‘Iokepa Hanalei ‘Imaikalani has spent the last 29 years of his life dedicated to nurturing and being nurtured by his Native Hawaiian people and their ancestral wisdom. When he speaks of the “culture,” he speaks of an authentic language, spiritual practice, and a kinship with every living thread of Creation - land and sea.
He speaks of a matriarchal culture that for thousands of years preceded the wars and hierarchy that arrived with colonization. He says that the original “kings” or “queens” were always the last to be fed – honored with a title for their utter selflessness.
What he has not been articulating, in these many years, is politics. And though his cousins and his dear friends are political; he has never been a party to what is called here, the “Sovereignty Movement.”
“The Sovereignty Movement is not a cultural movement,” ‘Iokepa asserts, “It’s a political one.”
Both ‘Iokepa and his Sovereignty friends fervently agree on the essential restoration of the Hawaiian nation - their necessary independence from colonial occupation. But there the similarity ends.
‘Iokepa asserts that politics is not – never has been – the Kanaka Maoli home field. “Politics is fighting in someone else’s neighborhood, where you can’t possibly win..” Sovereignty groups, he says, imitate the oppressors with their borrowed hierarchical titles – senator, president – words that have no meaning to a Kanaka.
He says more. “’Sovereignty’ is a male movement in a matriarchal culture. ‘Sovereignty’ is a word that keeps people out. ‘Sovereignty’ has become is a thing unto itself – either you are or you are not ‘sovereign.’ It’s much too small; it’s just not enough.
“Our work is not about making people feel sorry for us because we lost our land. It’s about making them aware of how much we love our land, how much we love our culture, and how much that that culture offers to the entire world.
“My work has always been about awakening others – Kanaka or not - to our culture - for them to love.”
Last year, the ancient Alekoko Fishpond drew thousands of Kanaka Maoli, local non-native residents and tourists to the sweat and toil of restoring the traditional fishpond that fed the island for thousands of years. It was backbreaking labor – 2,000 people passing boulders hand to hand rebuilding the ancient walls. It was exhausting – but our spirit was fed by chants, tradition, and purpose.
No one questioned the authenticity of our bloodline before our backbreaking volunteer labor was accepted. We worked because we believed there were powerful gifts awaiting our labor – the gifts of a 13,000 year culture – Native or not.
This is what ‘Iokepa calls the “visible practice” of culture.
“My job isn’t to define myself as ‘not them,’ but to speak to them about what’s authentic,” ‘Iokepa said. “Imua lokahi - forward together. We were communal, not individual. Our strengths were shared and multiplied with one another.
“All that’s happening culturally is happening outside of the Sovereignty Movement: language immersion, hula halau, heiau restoration. Politics is the oppressors’ game. I’ve always said to my Sovereignty friends, ‘You haven’t gone back far enough.”
‘Iokepa is a consummate man of action. Other Native Hawaiians have followed that quality in themselves directly into politics. But for ‘Iokepa, his visible power is a surrender to the ancestors’ guidance. His power is how he sees…hears…smells…feels - without doing a single thing. And that is his strength.
Perhaps the Nation of Hawaii will be restored to independence when the rest of us (and the Native’s themselves) realize where our power lies.