Hawaiʻi Rising

68. Sex Workers Outreach Project Hawaiʻi: Dreams of Safety and Liberation

A conversation about community care and shifting the perception of consensual sex work in Hawaiʻi with Doug Upp and Jin Kwak, organizers with the Hawaiʻi chapter of the Sex Workers Outreach Project (SWOP).

SWOP Hawaiʻi is a grassroots organization led by sex workers, advocating for the safety, healing, and liberation of marginalized communities engaged in consensual adult labor. Through direct support services, mutual aid, and community empowerment initiatives, they address systemic discrimination at the intersections of race, gender, and class. The hui’s work challenges stigma and advocates for the decriminalization of adult consensual sex work.

Instagram: @swophawaii

Tags: Hawaiʻi, Hawai'i, Hawaii

67. Jewish Voice for Peace Hawaiʻi: Building Anti-zionist Jewish Community in Occupied Hawaiʻi

A conversation about Palestine solidarity organizing in Hawaiʻi with Cynthia Franklin and Imani Altemus-Williams from the Hawaiʻi chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace.

JVP Hawaiʻi works to educate Hawaiʻi communities about settler-colonialism in Palestine and the links to colonialism and militarism in Hawaiʻi. They organize Jewish and non-Jewish communities towards an end to u.s. funding to Israeli apartheid and the militarized occupation of Palestine. They work to build a loving and intersectional anti-zionist Jewish community in Hawaiʻi where everyone is welcome and feels safe in expressing their solidarity with Palestine, taking action for tangible social change for the liberation of both Palestine and Hawaiʻi.

Instagram: @jvphawaii

Tags: Hawaiʻi, Hawai'i, Hawaii

66. The Pōpolo Project: Redefining What It Means to Be Black in Hawaiʻi

A conversation about creating spaces of reconnection for Black folks in Hawaiʻi with Dr. Akiemi Glenn and Jamila Jarmon from the Pōpolo Project.

Founded in 2017, the Pōpolo Project is committed to redefining perceptions of Black people in Hawai‘i and creating a deep reconnection to themselves as individuals, to their community, to their ancestors, and to the lands that sustain them. They build community power by strengthening collective memory, practicing cultures together, developing a vocabulary to talk about race in Hawaiʻi, and highlighting intergenerational efforts to connect the Black community in Hawaiʻi to the liberation efforts of others.

Tags: Hawaiʻi, Hawai'i, Hawaii

65. ʻOhana Hoʻopakele: Creating Puʻuhonua in Hawaiʻi's Prisons

A conversation about organizing for a rehabilitative justice system with Kaleihau Kamauʻu and Ron Fujiyoshi from ʻOhana Hoʻopakele.

‘Ohana Ho’opakele was founded by kūpuna as an intervention to the disproportionate number of Kānaka Maoli in Hawai’i’s prisons. The hui began this journey by opposing the building of new prisons on Hawai’i Island, and their research illuminated the goal of building pu’uhonua to provide healing for paʻahao (or people who are incarcerated) before they return back into society. ʻOhana Hoʻopakele rejects the punitive model of the current prison system, and they pursue multiple avenues to create change towards a rehabilitative system while building a strong base among pa’ahao, ex-pa’ahao, their families, and supporters.

Tags: Hawaiʻi, Hawai'i, Hawaii

Hawaiʻi Rising - Season 4 Trailer

Announcing a new season of Hawaiʻi Rising featuring our 2024 grantee cohort, coming soon wherever you listen to podcasts.

 

Tags: Hawaiʻi, Hawai'i, Hawaii

Honoring Leandra Wai and Sparky Rodrigues

Each year for Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea, two people are honored for their activism and commitment to ea. This year, the two honorees are Sparky Rodrigues and his late wife Leandra Wai of Mālama Mākua, who have fought for the care and reclamation of Mākua Valley since 1996. In this special episode, Sparky reflects on his and Leandra’s life, work, and legacy.

To learn more about Mālama Mākua, check out our previous interview with Uncle Sparky and Aunty Lynette Cruz in episode 17 Mālama Mākua: Piko of Peace as well as a special update from last December about the Armyʻs written statement that they don’t need Mākua for live fire training ever again.

Tags: Hawaiʻi, Hawai'i, Hawaii.

 

Celebrating Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea at Thomas Square and Pōkaʻi Bay (2023)

Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea is coming up at the end of July! In this special episode from 2023, learn about community celebrations of Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea, or Sovereignty Restoration Day, in recent years. The 2024 Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea celebration at Pōkaʻi Bay, Waiʻanae, is on Saturday, July 27, and the celebration at Thomas Square, Honolulu, will be on Sunday, July 28. Come join us!

Guests in order of appearance: Imaikalani Winchester, Pōlani Kahakalau-Kalima, Wahinehula Kaeo, Ke‘alohi Quiamno, Kyle Kajihiro, Uʻi and Kalani Puaʻoi, Makaio Villanueva and Nani Peterson, and Lynette Cruz.

To learn more about Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea, listen to our previous interview in episode 26. Lā Ho'iho'i Ea Honolulu: Visions of a Sovereign Future.

Tags: Hawaiʻi, Hawai'i, Hawaii

Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea Honolulu: Visions of a Sovereign Future (2022)

Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea is coming up at the end of July! The 2024 LHE celebration at Thomas Square will be on Sunday, July 28.

In this episode from 2022, we spoke with organizers of Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea Honolulu: Imaikalani Winchester, Noelani Goodyear-Kaʻopua, and Mahina Kaomea.

LHE Honoluluʻs mission is to provide safe spaces to celebrate Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea through educational, cultural, and community networking events, focusing on Hawaiian independence, social justice and open dialogue around multi-faceted practices of EA (life, breath, rising, sovereignty).

Website: lahoihoiea.org

Tags: Hawaiʻi, Hawai'i, Hawaii

64. Hui Iwi Kuamoʻo: A Case Study of Iwi Kūpuna Repatriation

In this episode with Hui Iwi Kuamoʻo, Halealoha Ayau and Mana Caceres talk through a case study of a successful repatriation of iwi kūpuna (Hawaiian ancestral bones) from the Duckworth Laboratory at Cambridge University, from first learning about the iwi at Cambridge to their reburial last year. This repatriation was noteworthy as the first ever successful repatriation of ancestral remains from Cambridge by any Indigenous community.

For 33 years, Hui Iwi Kuamo’o has provided care for iwi kūpuna (ancestral Hawaiian bones), moepū (funerary possessions) and mea kapu (sacred objects) through repatriation and reburial. To learn more about the history of Hui Iwi Kuamoʻo and their approach to this transformative work, check out our first episode with Halealoha and Mana: episode 28: Hui Iwi Kuamoʻo: Restoring the Ancestral Foundation.

Tags: Hawaiʻi, Hawai'i, Hawaii

Kūkulu Exhibit, Part 2: The Occupation of Bachman Hall

In this two-episode special, we hear from five students active in the 2019 mobilization to protect Mauna Kea from the construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope. Part 2: "The Occupation Bachman Hall" shares the experiences of students who occupied the Board of Regents' office building on the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa campus during the fall 2019 semester. Their 117-day sit-in was the longest in UH history.

These stories were recorded in conjunction with the Kūkulu Exhibit "Hoʻomana" brought to the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa through a partnership between HPF grantee Mauna Kea Education & Awareness and KTUH.

Student voices (in order of appearance): Beau Shishido, Anuhea Tavares, Kāhili Liu-Hanohano, and ʻIhilani Lasconia.

Tags: Hawaiʻi, Hawai'i, Hawaii