Haunani-Kay Trask

Haunani-Kay Trask
Born (1949-10-03) October 3, 1949
California, U.S.
Nationality Hawaiian
Education Kamehameha Schools (1967)
Alma mater University of Wisconsin–Madison (1972)
Occupation Author, professor
Partner(s) David Stannard
Relatives Arthur K. Trask (uncle)
Mililani B. Trask (sister)

Haunani-Kay Trask (born October 3, 1949) is a Hawaiian nationalist, educator, political scientist and writer whose genealogy connects her to the Piʻilani line on her maternal side and the Kahakumakaliua line on her paternal line[1]. She grew up on Oʻahu and continues to reside there. Trask worked as a professor of Hawaiian Studies with the Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa until her retirement and has represented Native Hawaiians in the United Nations and various other global forums. She is the author of several books of poetry and nonfiction.

In March 2017, Hawaiʻi Magazine ranked her among a list of the most influential women in Hawaiian history.[2]

Early life and education

Trask was born in California, grew up in Hawaiʻi, and comes from a politically active family. Mililani B. Trask, her younger sister, is an attorney on the Big Island and was a trustee of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs created by the 1978 Hawaii State Constitutional Convention to administer lands held in trust for Native Hawaiians and use the revenue to fund Native Hawaiian programs.

Trask graduated from Kamehameha Schools in 1967. She then attended the University of Wisconsin–Madison, earning her bachelor's degree in 1972, a master's degree in 1975 and a PhD in political science in 1981. Her dissertation was revised into a book entitled Eros and Power: The Promise of Feminist Theory and was published by the University of Pennsylvania Press in 1986.

Career

Politics

Trask opposes tourism to Hawaiʻi and the U.S. military's presence in Hawaiʻi. More recently Trask has spoken against the Akaka Bill, a bill to establish a process for Native Hawaiians to gain federal recognition similar to the recognition that some Native American tribes currently possess.[3]

Collegiate work

Trask is professor emeritus on Hawaiian Studies at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.

Poetry

As a poet, Trask believes in and utilizes the “art as an anvil” approach in her writing. Believing that native Hawaiians have been shunted off to the margins of society, she employs the words of her works as weapons against what she perceives to be the oppressor.[4] An example of this can be taken from her work "Racist White Woman", featured in Light in the Crevice Never Seen:

Racist White Woman
I could kick
Your face, puncture
Both eyes.
You deserve this kind
Of violence
No more vicious
Tongues, obscene
Lies.
Just a knife
Slitting your tight
Little heart.
For all my people
Under your feet
For all those years
Lived smug and wealthy
Off our land
Parasite arrogant
A fist
In your painted
Mouth, thick
With money
And piety.

Anti-Americanism

Trask considers the United States and its citizens her enemy and the enemy of the Hawaiian people, saying "The Americans, my people, are our enemies."[5] She stated to her students that "We need to think very, very clearly about who the enemy is. The enemy is the United States of America and everyone who supports it."[6] She has referred to non-indigenous Hawaiians, whether they be of Asian or white descent, as "settlers". Trask has stated that "I am NOT an American. I am NOT an American. I will DIE before I am an American." This statement has been criticized by some as she was born in the United States and is thus a U.S. citizen.[7]

Trask's argument is that Hawaiʻi is not America, despite what some may think; it is in fact, Polynesian by location and culture and remains so indefinitely.

Allegations of racism

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has condemned Trask for her anti-American statements, stating that such vitriol helps fuel racism in Hawaiʻi.[8]

Trask's book From A Native Daughter has also been controversial as it's seen by many as justifying hatred against white people by Native Hawaiians. Trask also justified violence against white people in a poem titled Racist White Woman, part of which read "I could kick/Your face, puncture/Both eyes./You deserve this kind/Of violence./No more vicious/Tongues, obscene/Lies./Just a knife/Slitting your tight/Little heart."[9]

A University of Hawaiʻi student named Joey Carter (a philosophy major) wrote in an editorial in 1990 in the student newspaper against the use of the Hawaiian word haole, claiming that the term was "Caucasian bashing" and that "racism is not an exclusively white endeavor"[10] Trask publicly wrote in response: "Too bad, Mr. Carter, you are a haole and you always will be…" while in the same message also stating "If Mr. Carter does not like being called haole, he can return to Louisiana. Hawaiians would certainly benefit from one less haole in our land".

Both Carter's letter and Dr. Kay-Trask's responses generated much controversy. The university supported Kay-Trask's right to free speech and did not take any opposing measures. The philosophy department, however, published a resolution in support of Carter.

Carter (a philosophy major) did leave, but ended up re-enrolling at the university. Both editorials, and numerous articles related to ensuing developments, can be found in back-issues of Ka Leo O Hawaiʻi, the university student newspaper.[11]

At a guest lecture at Stanford University, Trask said that she embraced the label 'racist', saying "In Hawaii, I am probably the most famous racist." She added that she believed it impossible for a Native Hawaiian to not be considered racist in Hawaiʻi unless "you dance in a hotel" as well as saying that if she could have her way non-Hawaiians would have no property rights in a sovereign Hawaiʻi.[12]

Personal life

Trask is the longtime partner of University of Hawaiʻi professor David Stannard.[13]

Trask's uncle, Arthur K. Trask, is an active member of the Democratic Party and a supporter of Hawaiian rights. David Trask, Jr., another uncle, was the head of Hawaii's white collar public employees' union, the Hawaii Government Employees Association, an affiliate of AFSCME, and an early proponent of collective bargaining for Hawaiʻi's public employees. Trask's grandfather, David Trask, was a member of the legislature of the Territory of Hawaii for twenty-six years as a Democrat. He was a key proponent of Hawaiʻi Statehood.[14]

Bibliography

  • Light in the Crevice Never Seen
  • Night Is a Sharkskin Drum
  • Eros and Power: The Promise of Feminist Theory which is a revised version of Trask's Ph.D. dissertation.
  • From a Native Daughter: Colonialism and Sovereignty in Hawaii which is a collection of essays on the Hawaiian sovereignty movement.
  • Trask also produced the award-winning film,[15] Act of War: The Overthrow of the Hawaiian Nation.
  • She also has a public-access television program called First Friday.[16]

References

  1. ↑ Franklin, Cynthia G.; Lyons, Laura E. (2004-06-25). "Land, Leadership, and Nation: Haunani-Kay Trask on the Testimonial Uses of Life Writing in Hawai'i". Biography. 27 (1): 222–249. doi:10.1353/bio.2004.0032. ISSN 1529-1456.
  2. ↑ Dekneef, Matthew (March 8, 2017). "15 extraordinary Hawaii women who inspire us all. We can all learn something from these historic figures". Hawaiʻi Magazine. Honolulu. Archived from the original on March 8, 2017. Retrieved May 7, 2017.
  3. ↑ Pro, con articles on Akaka bill fail to address land issues, Honolulu Advertiser, Sunday, May 2, 2004
  4. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on August 25, 2006. Retrieved September 12, 2006.
  5. ↑ Haunani Trask. A Conversation with Haunani Trask 3:42, 1993.
  6. ↑ Williams, Walter (October 23, 2013). "Loving and Hating America". Retrieved April 5, 2015.
  7. ↑ "Core Attitudes of Hawaiian Sovereignty Movement -- Racial Separatism, Ethnic Nationalism, Anti-Americanism, Racial Supremacy". Angelfire. March 3, 2016.
  8. ↑ Keller, Larry (August 30, 2009). "Hawaii Suffering From Racial Prejudice". Intelligence Report. Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved April 1, 2016.
  9. ↑ Conklin, Kenneth. "Professor Haunani-Kay Trask: Some Speeches and Writings Illustrating the Anti-American and Anti-White Attitudes of the Hawaiian Sovereignty Movement". Angle Fire. Retrieved 23 March 2017.
  10. ↑ Richard Halloran. "HAWAII JOURNAL; Rare Storm Over Race Ruffles a Mixed Society". New York Times.
  11. ↑ Carter Trask Files, Ka Leo O Hawaiʻi, 1990-1991.
  12. ↑ O'Toole, Kathleen. "Hawaiian nationalist discusses rights Constitution doesn't recognize". Stanford News service. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  13. ↑ Nakao, Annie (May 28, 2005). "The 1932 murder that exposed the hole in Hawaii's idyllic facade". The San Francisco Chronicle.
  14. ↑ "Hawaii Statehood: Tiny 1959 opposition was anti-Japanese, not anti-American". Hawaii Free Press.
  15. ↑ "Na Maka o ka Aina". Archived from the original on August 11, 2005. Retrieved May 28, 2005.
  16. ↑ "Land, Leadership, And Nation: Haunani Kay Trask On The Testimonial Uses Of Life Writing In Hawaii". Retrieved May 28, 2005.
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