“No matter what Americans believe, most of us in the colonies do not feel grateful that
our country was stolen, along with our citizenship, our lands, and our independent place
among the family of nations. We are not happy Natives.”
Haunani-Kay Trask
Haunani-Kay Trask is a human rights organizer and leader in the struggle for
Native Hawaiian rights. For decades she has fought for indigenous rights, her aim being
self-determination for Native Hawaiians. Her struggle also reacts against the institutions
and oppressors who try to counter the Native Hawaiian sovereignty movement. As
decades pass, the world has made little progress when it comes to basic human rights.
Governments and societies often try to improve conditions but fail if they ignore the
wants and needs of indigenous peoples, minorities, and women. In fact, some aspects of
these complex issues seem to be getting worse as terms such as “globalization,” “post
colonialism,” and “empiricism” shapes the present and dominates the postmodern era. As
technologies, sciences, and politics become more entangled and advanced, society’s
concern for the people who have been affected and oppressed is an attitude of apathy, or
even perpetuation of these cycles. Although these statements could refer to a number of
disenfranchised indigenous people or countries, currently in Hawaii, there is a call for
action to the US government and people to reduce and correct wrong doings of the past.
Haunani-Kay Trask is a descendent from a long line of Native Hawaiian orators.
Her father and grandfather were both politically active in the struggle for securing Native
land rights. Her sister, Mililani Trask is also presently a leader and activist among the
community. Today, Trask is considered an authority on Hawaiian political issues and is
internationally known as an indigenous human rights advocate today. Trask is currently a
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Convention