands.
Finally, in 1893, the Americans launched an armed takeover of Hawaii. In 1898, Hawaii officially became a territory of the United States, formally stripping the Native Hawaiians of their sovereignty.
Once under the control of the U.S. territorial government, Native Hawaiian lifeways, living conditions and economies began to rapidly deteriorate. By the early part of the 20th century, they had reached a state of crisis.
In 1920, Congress enacted the first legislation solely for the benefit of Native Hawaiians, the Native Hawaiian Homes Commission Act. It was enacted to provide a land base to Native Hawaiians for agricultural use. Although the law never fully achieved the goals that Congress intended, it was the beginning of a continuing series of laws enacted by the federal government that specifically deal with the rights and needs of Native Hawaiians.
Since that time and following statehood in 1959, the federal government has acted in recognition of its trust obligation to Native Hawaiians. Yet, surprisingly, the government’s policy with regard to legal status and right to self-government has still not been fully clarified.
Today, there are a number of laws which deal directly and indirectly with Native Hawaiians – directly, through laws such as the Native Hawaiian Health Care Improvement Act and indirectly as Native Americans, through laws like the Native American Languages Act. However, the legal status of Native Hawaiians within the American political system, and internationally, still remains an unresolved issue.
Just recently, in the Supreme Court Case, Rice v. Cayetano, the court ruled that Native Hawaiians did not have the exclusive right to elect trustees for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, a body which oversees programs which specifically serve Native Hawaiians.
Although the federal government has authorized and even funded numerous elections in which voting is restricted to Native peoples, the court found that such actions by Native Hawaiians violate the15th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
While such an ambiguous legal status created many problems for Native Hawaiians, it has also bolstered their efforts to assert their sovereignty and rights to self-government. Just as many American Indians began the fight against the impacts of the allotment and termination eras, Native Hawaiians increased their activities culturally, socially and politically.
In the mid-1970s, a Native Hawaiian group called Protect Kaho’olawe Ohana began takeovers of a small island off the coast of Maui called Kaho’olawe, an action similar to the American Indian takeover of Alcatraz Island. The island had been used by the U.S. Navy as a bombing range for more than 50 years. For many Native Hawaiians, the island was a symbol of Western abuse, both of the land and the Hawaiian people.
“The plan was land, just keep landing until they listened,” said Kenneth Yasso, a coach for the Hana Canoe Club and former Native activist with Protect Kaho’olawa Ohana.
“There was no other way politically. We had to keep challenging them on our sovereign rights. We saw how they treated the Indians and the Alaskans and we’ve learned … we started thinking Hawaiian and about how we should be treated.”
Following years of protest landings on the island, the federal government stopped bombing and turned the island over to the state. Today, in accordance with state law, it serves as a place for the education and revival of traditional Native Hawaiian culture.
What Hana represents to many here is also a place of revival, but more importantly a home, a place of continuing revival. Hana’s roots run deep and while the culture and life here may shift and change at times, its roots always stand ready to flourish for the next generation.
Here, the “Heart of Hawai’i” continues to live and grow, its heartbeat still heard by all who listen.
