Ep. 5 Hawaii x Boriken: A Future where we can all Exist
Description
Hawaiʻi and Borikén are connected in struggle. I wanted to take a moment with my sisters across the world, to share and to hold space on issues that only we understand fully. It is a rare moment when you can look someone in the eye and they understand the type of oppression you both struggle with. It is important to ask why demanding freedom is labeled "radical."
Spiritually, physically and mentally we have been affected by the policies of ownership of indigenous lands and bodies that continue to be "normalized."
Those in power cannot continue to dictate the terms. You do not tell those that you oppress, how you will stop oppressing them, and this is why more conversations like these are needed.
In this episode I sit down with two inspiring women, MYKIE & IHILANI, to talk about history and to talk about what real freedom would look like. More importantly, to say aloud to each other and to all of you that we must fight for a future where are free.
Books: A Nation Rising by Noelani Goodyear-Kaʻōpua, From A Native Daughter by Haunani-Kay Trask, Fighting the Battle of Double Colonization by Haunani-Kay Trask, 'Native Hawaiian Law: A Treatise' edited by University of Hawaiʻi law professors Melody MacKenzie, Susan Serrano, and Kapua Sproat, Islanders in the Empire: Filipino and Puerto Rican Laborers in Hawaiʻi’ by JoAnna Poblete
Instagram accounts to follow: @Kanaeokana @Puuhuluhulu @ProtectMaunakea
Bios:
Ihilani Lasconia is a Kānaka ʻŌiwi (Native Hawaiian) poet, student, and organizer from Waimānalo Oʻahu. ʻIhilani is currently a senior at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa majoring in Ethnic Studies. She is also a first-year master's candidate in Education Administration. ʻIhilani is a part of Kia'i Ke Kahaukani which is a student group that advocates for the protection of Maunakea. ʻIhilani is a strong supporter of Native Hawaiian self-determination and the deoccupation of Hawaiʻi. She believes that political education is essential to liberation and that all struggles are interconnected.
Mykie Ozoa-Aglugub is a Filipina-Boricua anti-imperialist feminist organizer in the illegally occupied Kingdom of Hawai‘i. She is a founding member of AF3IRM Hawai‘i, the local chapter of a transnational feminist organization, with 10 chapters across the US and in Hawai‘i and Borikén. Mykie is an expert in anti-gender violence advocacy and training and she holds a law degree from the UH Mānoa William S. Richardson School of Law.