honor the hawai'ians
On January 2, 2017 at the third community meeting, Keoki Cortez was invited to speak on behalf of the Hawaiians. He gave permission for his presentation to be recorded and shared.
About Keoki
Keoki Cortez, a local Native Hawaiian descended from both the Kamehameha and Keawe blood lines, agreed to address the meeting. He is the custodian of Pu’uhonua o Honaunau. This ties him intimately to Kealakekua and the spinner dolphins. His kuleana is to keep the culture of his lineage alive through storytelling and education. As an accomplished traditional Hawaiian musician (since the age of 12) Keoki also played for us at the meeting.
Keoki brought the very-much needed Native Hawaiian cultural perspective to the dialog. He was received with absolute respect. He shared his story without suggesting any solutions – he felt it was not his palace to judge the behaviors of others. This was a significant first step in further opening up the dialog and community building with the Native Hawaiians as they are important stakeholders.
Keoki's Message
(The full audio recording can be listened to here)
Aloha, my name is Keoki Cortez. I was born and raised on the island of Oahu, on the north shore, I grew up there. I have been active in all things that will change in the islands for a very long time. I was called what they would call and activist. At the time I was 14 years old and I was part of the water rights activities going on. Then I got scolded by my Kapuna because I was getting too active and that was at a time when this was not a cool thing to do, right? So I stepped away and started raising a family and so on and so forth. Back in 1992 I moved here, to the Big Island. My grandfather grew up in Makalewena until the place was hit by a tidal wave and they had to relocate the whole village – it was a fishing village at that time.
Basically I have a deep connection to in particular the Hōnaunau Bay, the Pu'uhonua o Hōnaunau. Being from the Keawe line a lot of my ancestors were put to rest in that area. I started working in 1992 with troubled youth down there at the bay. It was called Hale O Ho'oponopono and we were using the old cultural ways of giving these kids an opportunity to know who they really are as Hawaiian and then it transitioned into a preschool for young kids and I continued to work there for a while.
During that time I noticed…every day I would go there, every morning and the nai’a would be swimming in the bays. At that time you couldn’t count because there were so many nai’a in the bays. I was taught from a young age from my uncles who were fishing men. They taught me stories from ancient times that the nai’a are the ocean tribe, they come from the ocean, they are an ocean tribe just like we are land tribes, they are ocean tribes and they have the same rights and respect as us land dwellers, same rights as we have. It is something I practice today.
Nai’a have working relations and symbiotic relations not only with ocean dwellers but with us as well and that’s a good thing because they are very intelligent – I often think more intelligent than I am – I would agree.
The fishermen out on the ocean, the deep sea fishermen, they know that when nai’a are around, the dolphins are around, the yellow fin tuna are close by. That’s why a lot of times when these huge fishing boats are out there with their nets they catch a lot of nai’a along with the tuna because they’re symbiotic. The nai’a purposefully herd the schools of fish together and then the ahi go underneath and feed along with the nai’a and the ahi also protect them because they warn them of predators. As you see with any school of fish, if you throw something into the school they’ll just run, so that’s the warning to the nai’a that predators are close by. So it can be said that nai’a and us as fisherman are the same thing. People often confuse and think that the nai’a are taking all their fish, that’s not it at all. They are just doing what they naturally do.
In the bay, the nai’a are in a rest period. I am sure everybody knows this, right? They are in a rest period. Half of their (brain) hemisphere is sleeping whilst the other half is... tending to the young, tending to their own ohana as we do as land dwellers.
In 2003 I was blessed to be one of the few chosen to rebuild the Hale o Keawe temple which came out of nowhere because I did not ask for the permission but somehow I was blessed to go there to rebuild the temple. We had to pull it down and went through protocol up in the mountains and gathered all the necessary things we needed to rebuild it. That was quite an experience being that was part of my family lineage.
From 1992 to 2004 there were tons of nai’a in the bay, I mean you could almost set your watch to when they would come in, that’s how easy it was. It was a sight to see. At that time I also noticed the influx of more and more people coming to the area. I understand it’s a great snorkeling area, I understand that. What the nai’a like about that place in particular is that it goes from 10’ to 100’+ deep and so they feel protected in there. As I visit there today I notice the decline from 2004 to now. The decline is amazing. But it is not for to me to decide if it has anything to do with the influx of more tourists and divers over there, it is not for me to say. All I know is what I know as passed down to me from my uncles and other fishermen.
I don’t swim with them, I don’t swim with the dolphins. If they come up to meet me that’s their kuleana, right? It’s not mine. I don’t go after them because of respect I have for them. It’s not to say that anybody can or cannot. That’s up to each individual.
So, basically that’s about all I have to share. It’s a cultural thing, and you know, they’re a part of this aina. The aina to us is ohana because without it we do not exist. So too with the kai, the sea, without it we do not exist. I am really concerned about what happened in Japan, about all this radiation (from Fukushima) coming down, I don’t know what it’s going to do to our environment, but I’m really concerned about that, but that’s for another time, another place. Anyway, I just wanted to say thank for listening. Hopefully we can find a good solution to hat we are trying to work on.
Thank you, Mahalo.
About Keoki
Keoki Cortez, a local Native Hawaiian descended from both the Kamehameha and Keawe blood lines, agreed to address the meeting. He is the custodian of Pu’uhonua o Honaunau. This ties him intimately to Kealakekua and the spinner dolphins. His kuleana is to keep the culture of his lineage alive through storytelling and education. As an accomplished traditional Hawaiian musician (since the age of 12) Keoki also played for us at the meeting.
Keoki brought the very-much needed Native Hawaiian cultural perspective to the dialog. He was received with absolute respect. He shared his story without suggesting any solutions – he felt it was not his palace to judge the behaviors of others. This was a significant first step in further opening up the dialog and community building with the Native Hawaiians as they are important stakeholders.
Keoki's Message
(The full audio recording can be listened to here)
Aloha, my name is Keoki Cortez. I was born and raised on the island of Oahu, on the north shore, I grew up there. I have been active in all things that will change in the islands for a very long time. I was called what they would call and activist. At the time I was 14 years old and I was part of the water rights activities going on. Then I got scolded by my Kapuna because I was getting too active and that was at a time when this was not a cool thing to do, right? So I stepped away and started raising a family and so on and so forth. Back in 1992 I moved here, to the Big Island. My grandfather grew up in Makalewena until the place was hit by a tidal wave and they had to relocate the whole village – it was a fishing village at that time.
Basically I have a deep connection to in particular the Hōnaunau Bay, the Pu'uhonua o Hōnaunau. Being from the Keawe line a lot of my ancestors were put to rest in that area. I started working in 1992 with troubled youth down there at the bay. It was called Hale O Ho'oponopono and we were using the old cultural ways of giving these kids an opportunity to know who they really are as Hawaiian and then it transitioned into a preschool for young kids and I continued to work there for a while.
During that time I noticed…every day I would go there, every morning and the nai’a would be swimming in the bays. At that time you couldn’t count because there were so many nai’a in the bays. I was taught from a young age from my uncles who were fishing men. They taught me stories from ancient times that the nai’a are the ocean tribe, they come from the ocean, they are an ocean tribe just like we are land tribes, they are ocean tribes and they have the same rights and respect as us land dwellers, same rights as we have. It is something I practice today.
Nai’a have working relations and symbiotic relations not only with ocean dwellers but with us as well and that’s a good thing because they are very intelligent – I often think more intelligent than I am – I would agree.
The fishermen out on the ocean, the deep sea fishermen, they know that when nai’a are around, the dolphins are around, the yellow fin tuna are close by. That’s why a lot of times when these huge fishing boats are out there with their nets they catch a lot of nai’a along with the tuna because they’re symbiotic. The nai’a purposefully herd the schools of fish together and then the ahi go underneath and feed along with the nai’a and the ahi also protect them because they warn them of predators. As you see with any school of fish, if you throw something into the school they’ll just run, so that’s the warning to the nai’a that predators are close by. So it can be said that nai’a and us as fisherman are the same thing. People often confuse and think that the nai’a are taking all their fish, that’s not it at all. They are just doing what they naturally do.
In the bay, the nai’a are in a rest period. I am sure everybody knows this, right? They are in a rest period. Half of their (brain) hemisphere is sleeping whilst the other half is... tending to the young, tending to their own ohana as we do as land dwellers.
In 2003 I was blessed to be one of the few chosen to rebuild the Hale o Keawe temple which came out of nowhere because I did not ask for the permission but somehow I was blessed to go there to rebuild the temple. We had to pull it down and went through protocol up in the mountains and gathered all the necessary things we needed to rebuild it. That was quite an experience being that was part of my family lineage.
From 1992 to 2004 there were tons of nai’a in the bay, I mean you could almost set your watch to when they would come in, that’s how easy it was. It was a sight to see. At that time I also noticed the influx of more and more people coming to the area. I understand it’s a great snorkeling area, I understand that. What the nai’a like about that place in particular is that it goes from 10’ to 100’+ deep and so they feel protected in there. As I visit there today I notice the decline from 2004 to now. The decline is amazing. But it is not for to me to decide if it has anything to do with the influx of more tourists and divers over there, it is not for me to say. All I know is what I know as passed down to me from my uncles and other fishermen.
I don’t swim with them, I don’t swim with the dolphins. If they come up to meet me that’s their kuleana, right? It’s not mine. I don’t go after them because of respect I have for them. It’s not to say that anybody can or cannot. That’s up to each individual.
So, basically that’s about all I have to share. It’s a cultural thing, and you know, they’re a part of this aina. The aina to us is ohana because without it we do not exist. So too with the kai, the sea, without it we do not exist. I am really concerned about what happened in Japan, about all this radiation (from Fukushima) coming down, I don’t know what it’s going to do to our environment, but I’m really concerned about that, but that’s for another time, another place. Anyway, I just wanted to say thank for listening. Hopefully we can find a good solution to hat we are trying to work on.
Thank you, Mahalo.