Maui
Over the past couple weeks, I’ve been thinking a lot about my home state and the Maui fires.
As the news rolled out on the 8th and 9th, I spent those days texting—with my dad, who works a couple days a week on Maui, as he flew home to Oahu from a burning island; with my Hawaii friends who were trying to locate loved ones while piecing together information from a way-too-long google doc of missing people; with my mainland community as I reassured them that everyone I knew was fine, even when I didn’t yet know.
I do know, now. Everyone I know on the islands is alive, with a place to live. I’m utterly grateful, and I’m also devastated, because there are many people who can’t say the same.
I grew up on Oahu and visited my uncle and cousins on Maui many times. I know the island. I know Hawaii. And anyone who’s lived on the islands, or has even visited them, knows how special the place is. Because it’s beautiful and rich with history and so many people there really do embody the Aloha spirit and yes yes all of that. But also because—mostly because—it’s people’s home.
Much has been made of paradise, but Lahaina was a home, where families lived for generations. Where loved ones were buried and born. Where people cooked for family and friends, aunties and uncles related through blood or through love. Where kids played under the banyan tree and on the beach. Where they prepared for their first day of school, August 9th, with no idea of what was to come.
There was a public library. And four schools. A fish market. A hula halau. A tree that stood for 150 years. Family businesses. And so, so many homes.
Now, there’s a long road of mourning and rebuilding, and I hope that rebuilding happens gently and ethically. I hope Hawaii and its people are treated better than they have been in the past.
Some brief history, if you’ll let me—
For a hundred years, Hawaii was a sovereign kingdom, but in the mid 1800s, the US took notice of its fertile land and useful naval location. Through a mixture of treaties and force, American merchants and missionaries arrived on the islands to set up churches and plantations, and the US military set up a naval base at Pearl Harbor.
Still, though, Hawaii remained a kingdom—until 1887.
In 1887, a group of plantation owners and white colonists held King Kalakaua at gunpoint and forced him to sign a constitution that stripped the Hawaiian monarchy of power and linked voting rights to land ownership (a western concept, which meant many Hawaiians could no longer vote.)
Kalakaua’s sister, Queen Lili’uokalani, then took the throne, and was attempting to return rights to Hawaiians when a similar militant group (led by Sanford Dole, of Dole Pineapple) arrested her and threatened her loved ones until she agreed to let the US annex Hawaii.
It took one hundred years for the US government to acknowledge, in 1993, that the Hawaiian kingdom never relinquished their right to the land—but no real practical action or application has come from that apology.
For many in Hawaii, there’s trauma stacked on trauma here, and in the aftermath of the fire, a lot of locals understandably fear that Lahaina will be bought up and developed for tourists, a tragedy turned into opportunity by the very wealthy. We’re already hearing stories of private developers preying on people who just lost everything.
But. History doesn’t always have to repeat. The Hawaii community is coming together in a powerful way—and beyond that, people from all over the country and the world are coming together to help.
So, my bookish people, here’s a way to help.
A group of Native Hawaiian authors and artists started Books For Maui, an online auction where you can bid on signed books, author school visits, manuscript feedback, and more. All proceeds are going to The Hawaii Community Foundation, the Maui Food Bank, Kamehameha schools, and the Council of Native Hawaiian Advancement. The auction has already raised over $80,000 (!), and their goal is to get to $100,000 before bidding ends on the 25th.
I think we can do it.
I’m auctioning off a complete set of my signed books, as well as a 30 minute virtual school visit or Q&A call, and I will personally match the final bid. There are so many great things up for auction, so please check it out if you’re so inclined.
Thank you.
With care,
Tae
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