Hokule‘a crew meeting with American Indians
COURTESY POLYNESIAN VOYAGING SOCIETY / OIWI TV
The Hokule‘a arrived at Woods Hole, Mass., on Saturday. The canoe’s noon arrival was marked by a greeting at Dyer’s Dock from representatives of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribal nation and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute community.
The Hokule‘a crew planned to welcome their hosts, known as the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe, and members of the public on board the vessel this Fourth of July in Massachusetts.
Kaleo Wong, apprentice navigator for the Hokule‘a, said the vessel will be moored at a dock near a parade route in Woods Hole, allowing the public to board the vessel during Independence Day festivities.
Woods Hole is the site of several renowned marine research organizations, such as the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and the Mashpee tribe of American Indians has inhabited Massachusetts for more than 12,000 years.
“They’re the ones that we asked permission to come here and land on their traditional lands,” Wong said by phone Sunday. “We’re just trying to thank them by having them come on board the canoe and … show them the canoe that brought us here, the canoe that has once again returned our culture to us and our language.”
He said that similar to the Hawaiian revival, the Wampanaog people are relearning their language after not speaking it for decades, reclaiming the language from written documents.
“It’s exciting to engage with them in this way because the same thing happened to us after the birth of Hokule‘a,” he said. “There’s a lot more similarities between us than differences.”
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The Hokule‘a arrived in Massachusetts on Tuesday as part of the Polynesian Voyaging Society’s Malama Honua Worldwide Voyage, or “care for our Island Earth” tour around the globe. Since arriving in Florida in March, the Hokule‘a has been traveling up the East Coast and stopped in Virginia, Washington and New York.
When the Hokule‘a arrived in Massachusetts, a sister tribe of the Mashpee, the Aquinnah Wampanoag tribe, met the canoe in a traditional canoe called a mishoon that was constructed by burning out the canoe’s interior. It was the first mishoon constructed by the tribe in hundreds of years.
A couple dozen Mashpee Wampanoag greeted the Hokule‘a at Woods Hole, including 94-year-old elder Chief Vernon “Silent Drum” Lopez.
“In this day and age, we know that it can be confusing about what is meaningful,” Lopez said in a statement. “But this is. This gathering, this togetherness is historical and we will speak of it for generations to come.”
A welcoming ceremony at Woods Hole included a performance of a song about the Hokule‘a by the children of the Neekun School, a language immersion school of the Wampanoag people.
Wong said the Hokule‘a crew also made a connection to the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe through a Wampanoag-Hawaiian woman living in Massachusetts named Trish Keliinui, whose father lives in Waimanalo.
The Hokule‘a crew members were the honorary guests during the Saturday morning ceremonies at the Mashpee Wampanoag’s 95th annual powwow, which celebrates traditional songs, dances and cultural ceremonies. During Saturday’s event, the crew shared Hawaiian songs and hula and bestowed gifts such as a kahili, or feathered staff.
The Hokule‘a will continue its voyage Tuesday, crossing Buzzards Bay to New Bedford, Mass., where the crew will stay for a few days before continuing their journey up the New England coast.
17 responses to “Hokule‘a crew meeting with American Indians”
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I thought they were supposed to be called “Native Americans.”
“Indians” is incorrect. Not politically incorrect, just incorrect!
Oh.
You haven’t been listening to our allie. The preferred term is indigenous peoples.
I am endlessly puzzled by this fact: the pake that are promoting themselves as native, as the story shows, have ignored the already recognized natives living in Hawaii, as per the 1920 federal statute that set aside reservations for them from the public lands using standard federal Indian land policy and practice. Why is it these voyagers, who are affiliated with Kam Schools, have to go to Mass to find actual Native Americans when there are plenty of them suffering from extreme poverty and landlessness right here at home. Every day, almost, a native Hawaiian gets thrown off of his own land by local government for using the land as permitted in federal law while this public relations stunt gets a free pass from media and from local pols. All the pake have to do is change their arrogant attitude formed around the division between royalists and the nearest kinship group to make things happen for themselves easily, without all this brull sheet PR nonsense.
There is something wrong when a government, whether local, state, federal, or monarchical, denies access to “public lands” by the very people who elected it.
Worth a reminder, on this Independence day:
…Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it…
Err, not to contest an excellent, timely quotation by by learned friend, Palani, but in reality although land is labeled as “public” it is ultimately owned by the government, the federal government. In royalism, all the land is owned by the crown, and that’s why the dynasty system ensued. Our crown lands were deemed government owned not crown clan owned, at least those still left over after the Kam dynasty had its day. Local government takes federally protected native lands in violation of the Indian Non Intercourse Act of 1790. So, the point being, the founding fathers themselves recognized right to land use and protection against alienation by the people they found living in what became the US of A as evidenced by the 1790 statute. That’s a fact too. Why is it that the Kam Schools replica canot PR project fails to ever acknowledge this fact? There is something highly suspect going on here.
U.S government. .dirty people.
Did the Hokulea crew greet the American Indians, as fellow American Indians, or as Hawaiian Indians, or as Native Hawaiians ?
you left out the correct answer to your question: the correct answer is Chinese Hawaiians. Not to be confused with native Hawaiians.
They want to know how it is to being treated as a tribe of Indians, so Hawaiians can become a tribe.
The Hokule’a carries the pride of many Hawaiians and it carries an important message about caring for planet earth. It is also acknowledging indigenous people providing opportunities to build pride within their own circles.
Well, specking as the Father, (who resides in Kapahulu), of the Lady dressed in her Tribal regalia, (red scarf/kukui nut & pikake lei), watching the Hokulea’s arrival, with tears in her eyes. As she said to me,”It was emotional and very happy just knowing it was the other part of her heritage”. In this regard, the comments/opinions of the writers, well, I’ve just look beyond it, because of my living in the Mashpee Wampanoag community for 32 years. Its funny, but it was the Wampanoag Tribe who assisted the Pilgrims in 1620…..
The last time I checked, no Chinese were living in the islands when cook landed in 78 nor were there any whites. there were only natives. the same natives the chinese have marginalized in many ways, including by trying to take over their identity through a state tribe. blood quantum may not matter to some but it is the law. the pake are trying to make new law to favor them selves after Rice while at the same time stepping on the necks of actual natives using local law and local memes. actual natives do not need fake people advocating for them. they only need fakes to get out of the way and stop manipulating public opinion.
Well it’s about time.
Mythman, by making broad generalizations about Chinese-Hawaiians, as opposed to true Hawaiians, you are confusing myriad transplanted Caucasoids who are already confused enough. Are you “Hawaiian?” If yes, fine. If not, you are more than living up to your moniker.
IRT Mythman ~ I share with you a quote from my great grandmother’s autobiography (Tales of the Night Rainbow..1816-1931), whose grandfather was a spiritual leader of “Paiea Ku-nui-akea (Kamehameha I)~ “We are all one: each a part of the eternal whole. There is no line that divides one from another or those in body from those in spirit…When men say they believe only this or that they put blinders on themselves. Blinders hide the beauty and majesty of what we are all a part of ~ Children of the Most High! Inheriters of the Universe!
Still doesn’t change the law of the land, which rules in spite of what anyone’s own personal views are. Think this over: why cannot you accept the rule of law while also cherishing your own personal views? The rule of law effects equal treatment for those who otherwise would be victims of personal views when these gain traction through politics or, in the case of the fiberglass canoe, via public relations stunts.