Ka‘ū News Briefs, Saturday, July 3, 2021

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A LEADING ALOHA 'AINA ADVOCATE, DR. HAUNANI-KAY TRASK, passed away this morning. She was 71, born on Oct. 3, 1949. After an education at Kamehameha Schools and on the mainland, she became a founder of the Center for Hawaiian Studies at University of Hawai'i and a professor emeritus. 

    A powerful public speaker who was often compared to black activist Angela Davis, Trask was awarded 

Aloha Aina advocate Haunani Trask. Photo by Kapulani Landgraf

the Angela Davis Prize by the American Studies Association in 2019.     During her academic career she  earned many fellowships, from the Rockefeller Foundation to Harvard University, National Endowment for the Arts and University of Otago in New Zealand to the International Institute of Human Rights in France.
    In her writings and poetry, Trask often warned of negative environmental and cultural impacts of colonialism, and the presence of the military and tourism on the Hawaiian islands. Her books include From A Native Daughter: Colonialism and Sovereignty in Hawai'i, Night of the Sharkskin Drum and Thirty Years of Land Struggle in Hawai'i. Her film is Hawai'i: A Voice for Sovereignty.

Haunani Trask and partner David Stannard. Photo from U.H.

     Her partner, David Stannard, a professor in American Studies at U.H., also focuses on history and change in Hawai'i. A scholarship at U.H. is endowed in their names to support Indigenous and Pacific Island studies. See https://giving.uhfoundation.org/funds/20935503 
    Congressman Kai Kahele said: "As the founding director of Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies at UH Mānoa, she inspired generations of young scholars. Mahalo for your immeasurable contributions to the advancement of Native Hawaiians."    

    University of Hawai'i Hawaiʻinuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge Dean Jonathan Kamakawiwoʻole Osorio said, “Professor Trask was a fearless advocate for the Kānaka Maoli (Native Hawaiians) and was responsible for inspiring thousands of brilliant and talented Hawaiians to come to the University of Hawaiʻi. But she also inspired our people everywhere to embrace their ancestry and identity as Hawaiians and to fight for the restoration of our nation. 

    She gave everything she had as a person to our Lāhui and her voice, her writing and her unrelenting passion for justice will, like our Queen, always represent our people.

    "E ola mau loa e Haunani Kay Trask, ʻaumakua of the poet warrior."

    Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies Director Kekuewa Kikiloi said, "Dr. Trask was a visionary leader of the Hawaiian sovereignty movement and the founding director of Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies at U.H. at Mānoa. She served her career as tenured professor in our department inspiring critical thinking and making important contributions in areas of settler colonialism and indigenous self-determination. 

    "More importantly, she was a bold, fearless, and vocal leader that our lāhui needed in a critical time when Hawaiian political consciousness needed to be nurtured. Our center mourns her passing and sends our aloha and to the Trask ʿohana. Our department remains committed to carrying on the legacy of Professor Trask in educating and empowering the lāhui."

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DEPT. OF INTERIOR BILLS IN CONGRESS, supported by Rep Ed Case, include "critical investments in environmental protection and land conservation, clean air and water to protect our communities’ health, earthquake and volcano warning systems,” said the Congressman. “There is also funding to protect our public lands and endangered species, support our Native Hawaiian communities, assist with climate change mitigation, and help our state government with the costs of programs benefiting our Compacts of 
Free Association residents.”

     Proposed funding includes $44 million for the U.S. Geological Survey Biological Threats and Invasive Species Research Program, and $16.9 million for the National Trails System, which will benefit the Ala Kahakai National Historic Trail. Case said,      “The critical work of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory cannot be overstated given the destructive impacts of both lava 
flows and the emission of sulfur dioxide in the wake of eruptions as recently as last December.”
    Programs and provisions requested by Case in the Interior bill also include: $452 million for National Park Service land acquisitions and State Assistance Grants; Language instructing the Office of Native Hawaiian Relations to expand the federal governments Native Hawaiian community consultation efforts. Another appropriation would be $4 million for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s State of the Birds to support efforts "to recover our most endangered Hawaiian forest bird species. There would be $33.5 million, a $3.3 million increase, for the U.S. Geological Survey Volcano Hazards Program to includes funding for the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, which monitors the active volcanoes in Hawai‘i, assess hazards, issue warnings and advance scientific understanding to reduce impacts of volcanic eruptions.

    National Park Service American Indian and Native Hawaiian Art and Culture Grants program would receive $1.8 million. State Historic Preservation Office would receive $57.7.