The Key to a Collectively Thriving Society

We are happy to see more conversations about race in Hawaiʻi taking place.

Last week Bank of Hawaii hosted a two-part panel discussion with leaders from various sectors, from lawyers to educators, spotlighting painful truths about discrimination and inequities in our islands encouraging everyone to hold each other and ourselves accountable for the systems we perpetuate.

Dean of Hawaiʻiinuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge, Dr. Jonathan Kay Kamakawiwoʻole Osorio said: "The way a society treats its poorest, the ones that came later, who donʻt speak your language, who need help, is probably the measure of how good a society is ... All of us are entitled to unity and I believe that its society needs to protect that and honor that and not set us against one another."

Also, last week, was the East-West Centerʻs virtual event, #GalsWithLei Global, which offered a panel of indigenous women leaders, environmentalists, and activists. They urged us to consider that the catastrophic environmental issues that we face now, such as climate change, are the result of the exploitive world views and capitalist philosophy that aimed to erase the indigenous societies that lived in reciprocity with the land for thousands of years before Western domination.

Ulalia Woodside, executive director of The Nature Conservancy of Hawaiʻi and Palmyra reminded us that Kānaka Maoli now own less than 1% of Hawaiian land and that their ancestral traditions hold the key to sustainability on these islands, but they often do not have the platform needed to influence policy.

Whether we are talking about how we treat our people or how we treat our land, we know in Hawaiʻi these conversations are one in the same. We – humans, animals, forests, streams, oceans, mountains – are all in this together and conversations like these remind us of that.

Here are the links if you are interested in learning more:

A Conversation on Race in Hawaiʻi – History, Current Issues and The Future: We Must Respond | Bank of Hawaii

Indigenous Voices, Indigenous Environmentalism | #GalsWtihLei Global