#126 

As someone who HATES conflict I’m so proud of Kamaka for standing his ground and speaking his opinion cause I’d personally be in tears. She’s so intimidating but in the best way possible! She has so much passion for what she stands for and it definitely shows. So far one of my favorite podcast! I love seeing that you both can have different opinions but still come together and not let your egos get in the way of coming to some sort of solution!

Kamaka! You showed so much GRACE and ALOHA by reading negative comments towards you, somewhat protecting feedback from your viewers towards her, which, in my opinion, is keeping it Aloha ❤

Emma’s position is so necessary because if we don’t have someone who checks accountability to this level then the Hawaiin General and Individual purpose will be lost in ambiguity. The youngers are so comfortable in the pacification of media and philosophy and should not overlook/alienate Emma because let me tell you, she was made for it and because others cannot check at this level - she should be greatly admired and appreciated. One day the guard dog going bark to protect you. Simple backyard analogy. Please understand she is already a kupuna in the making.

A great conversation. Appreciate that Emma pushed back and challenged Kamaka from time to time. Really feel her passion, values, and commitment. You are both so committed to Hawaii, its people, and righting the wrongs of the past, although your approaches are different. Carry on the good work.

She speaks Truth I like her and speaks Facts 💯

The lesson of this is face to face conversations. We talked about this on our podcast. How social media call outs and arguments aren’t good for Hawaii. It shouldn’t take place online. That’s an example of foreign influence creating division. The comments had people that didn’t want accountability or resolution but for people to fight. Hawaii is the birthplace of conflict resolution. I hope more conversations like this happen face to face. ❤

The amount of “not interested” answers is the same as saying “I don’t care, or I don’t care to even know” education is key. If you are not open to learn beyond your personal views, you limit your accountability. If you wish to lead others or have others believe in what you stand for you must have a solid foundation of not only strong feelings but facts. To know facts you must be willing and interested in learning them. “I heard from some that said” is not facts it’s just feeding a narrative that supports a one sided view on things. I think she is a nice person but she is contradicting herself a lot.

Mahalo for doing this episode! I really enjoyed listening to this podcast! I was born and raised in Hawai'i on the island of Kaua`i. I grew up in the '60s and '70s and was not allowed to speak `Olelo. I didn't even know the history of Hawai`i until 2010, while I was in college. I have been living on the mainland for the past 43 years and I am currently learning `Olelo right now through RU-vid videos. It's never too late to learn about the history or language. Once again, Mahalo for this podcast!

I am haole: not born and raised on Hawaii. I am indigenous to Hawaii: my great grandmother was full Hawaiian, an ancestor in story is said to be Kalaniʻopuʻu, my father and his siblings and his father were born on Oʻahu. I am indigenous to other lands as well: Africa, Europe, French Polynesia, New Zealand. I remember as a child, an awareness of conflict and strife amongst Hawaiians and at a young age, I chose a different path, not good or bad, just different. It has been a LONG journey of what I now understand to be a decolonizing practice to get to the ancestral layer of historical harm to heal. The first step was decolonizing spiritually, I felt an inner prompt to let go of the colonizer religions of my parents and I went on a respective truth quest. The next step was becoming self aware that my family was toxic/sick (painful to admit, but true) and I needed to take a time out. After that came a teaching that nature is a thing of integrity and honesty, and I was lacking that in life, and it was time to align myself with the nature of nature herself. Then a prompt, that I was not done with education, and looking inside, I realize I had always wanted to dance, and at a very late age for a dancer, I began the journey and put myself through school, an undergraduate, and an MFA. I went again the societal prompt to do something that makes a lot of money, (I was written to by Stanford to come and pursue a PHD in economics,and they said funding could be available) I chose to grow the soul. The act of aligning the body in this way released things in my shadow and I began the very long and difficult process of processing complex PTSD while pursuing my dreams and goals. 30 years of work. I did not let the "genocide illness" define me. There were three layers, personal, family, and the last, historical harm. I see now the wisdom of whoever and whatever that intelligence is that is beyond our comprehension to shift in the way I did. I see clearly now, that the paradigm of colonizers religions as well as ways of treating the planet, this conditioning itself is a barrier to entry to healing the ancestral layer. These paradigms have a history of finger pointing and tossing dark and dense ignorant words at Hawaiian hula, oli, culture, and labelling it as taboo to explore, but THESE are the things one may need as medicine. Healing from PTSD and transgeneration trauma is not something one prays away. It requires work. Just like one canʻt go out into the field, and pray, please grow me a taro patch. You have to do the work. For this, there are specific ways of treating the trauma, just as there are ways to set a bone properly, or pull a tooth, yes prayer helps, but you need a safe container, you need a functional support network, one needs the grit to do ones own research, and one needs skilled practitioners who know how to hold space and teach you how to manage things as they come up. With regard to the existing conflict: here is my opinion, which is just an opinion.I am aware that there exists a community of us, elder learners, some of us a part of the Lost Generation with our identities thoroughly white washed and westernized, and we attend Kupuna Uni (kulanui kupuna) exploring what perhaps we did not have time for, or perhaps were not ready for, upon retirement years for whatever reasons. It is a spectacular way to keep the brain healthy as well as tend the inner domains of what it means to be an interconnected human with a heart for making a positive contribution towards the well-being of all expressions of life. So, 3 years and 3 months into the journey, I am attempting to tell some of my grandfather’s stories in Hawaiian, in that, the unbroken line of Hawaiian was broken with him in our family. My father didn’t learn, none of his brothers or sister learned, none of their children learned. They all became colonized (myself included) embracing the illegal government's military branch and fought wars for this illegal government in Hawaiʻi ala, they adopted the colonizer religions and went as far as to label the old ways as this and that and rejected the ancestors, they went through the Western educational systems and learned these values. This for me feels, learning Hawaiian, feels like my “kuleana” divorced from the complex politics that exist today amongst Hawaiians, which, from my perspective, reflects an observation of this grandfather. It is said the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom, he expressed it not only broke his heart, but it pitted Hawaiians against Hawaiians. I still see/hear this, the same old crud I heard as a little girl, Hawaiians against Hawaiians bad mouthing those who don’t live on the Islands, bad mouthing the way some Hawaiians or individuals who aren’t Hawaiian go about learning Hawaiian, how one way of being is right and another way of being is wrong. This for me is the black and white thinking that came with colonizer religions. They talk about Hawaiian thinking verses English thinking when for me, personally, there is something much deeper than that. There is living from a body felt ‘ike inside way of living that aligns with the way of living that cultivates functional living, and there is the type of indoctrinated thinking from people OUTSIDE of Polynesian family systems dictating what is right and wrong giving away one’s ability to critically think, and also, to access information to ancestral knowledge because it is labelled as _____ and ______ with fear as a predominant factor to create control, which in turn, led to seizing of land, suppression of culture, attempting to cut out tongues by erasing the past and not allowing indigenous to speak the mother tongue, where so much ‘ike and wisdom and Hawaiian values and ways of being thrive. I don’t care if you use modern markers or not, at least you are giving your sacred breath in an attempt to speak, to learn. I don’t care if you believe in sovereignty or not, and least you are aware that there are people who have strong views about a path forward. I do care about the continued harming of the land and the poisoning of waters and building things on sacred land, I do care deeply that there exists a lot of Hawaiians suffering today from genocide illness, I do care deeply that those who would like to live in Hawaii who have indigenous blood, no matter how small the quantum, and can’t afford it, I do care deeply that there still exists what my father would call haole stink eye with hostility towards outsiders, and I do care deeply that there are some who others might label as full on haole that act more closely in alignment with Hawaiian values than those who are Hawaiian who act a lot more like colonizers. So what is the path forward? Simply asking the question of the ethers, our guts, hearts minds, what is the path forward? How can we heal this rift that the colonizers created when they came to the islands and illegally overthrew the Hawaiian kingdom and continue to occupy this space illegally? Whose responsibility is it? How can I, on a personal level, contribute to mending the harm, and as a member of the human species, how can I even shed this identity and just lean into the fact, as one African elder said, if you cut your wrist it bleeds red, if I cut my wrist, it bleeds red. We all bleed red. The planet is bleeding, we are all hurting, on some level, letʻs clean out the infections, align our bodies with the beauty and wonder and wisdom of the cosmos, be true to our own authentic way and just do the work we know we must, individually, and collectively. Pau

Watching this made me realize the importance of clear communication, especially when we don’t agree. Finding out the others perspective and truly understanding it allows us to see where we miss each others point. The same word has different meanings to people (I.e. COMMUNITY), it’s a miracle we can get along as much as we do, in a world full of assumptions and misunderstandings.

When sis spoken on hawaiians being financially responsible... I 100000000 percent agree. This system is broke and as kanaka maoli, we need something that benefits not only people but the entire human race.

As a fellow Hawaiian. Kamaka I have to say you truly did a great job.

47:00 as a Hawaiian that grew up in California, Mexican people can do it because of La Raza. Because of their community. Because they have each other and their culture that they feed off of for support and even a boost of energy or resolve when times get hard. To help understand the root of this I can give an example: when you go to Mexico what language is mainly spoken there? Who owns the businesses? Who runs the government? Now ask yourself is it like that in Hawaii with Hawaiians? How about China first example? Or the Philippines? The difference I speak of is that these people have their culture. Their people. They’re support group. A foundation to stand on creating from themselves. Autonomy. That is what Hawaiians lack in strength and numbers compared to these other ethnicities. With that being said, We are all working hard to restore our autonomy and our lāhui. We all play a vital role in our success as a people. The children are speaking more Hawaiian and soon it will be a normally spoken first language again. They all have food sovereignty and sustainable food systems on their mind. I’m looking forward to see the restoration of our people and lands grow as the years go by.

58:59 Sheʻs losing me. Sis we cannot operate on air alone. We need MONEY!! Saying that we canʻt remain stagnant but also not move forward and update ourselves sheesh. OkOk I continued on watching and I get what she is saying. Very interesting guest on this one.

This was an amazing podcast Emma and Kamaka! Conversations that need to be had💗💗

Kamaka u need more kanaka maoli to come and talk different views about growing up and still living here.

Glad you did this 🤙🏽

What a super fruitful conversation! I loved this. Thank you Kamaka and Emma for such important, honest conversation.

In regards to the question at 2:08:35 about helping from the continent… the little I been doing is education. Spreading awareness and educating on Hawaiis true history. It drives TONS of discomfort amongst Americans, specifically European Americans. However, being so far from home, that’s as deep as I can get. The long game is once I retire I will move back home to Ewa and continue to do my part for our people.

Living an exemplary life is “giving back”. We all have different purposes goals jobs skills experiences etc that we employ to move HUMANS forward. Emma I love You, understand that you may not TAKE $ from oil BANKSTERS etc but you GIVE $ to them, EVERY $ you spend is THEIR$. Unless you go jungle with NOTHING you are part of the system benefiting and supporting them with or without your na’auledge❤. It’s good to have people like you to keep everything and everyone as real as possible. Remember there are no solutions only trade offs. Beautiful intelligent discussions beautiful intelligent podcasts ❤

I think people from third world countries who come here and thrive come with a different mindset. And more importantly without American brainwash that can happen when you're born into the system. All the nonsense we are born into in a first world country can weigh down focus a lot.

Aloha kamaka I love this session actually it made me very emotional My whole life I grew up Ku’e with some of the greats and learned from the greats I do not speak full olelo Hawaii because I was also taught to walk the western path to make my life abundant That word Ku’e is very special to me and my heart it embodies everything my grandmother was and Is as she was a warrior that walk this aina her whole life. I am kanaka maoli my whole life. I’m so proud of kanaka like you folks riding up. Mahalo nui

Kuʻe kākou. Mahalo Emma ame Kamaka...💪

she keeps saying shes not interested, sis if you showed some interest maybe you can gather enough information from both sides and actually see where people are coming from. you want people to see your side only but when its time to actually see theirs you "not interested"? cmon sista lol, still love her tho. thank you for the podcast kamaka.

Great podcast, Kamaka! Started following her on IG, and her podcast. 🤙🏼

Respect for having her on. I’m a day-one fan of this podcast. We care what you say because you have been this voice of aloha for mea Hawai’i and then suddenly it felt like you pulled a 180, like it went really far toward haole. If you recognize my name at all it’s probably as an annoyance in the Instagram comments, but it’s not because I’m a troll or hater. It’s because these topics feel life or death to me-I think they are life or death for Hawaiian language, culture, and people-so I do not take them lightly. Hearing more about how your background shaped your perspective, it’s more understandable. But more perspectives like this in the podcast would be much appreciated. Jamaica would be a great guest. Poipoundah would be interesting. Anyway, keep it up! Keep it aloha! Thank you for doing this one.

Coming from a 3rd gen Mexican most Mexicans come here and are either street vendors , construction workers or some sort of food services(mostly cooks). And when coming here we keep the dollar in other Hispanic businesses. They push education and blue collar jobs on their children bc they want them to thrive. When my grandpa came to California he worked as a strawberry picker in the fields. Then left to do construction and ever since has been getting generations of cousins and family friends into the construction industry. And always always presses the importance of owning a home. Whatever it takes to get there that’s what they really want for their family owner ship. Even with my Asian friends their family keeps the dollar in other Asian businesses and they will get their families into their job fields. We all uplift our own and help as much as we can to make everyone win. I cannot express how important it is to support your people and keep the dollar within your own if you really want everyone to win. If you get a bomb opportunity bring in your family if you can. If you can start only shopping Hawaiian businesses. Keep your dollar strong within your own and it will help greatly in the process to help other Hawaiians stay in Hawaii.

I don't think Kamaka is a sell out, if I could get Texeco (however you spell it. LOL) to stand behind what I do I be like hell to the Yeah!

You should have a segment where you teach us ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi.

It's everybody's job to educate 'ike Hawai'i Hawaiian and non Hawaiian alike.

I am a white woman living here 30 years in full time service to all races within our community, each nationality so beautiful…before this with Native Americans, i was so blessed in those experiences..but I love Kamakas priority in service to all humans…a true spiritual path..may we stand in common to emphasize connection to aina and good of the whole…and resist all the economic imbalance of this earth creating so much suffering..does hoele have anything to do with race ? I don’t think so, I grew up beautiful farmland Massachusetts which became wealthy area and then could not afford…it’s a big loss; beautiful places get over run, always good to honor cultural roots but each individual does service in a unique way, even the brother in law working for Texaco maybe he does profound service in his life, Emma could be more careful regarding judgement of others; not everyone needs to walk the same path as her, she wants to define the right path. Yes hold onto and exemplify Hawaiian culture and roots but this whole planet needs us to pay attention, elect ethical People and create change. We need to open perspective, it’s really a planetary emergency.

Ok so it took me a few days to get thru the entire podcast, and first off thank you for this episode. Before this episode, I was beginning to struggle to listen. Hearing the things being said, learning some of what I was learning thru this podcast, and some of the messages conveyed it became harder to listen to- I would wonder about the name of the podcast, the purpose of it as a whole, and if it was dedicated to holding space for Native Hawaiians or what. I struggled with promoting the podcast, or reposting for some of the messages that were being sent out in those short clips. Was this really a place I would like to promote as a representation of Native Hawaiians? Secondly for answering my question “Kuheleloa”. After this episode, I understand more, and as Emma said, have a new respect for Kamaka. This was great. Heading over to Moon Kine Tingz podcast too. Mahalo ♥️

Out of curiosity what is being done for those that are currently living in the thickness of the generational trauma? Are Hawaiians at the schools and jails providing information for change? Are they in the community making it aware there is a better way to live to help change the generational trauma kids are not stuck raising kids bc the parents are in jail?

I kākoʻo Emma’s description of a great leader, but I think a kanaka could have every single of those traits, but if they came from any sort of family background that she deems as privileged she would tear them down.

Can tell this girl thinks she’s always right…and that’s it😂 She has a high makamaka im the best Hawaiian type of vibe Good job bucking back to her. Stuck in her ways like she doesn’t live a western lifestyle

Speaking as a haule from the mainland with no native blood of any sort to speak of, I see the idea of pulling oneself up by the bootstraps as such an older generational way of thinking. "I did x at this age, why can't you?" Its like, Hawaiians understand why it's not possible intimately, Native Americans do too, as does any other minority population. Capitalism has crushed so much and propagandized SO much that some people can't or won't see. It's refreshing tho to hear these things talked about more and to hear the discourse.

People saying she’s right… yeah😂. I get what she’s saying… but we ain’t going back to Kapu days. Pre missionary. I’m glad she’s in the super minority. Good luck fighting everyone.

2:23:47 i FELT IN EVERY FIBER OF MY BEING

32:57 The issue here is not that we cannot or do not have empathy that you’re a regular, imperfect person like the rest of us or that we cannot understand that the long-form interview will likely be more nuanced than an Instagram or TikTok clip, but that you have (in the cases where there have been these online flare-ups) chosen to clip sections that contain harmful messages out of context and are going out to the world without any context, fueling dangerous perspectives of those who would continue to take indigenous land, disrespect culture, take up indigenous space as foreigners. A clip like that does active harm. So if we’re misunderstanding your clips, maybe there’s just a responsibility or an opportunity to clip more responsibly. But you cannot expect everyone who sees a social media clip to have already seen the full podcast. For instance, at the time of my comment this full episode has 5.8k views, whereas the clips of Emma on Instagram already have a total 495.5k views. Less than 2% of the Instagram viewers have watched this podcast. Like it or not, the public perception of you and the podcast is going to be based on what you clip. Like, I can tell you right now that I’m never going to watch some of the podcast episodes simply because I was so turned-off by the clips. That probably sounds ignorant to you or at least ungracious, but those clips felt like violence to my na’au and I’m not going to subject myself to that with the hope that the longer-form conversation is more nuanced.

sorry, but Emma's views are quite typical of the latest mainlander trying to justify their envy. She would fit right in on the mainland. Claiming Kamaka is bad because he has sponsorship from a successful company is really sad.

Mahalo

❤❤❤❤

“Can’t eat money”… but you can buy food with it right?

look into Christianity and history of Hawaii... praying for you

OLA NA KANAKA I KOU ALOHA

Bra she's so do as I say not as I do.

Imagine if we were only eating kalo, Hawaiian beef, wild pig, and fruits & vegetables…

She’s annoying

“Kanaka come home”… need to make money

Hahaha… no need be a perfect Hawaiian for her? Everything out of her mouth up to that point says otherwise.