It is my privilege to invite UH Maui professors Kahele Dukelow and Kaleikoa Kaʻeo to share manaʻo about their beautiful kumu, whom they revere and treasure, in my column this month.
A Tribute and Kanikau for Dr. Haunani-Kay Trask
Our great teacher has passed on. It is difficult to express what Dr. Haunani-Kay Trask means to our Lāhui Kānaka, especially to the hundreds of Hawaiian, Indigenous, and fellow aloha ʻāina who were blessed to have learned with this powerful teacher. Her brilliance enlightened and empowered many people, not just here in Hawaiʻi, but across the Pacific and beyond.
Dr. Trask provided us with a top-notch educational experience; how to study, analyze, and cite our true political history. She showed us how to speak up with conviction, passion, and facts. It was not just what she taught us, but how she taught us that was important. Her piercing words, bravado, and confidence fueled our minds and souls. We watched, listened, read, thought, engaged, and ultimately learned that it was so much more powerful to stand and fight for what you believed in than to remain silent, even if the odds were against you. She nurtured within us truly revolutionary ideas of freedom and independence and reminded us often that those things would never be given to us. We had to demand it and fight for it.
It is not a coincidence that many of today’s community leaders and kiaʻi have a direct or indirect Hawaiian political genealogy to Dr. Trask. In fact, many of us celebrate and honor her resistance by continuing on her good work. We remember her bravery, resilience, and the way she was able to articulate an argument with passion, conviction, and intellect. I ola nā lālā i ke kumu kūʻokoʻa!
He kanikau kēia nou e Haunani-Kay Trask…
He aloha nui, e ka heke mana wahine
Ua hala ʻē aku ʻoe,
i ke ala hoʻi ʻole mai
A hoʻi paha i ke ala hele
polikua a Papa
ʻO Papa huli honua, ʻo Papa huli lani
ʻO Papa nui hānau moku
Nalo akula i ke ehu kakahiaka
Hōkū ʻōlino loa o ke ao kanaka
Ka lei lanakila a ka lāhui
A Hawaiʻi loa a e hiʻipoi nei
A noho aʻela i ke kapu o nā lani,
ʻOlapa ka uila, kuʻi hekili
Hōʻailona kapu o nā aliʻi
Anuanu mai nei ke aloha
Kolokolonahe ana i ka houpo,
Aloha e Noenoe Uakea o Hāna
Kulāiwi hanohano o nā kūpuna
He moʻopuna haʻaheo na Piʻilani
Ua lani haʻahaʻa o Mauiakama
He kamalei no ke anu o Nā Koʻolau
I kōkoʻolua a ka ua Kuaʻoʻe
Koa hoʻoheno o ka makani Ulumano
Ka manomano o ke aloha ʻāina
Aloha ka Ua Kuahine o Mānoa
Ia wahi pipiʻo a ke ānuenue
i laila ʻoe lā e hoʻonaʻuao aku ai
Hāliʻi ana e Kahaukani
Lilo i makuahine ʻimi naʻauao
A alakaʻi maikaʻi ma kahi kula uli ē
I kumu no ka ua loku me ka lā mehana
No ke anu a me koʻekoʻe lā
Hānai ʻia a māʻona i ka ʻike kālaiʻāina
Ke haʻaloʻu nei, a hū aʻela ka uē
Hāinu ihola i ka wai ola a maʻemaʻe
Ke kahe nei a heleleʻi ihola
Ka waimaka aloha e kulukulu nei
He Kanikau lā he aloha ē
E ke Kumu nui ē, e ke Kumu nui ē
E ke Kumu ʻao o mākou nā Hawaiʻi
Pau pū me nā haumāna puni ke ao nei
E paio mau me nā leo mana piha
A hiki i ke aloha ʻāina hope loa
Ua minamina lā e minamina
Paumako lā e paumako hoʻi
Lele ke Kumu nui lā,
lele ke Kumu nui ē.
