Stay tuned for the others on Jeju, Haleakalā, Oyster Bay, Han-Ayan, Okinawa, Pågan and West Papua!
From Women's Voices Women Speak member Reyna Ramolete Hayashi:
This piece organically grew from the love, brilliance, and vision of beloved community. In the wake of the murders of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, Prentis Hemphill called us together for a "Building Beloved Community" event, creating a space for us to grieve, heal, and build together. We tilled soil.
Kim Compoc and Aunty Terri Kekoolani called on us as Women's Voices Women Speak to organize for peace and de-militarization in Hawai'i and the Pacific and host an Artivism Tent at Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea. We planted seeds.
Ilima Long called us together with Joy Enomoto, Prentis Hemphill, Akiemi Glenn, Jamaica Osorio, Nalani Balutski, and Kasha Ho to build bridges and weave connections between Womenʻs Voices Women Speak, Black Lives Matter, and the militarization of our islands and policing, to put our struggles and freedoms in touch with each other. We watered seeds.
Jamaica Osorio called on ancestral wisdom by researching and compiling "Unuhi ka pō". We grew roots.
Joy Enomoto, Bryan Kuwada, Aiko Yamashiro, Jamaica Osorio, Caitlin Kee Jeonghye, Kelsey Amos, Jennifer Vehia Wheeler, Ilima Long and Reyna Ramolete Hayashi collectively drafted and edited the piece. We grew limbs and flowered.
Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea called on us to grow our capacities for ea, where Womenʻs Voices Women Speak shared our "10 Reasons Black Lives Matter in the Hawaiian Kingdom" poster alongside posters on de-militarization movements in Pōhakuloa, Haleakalā, Henoko/Okinawa, Jeju/Korea, Han-Ayan/Philippines, and Pågan/Guåhan. We shared in the fruit of this collective labor of love.
