{"id":294209,"date":"2025-04-28T12:00:47","date_gmt":"2025-04-28T11:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=294209"},"modified":"2025-04-27T09:17:23","modified_gmt":"2025-04-27T08:17:23","slug":"e-olelo-kakou-sisters-e-pule-kakou-sisters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2025\/04\/e-olelo-kakou-sisters-e-pule-kakou-sisters\/","title":{"rendered":"E `\u014clelo Kakou, Sisters E Pule Kakou, Sisters"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Let us speak together, Sisters) (Let us pray together, Sisters)<\/em><\/p>\n

Sisters and Brothers Hear our prayer to you,
\nIn the spirit of Aloha which our gods bequeathed to us and
\nto you,
\nWe ask you to hear our words and
\nfeel our pain.<\/p>\n

Long before your Christian forefathers came upon our sacred ‘\u0100ina (Land),
\nWe were three hundred thousand strong. Strong in body, mind and spirit.
\nOur gods, our ways, our ‘\u0101ina, our sea and sky provided and nourished us.<\/p>\n

But your forefathers came to our shores they brought with them the Cross and
\nthe Flag,
\nand Disease,
\nand Alcohol,
\nand Despair,
\nand Greed, and
\nShame for what we were – “lowly heathens”<\/p>\n

(I think they said).<\/p>\n

They offered, no, demanded,
\nthat we accept the Cross and the Flag (these Siamese twins of Power)
\nAnd said, “Here. With these you will prosper.”<\/p>\n

We tried to put into their hands, our symbols:
\nThe Kalo, (taro) from whose body we take sacred nourishment. The ‘\u0101ina, from whose body we take sacred nourishment.
\nThe Wai and the Kai, (the inland and sea Water) from whose body we take sacred nourishment.<\/p>\n

But they scorned our symbols, They scorned us. They said, “Here. With these, you will prosper.”<\/p>\n

But look at us now, Sisters. We are the poorest.
\nWe live in cars, tents, on benches and sidewalks.
\nWe occupy more jail cells, more hospital beds, more morgue slabs and coffins
\nThan any other race in Hawaii.
\nOur children are labelled \u201cDISADVANTAGED\u201d and can’t read
\ncan’t write can’t get a job
\ncan’t get an education.<\/p>\n

We are beggars in our own homeland.
\nBut no more.
\nAs we lay down the Cross,
\nAs we lay down the Flag,
\nWe search and have found those symbols which spring from this place
\nthis time this People.<\/p>\n

In our hands we offer you
\na scoop of earth, the ‘\u0100ina
\na scoop of water from the land and the sea, Life a rainbow, Hope
\nand Aloha, Love.<\/p>\n

But let us be clear.
\nWhether you accept our symbols or not,
\nWe will continue to speak the truth of our history
\nthe truth of our pain
\nthe truth of our oppression the truth of our colonization.
\nAnd through this truth we will be free.<\/p>\n

This is our prayer to you, sisters.
\nListen to it with your soul, sisters.<\/p>\n

Amene.<\/p>\n

__________________________________________<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> Puanani Burgess (1947 -2024) was a poet, priest, aunty, and friend to many. She was a community activist in the Native Hawaiian sovereignty movement for over fifty years. As the designer and facilitator for Building the Beloved Community \u2013 a process that brings ceremony, storytelling, and circles of trust and respect \u2013 Aunty Pua shared Native Hawaiian practices throughout the world to bring healing and reconciliation. She served as the Myles and Zilphia Horton Chair for the Highlander Research and Education Center in Tennessee and as a community scholar in residence at the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Hawai\u2019i. Aunty Pua was an ordained Zen Buddhist priest in the International Daihonzan Chozen-ji.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cYou want to make a difference? Then start by looking within.\u201d \u2013 Aunty Puanani Burgess<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Let us speak together, Sisters) (Let us pray together, Sisters)
\nSisters and Brothers Hear our prayer to you,
\nIn the spirit of Aloha which our gods bequeathed to us and
\nto you,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":293610,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[182],"tags":[532,405,1309,868,70],"class_list":["post-294209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-poetry-format","tag-colonialism","tag-colonization","tag-hawaii","tag-poetry","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=294209"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294209\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":294210,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294209\/revisions\/294210"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/293610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=294209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=294209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=294209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}