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Puuhonua, a poem by Uncle Joe Tassill

Sun, 06 May 2012 01:47:38 +0100

PUUHONUA

By Renwick Valentine Ili Ilipuna “Uncle Joe” Tassill

when ever you did wrong

cause you couldn't get along

there was a place to go

Puuhonua

when things weren't going your way

and you knew you could not stay

there was a place to go

Puuhonua

when things with you weren't right

and you had to run take flight

there was a place to go

Puuhonua

from the mountain to the sea

there was no place to flee

the only place to be

Puuhonua

what ever made you flee

to become a refugee

there was a place to go

Puuhonua

a place to be protected

while you are being corrected

it was the place to be

Puuhonua

and now we stand and pray

as we give thanks today

for showing us the way

Puuhonua

surrounded by the love

of Akua from above

a blessed place to be

Puuhonua

Latest report on Closing Makahiki Ceremony

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 09:22:13 +0100

Aloha Kakou, Ohana Ho'opakele,

Reporting on our visit to the Arizona Na Pa'ahao, February 6 thru 13, 2012:

Again, we are back Kaiana and I from doing the Closing Makahiki Ceremonies at Arizona Saguaro Prison (State of Hawai'i) Eloy, Arizona Feb. 7th thru 9th and at (FCI) Federal Correctional Institution, Safford, Arizona Feb. 10th thru 12th, 2012.

The Kanaka Maoli at Saguaro Prison about 65 involved and dedicated to the Hawaiian Religion and Cultural Programs were outstanding again in performing the rituals for the Closing Makahiki Ceremony. Preparation was same as Opening Ceremony. We brought all the Ho’okupu, ti-leaves and implements for Akua Lono for both prisons.

Feb.7^th met with Assistant Warden Ben Griego then prepared for Ceremony with the Pa’ahao for Wednesday Feb. 8^th.

Feb 8^thWednesday Makahiki Ceremony 6am to 3:30pm.

Feb.9^thThursday met with Pa’ahao and kukakuka, talk session to evaluate Makahiki.

There are 7 Kanaka Maoli at FCI Safford, Arizona. We were asked to come and help them start their Hawaiian Religion and Cultural Program; this was our first visit there. They were taught the Rituals, Protocol, Chants, etc. for the Makahiki Ceremony. They were very interested and learned quickly; it was a productive time with them. We were provided with an area to do our Ceremony and it was a success.

Feb10th Friday, 7-10pm met with Chaplin Carl Johnson from FCI Safford and the Pa’ahao for introduction and preparation for Makahiki Ceremony.

Feb.11^th Saturday Makahiki Ceremony 8am to 3:30pm and back at 7pm to 10pm to evaluate.

Feb.12^th Sunday 7am to 10am. Kukakuka talk session for future plans and our next visit.

Malama,

Hawaiian Cultural and Spiritual Leader,

Kini Palmyra Kaleilani Burke

The Arizona Republic article on the Makahiki

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 09:54:14 +0100

November 23, 2011

Valley & State

Eloy prison's Hawaiian population takes part in harvest ceremony

Nov. 16, 2011 12:00 AM

The Arizona Republic

It was still dark when they began to chant toward the eastern horizon, nearly 100 voices calling to the sun.

"E ala e, ka lai i ka hikina; i ka moana, ka moana hou hounu; pi'i ka lewa, ka lewa nu'u."

"Awake," they say in Hawaiian, "and rise from the ocean into the highest heavens."

Their rhythmic beckoning continues until the sun climbs above the mountains, illuminating the barbed fencing that helps to keep them confined.

The CCA Saguaro Correctional Center in Eloy is home to about 1,840 inmates, most of whom -- 77 percent -- are of Polynesian descent. Under a recently renewed contract, Corrections Corporation of America will continue to house Hawaii Department of Public Safety inmates at Saguaro through 2014.

Eloy's desert landscape couldn't be more different from home, but it's where some inmates are connecting with their cultural roots for the first time.

Last week, two spiritual advisers traveled to Eloy from the islands to oversee ceremonies for the beginning of the Makahiki season of harvest. Ka'iana Haili and Kini Kaleilani Burke, contract workers with Hawaii's DPS, have guided stateside inmate populations in cultural tradition for a decade.

Makahiki celebrates Lono, god of rain and fertility, with offerings and a series of rituals. It is a time of peace and renewal, Haili tells the inmates, a time to "plant the seed of knowledge in yourself."

"A lot of these guys came out of foster homes, a lot of these guys were adjudicated at a young age in youth courts," Haili said. "They're just repeat offenders because they don't know any other lifestyle. This is the beginning of changing them back to what their culture is and what it means to be Hawaiian, to be part of an indigenous group that celebrates nature and celebrates life."

After the sun chant, inmates filed into a recreation room to change into ceremonial clothing of brightly patterned skirt-wraps and kehei, a sheath resembling a toga that wards off bad energy. Leis made of kukui nuts were placed around necks for enlightenment, and bracelets and headbands made of woven ti leaves were worn to keep one's personal power, or mana, intact.

Developing cultural pride and connectivity enhances inmates' rehabilitation and helps to prepare them for a return to society, according to Saguaro warden Todd Thomas.

"Sooner or later, 85 percent of these guys are going home," Thomas said. "We need to get them skills and help them make good, moral-based decisions."

Thomas knows the exposure helps inmates stay out of trouble behind bars. In his previous job as warden of Coffee County Correctional Facility, a medium-security prison in Georgia, Thomas implemented a 360-bed faith-based housing area and began to compare inmates' behavior with that of their counterparts.

Within a year, the faith-based pod had a "65 percent reduction in fights, fussin' the staff, write- ups, discipline reports, across the board," Thomas said. "I thought 'Hey, everywhere I go, I want this.' "

A similar program was under way at Saguaro before Thomas became warden in 2008.

Whether inmates take religious principles with them when they leave is up for debate.

Speaking in the Hawaiian tongue and practicing religious traditions helps inmate Alan Kekahuna, 41, to "feel like I am free, like I am not institutionalized," although he says he needs to stay in prison for now. "I get into trouble in Hawaii," he said.

Kekahuna was released from Saguaro in June 2010 but returned within months for a parole violation. He was originally convicted of burglary and theft, and is set for release in 2013.

His religious belief is strong, he said, but that's not enough.

"Choices and decisions you make outside are what really will keep us out of trouble," Kekahuna said. "It's not about what we do in here that's going to change us. It's choices and decisions that we make on the outside that determine my fate, my destination, my destiny."

Once dressed, the inmates headed back outside to make offerings of coconut, taro, fish, pig, sweet potato, bananas and other items. A counter-clockwise procession followed the outline of a basketball court as if it were an island back home.

"They are prisoners, but they are still our people," Burke said. "We want to make sure that they stick this into their heart and their mind so they can practice, a continuation of knowing who we are and what we're doing."

Latest Makahiki Report of November 2011

Sat, 19 Nov 2011 09:50:20 +0100

Report on the Makahiki Opening Ceremony, Saguaro Prison, Eloy, Arizona, November 7–11, 2011.

Monday: Ka'iana Haili and Kini Kaleilani Burke leave Hilo, Hawaii. Taking with them Kinolau (food) for Lono, ti-leaves, Uala, Kalo, Ulu, Kalua Pua'a, Poi, etc. to partake during the Ceremony. Navigational Material gathered from Imiloa Astrological Center and also from Pu'u nana Leo learning center, 2 Altars made of Kawila and Pohaku and other food items to share with them, Amulets (12) for Aumakua made of koa and koa wood for the prisoners to make more in the Hobby shop.

Arriving at Phoenix: 12 midnight and getting to our motel at 3 am. Tues. morning

Tuesday: 8:30 am leave from Motel to Saguaro Pa’ahao. Have meeting with Warden Thomas and Assistant Warden Greigo about Makahiki and other Issues. Meet with Pa'ahao and prepare for Makahiki Wednesday morning starting at 5:00 am.

Wednesday: Makahiki Opening Ceremony Begins at 6 am with the Chanting "E ala e" of the Sun then the processing (Huaka`i) with Akua Lono (god of peace and harvest) this done in the morning for a few hours. We had lunch provided by the Prison. In the afternoon until 3:00 pm this was time for Pa'ani (games, Hula, singing) and sacred rituals.

The News Media was there for the morning activities only.

Thursday: Saguaro Pa'ahao 8:30 am - 10:30 am meet with Pa'ahao talk about Wednesdays Ceremony. Afternoon 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm Class on Navigation and Stars and showed DVD on Navigator Mau, who helped the Hawaiians in bringing back our navigational skills.

Friday: Head back to Hilo

Mahalo nui,

Spiritual Leader,

Kini Kaleilani Burke

Gov. Neil Abercrombie’s pledges to bring home 1,900 Hawaii inmates in mainland prisons

Sat, 19 Nov 2011 09:53:39 +0100

HONOLULU -- Gov. Neil Abercrombie’s pledge to bring home 1,900 Hawaii inmates in mainland prisons had lawmakers worried about how they would pay for the new prison space required.

Click here to watch the video.

But Tuesday, the new Director of Public Safety, Jodie Maesaka-Hirata, said the plan includes releasing hundreds, perhaps up to 1,000. prisoners into community programs.“We want to start bringing the offenders home so we can transition them with programs that can assist them being successful while they are out there,” Maesaka-Hirata said.She told lawmakers that a third of the 1,900 men now serving time in Arizona and several hundred others in Hawaii prisons have been classified as safe for community confinement, outside of prison.She said the state has its own furlough programs as well as clean and sober homes and transitional housing programs which could provide housing and programs for released offenders. She said there are some immediate vacancies and with increase state funding, many of the programs could be expanded.The approach was applauded by prison reform advocate Kat Brady. “What she's talking about is programs that exist in the community that could be expanded,” Brady said. “So it would be moving money from incarceration into community programs.”The present challenge is that there are far too few community programs to accommodate the hundreds of inmates that may qualify for them.“That's the biggest problem,” said Alan Johnson, chief executive officer of Hina Mauka, a substance abuse treatment facility in Kaneohe. “If you are talking about bringing back hundreds and hundreds of offenders there's programs out there for 50 to 100 people, and that's it.”Hina Mauka was working on a proposal for a 500- to 800-bed transition facility to be built on Hawaiian Homelands in Kalaeloa. The project would combine minimum security housing with rehabilitation programs and have business tenants who would provide training and jobs for offenders in a 2- to 4-year program. The project depended on foundation grants, which Johnson said dried up in the recession.

He said he is ready to revive the proposal if the state agreed to help pay for start-up and construction costs.Lawmakers who heard the public safety director’s plans said they want reassurances about the impact on public safety and the price of community placements verses continued housing on the mainland.“The first thing that jumps out is where, when, the cost,” said Kauai Rep. James Tokioka, a Democrat on the House Finance Committee.Maesaka-Hirata said the releases would be carefully considered.“We are not going to do a mass release without methodically going through their institutional files, their behaviors and reviewing whether or not they are appropriate to be in the community,” she said.

Agents of the U.S.A. participated in the theft of the livelihood of an entire race of people.

Sat, 22 Jan 2011 00:21:28 +0100

“Agents of the U.S.A. participated in the illegal and immoral theft of a whole livelihood of an entire race of people. This theft is still occurring in the millions, even billions. The criminal/criminals of this crime have got, and is still getting away scot free. Maybe that’s the real reason they call America “the land of the free.” Then there’s the Native Hawaiians pulling time for doing the crime. And he did do the crime and he is pulling the time. So how does this “vision” appear? America steal, it’s called progress, kanaka steal, he a thief. Somehow, I have a problem with the problem. As Willy Bright say, “We the evidence, we not the crime.” -Kelii “Skippy” Ioane

The Case Against Prisons

Sat, 22 Jan 2011 00:16:22 +0100

The Case Against Prisons

Statstics reveal that Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiians) have the worst
incarceration rate of any ethnic group in Hawaii. In fact using data
from the Hawai'i Criminal Justice Data Center, researchers for a 2010
report from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) found that the
disproportionate impact of the criminal system accumulates at each
stage of the process for Kanaka Maoli. They have a higher incidence
from the decision to arrest, to longer sentences and longer
probation's. Data shows that Kanaka Maoli make up 24% of the general
population but nearly 40% of the prison population. Adding to these
troubling statistics, Kanaka Maoli make up 41% of those incarcerated
in out-of-state facilities, isolating them from the 'aina, cutting them
off from their culture, and creating upheaval in their families.

60% of Hawai'i prisoners, in 2000 were classified as nonviolent
offenders. Former Public Safety Director Ted Sakai stated that 25% of
the people who entered prison in 1999 did not commit new crimes but
failed urine tests while on probation or parole.

If nonviolent offenders were diverted from prison to community-based
programs, Hawai'i's existing prison beds would be more than enough to
confine hardened violent offenders. Shifting emphasis to
community-based programs would eliminate the need for new prisons in
Hawai'i or elsewhere, save taxpayers money and reduce recidivism by
treating, not punishing, substance abuse.