Republican lawmakers around the country value guns & the NRA more than the lives of our children.

They are turning their backs on providing factual teaching of history by banning books and removing factual information from school curriculums.

Perhaps you – the voters - will show them that is not acceptable.

We allow this to happen when we ignore our responsibility; don't keep ourselves informed; and don't vote.  Haven't we had enough of this?  Aren't we going to do something about it?

There is strength in numbers.  We are many.  Let's use that power!

EDITOR'S COMMENTARY:   Rabid white supremacist are hell bent on banning books and manipulating school curriculums so that their version of history and what they believe is good or bad, right or wrong is all our young people will be allowed to learn.  "Woke" has become a dirty word to them because it denotes those who are educated & informed.

For all the above reasons and more, we decided to post to social media this listing from the Resource Library on www.womensvoicesmedia.org to provide you with an excellent resource for all aspects of the history of civil rights in America.  Please, set aside some time to educate yourself and/or to refresh your memory.  Don't allow the fascists to deprive you from other rights:  the right to read what you want and the right to be informed.

https://library.law.howard.edu/civilrightshistory/intro

                     A Brief History of Civil Rights in the United States

                    This guide offers a history of various movements by citizens in the United States to gain political and social freedom and equality. It highlights resources available through HUSL Library and HU Libraries, as well as a selection freely accessible Internet resources with a focus on authoritative content from civil rights organizations and government entities.

EDITOR'S COMMENTARY:   Rabid white supremacist are hell bent on banning books and manipulating school curriculums so that their version of history and what they believe is good or bad, right or wrong is all our young people will be allowed to learn.  "Woke" has become a dirty word to them because it denotes those who are educated & informed.

For all the above reasons and more, we decided to post to social media this listing from the Resource Library on www.womensvoicesmedia.org to provide you with an excellent resource for all aspects of the history of civil rights in America.  Please, set aside some time to educate yourself and/or to refresh your memory.  Don't allow the fascists to deprive you from other rights:  the right to read what you want and the right to be informed.

https://library.law.howard.edu/civilrightshistory/intro

                     A Brief History of Civil Rights in the United States

                    This guide offers a history of various movements by citizens in the United States to gain political and social freedom and equality. It highlights resources available through HUSL Library and HU Libraries, as well as a selection freely accessible Internet resources with a focus on authoritative content from civil rights organizations and government entities.

https://library.law.howard.edu/civilrightshistory/intro

                     A Brief History of Civil Rights in the United States

                    This guide offers a history of various movements by citizens in the United States to gain political and social freedom and equality. It highlights                                 resources available through HUSL Library and HU Libraries, as well as a selection freely accessible Internet resources with a focus on authoritative                           content from civil rights organizations and government entities.

In a 1912 New York Times article, Mabel Ping-Hua Lee was regarded as “the symbol of the new era, when all women will be free and unhampered.”[1] At the time, sixteen year old Lee was already a recognized suffragist and activist that would help to lead almost 10,000 people in the New York suffrage parade. Lee went on to become the first Chinese woman to get a PhD in economics.

Mabel Ping-Hua Lee was born on October 7, 1897 in Guangzhou (Canton City), China. Her father, Dr. Lee Towe, was a missionary pastor and he moved to the United States when she was four years old. Lee stayed in China with her mother and grandmother, and she studied Chinese  from private tutors. When Lee was nine years old, she won an academic scholarship called the Boxer Indemnity Scholarship that allowed her to relocate to the United States to attend school. The Lee family moved in 1905 to Chinatown in New York City, and Mabel Lee attended Erasmus Hall Academy in Brooklyn, New York. Lee became involved in activism and women’s rights very early on. By the time she was sixteen years old, Lee helped to lead a suffrage parade on horseback in New York City. Held on May 4, 1912, the parade started in New York’s historic Greenwich Village and was attended by almost ten thousand people.

Prior to the parade, the New York Tribune and New York Times wrote articles featuring Lee’s teenage activism and her involvement in the movement. Ironically, the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act prevented Chinese immigrants from attaining citizenship and voting. Even when the 19^th amendment was passed, Chinese women and many other women of color still did not have the ability to vote. However, Lee still strongly advocated for suffrage for women. In addition to her activism for women’s rights, Lee was also a brilliant student. While in school, she excelled in English, Latin, and mathematics. At sixteen years old she was admitted to Barnard College, the women’s college connected to the all-male Columbia University. Lee majored in history and philosophy and joined the Chinese Students’ Association. She continued her activism by writing feminist essays for The Chinese Students’ Monthly. She wrote an essay in 1914 entitled “The Meaning of Woman Suffrage,” that emphasized the importance of extending voting rights and equal opportunities to women. Two years later, Lee gave a speech at the Women’s Political Union’s Suffrage Shop entitled “The Submerged Half.” In this speech, Lee encouraged the education and civic participation of Chinese women of all ages.

By 1917, women in the state of New York were granted the right to vote. Three years later, the 19^th Amendment was passed that gave women the right to vote across the country. However, Lee and many other women of color still could not vote. It would take another almost twenty-five years for Lee to be granted the right to vote with the repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1943. However, she continued to advocate for women’s suffrage and equal rights. Lee graduated from Barnard College and went on to receive her master’s degree in educational administration from Columbia Teacher’s College. She decided to continue her studies and attended Columbia University to pursue a PhD in economics. While in graduate school, Lee studied under well-known economic professors including; Edwin R. A. Seligman, Henry R. Seager, Henry L. Moore, Vladimir G. Simkhovitch, Wesley C. Mitchell, and Robert E. Chaddock. She graduated in 1921 and became the first Chinese woman to graduate with a PhD in economics. That year, Lee published her PhD research as a book entitled The Economic History of China. Unfortunately, Lee’s father passed away in 1924, a few years after her graduation.

After her father’s death, Lee took over his role as director of the First Chinese Baptist Church of New York City. She also opened a community center called the Chinese Christian Center. This center was designed to empower the Chinese community by offering a health clinic, a kindergarten, vocational training, and English classes. Mabel Ping-Hua Lee died in 1966 at the age of 70. It is unknown if Lee ever attained United States citizenship and exercised her right to vote, but her activism ensured many other women had the ability to do so.

AUTHORS:

MLA – Alexander, Kerri Lee. “Mabel Ping-Hua Lee.” National Women’s History Museum, 2020. Date accessed.

Chicago – Alexander, Kerri Lee. “Mabel Ping-Hua Lee.” National Women’s History Museum. 2020. www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/mabel-ping-hua-lee.

A corporation does not have morals—it has a bottom line. Disney’s lawsuit against Florida is more about being able to reap profits while underpaying workers than it is about protecting LGBTQ communities.

By Sonali Kolhatkar

Florida’s Republican governor Ron DeSantis is eager to cast himself as the new and improved Donald Trump. He has waged a relentless war against what he calls “woke ideology” by attacking the rights of vulnerable minorities to teach and learn history, to read literature, and to get life-saving medical care such as gender-affirming treatment and reproductive health care. Now, his attack on Florida’s largest corporation is being cast in the same vein of “good versus evil.”

Except that the DeSantis-Disney war ought really to be viewed as an opportunity to call Republicans out on their slavish devotion to Big Business and dare them to follow through with stripping not just the Disney corporation, but all money-hungry companies of their dependence on public financing. Both DeSantis and Disney are predatory, albeit in different ways.

Disney, a company that has deep cultural sway over Americans for being a purveyor of “magic” and “happiness,” has enjoyed a very special and extremely unusual arrangement in Orlando, Florida, where its Walt Disney World Resort occupies tens of thousands of acres named the Reedy Creek Improvement District. Since 1967, the state of Florida has allowed the corporation to govern the area and even to issue tax bonds to residents in order to pay for municipal services while being exempt from certain regulations and taxes.

Rather than viewing Disney World as “the happiest place on earth,” Sophie Weiner, writing in Popular Mechanics in 2018, explained that, “Disney World is what it looks like if you give a corporation full control over an area of land as big as San Francisco. It’s worked out great for the company, which counts on the park for 14 percent of its $2 billion yearly earnings.” Further, in 2021, the state of Florida gifted the company a massive $580 million tax break in exchange for moving about 2,000 jobs from its California locations to Florida.

But in March 2022 Disney took a stand against the Parental Rights in Education Law, which has been dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” act, prompting DeSantis’s ire. A month later Florida’s Republican legislature dissolved Disney’s special status in a law that is to take effect on June 1, 2023. DeSantis explained the move saying, “I’m just not comfortable having that type of agenda get special treatment in my state.” In other words, Disney’s special corporate arrangement would not be tolerated if it challenged his homophobia.

Except that Disney had to be pushed hard into taking such a moral stand. For weeks after the bill was announced the company was perfectly content enjoying the largesse of Florida even as activists were demanding it speak out against a law prohibiting teachings that touch on gender identity and sexual orientation to kids in kindergarten through third grade. Disney’s own workers protested their employer’s lack of courage. The hashtag #BoycottDisney began trending. The company eventually, reluctantly, reacted by suspending all its political donations in the state of Florida to both parties—not exactly the most principled stand.

To his credit, Disney’s then-CEO Bob Chapek also made public statements against the bill and offered a $5 million donation to the Human Rights Campaign (which the group rejected).

But earlier this year Florida, realizing that dissolving Disney’s tax status would end up dumping a billion-dollar bond debt onto the public, quickly scrambled to restore the special district while muzzling Disney. A new law will allow the governor to appoint leadership positions of Reedy Creek Improvement District instead of allowing Disney to do so.

Representative Anna Eskamani, a progressive Democrat in the state legislature, told the Hollywood Reporter, “The inner workings [of the special district] stay the same. The only difference is Disney won’t challenge the governor on anything anymore.” The company was initially happy and Disney World’s head Jeff Vahle said his company was “ready to work within this new framework.”

Testing this new arrangement DeSantis has revved up his culture war, approving a rule change to expand the Don’t Say Gay bill to all grades and sending a message to LGBTQ youth that their lives don’t matter. But the new board that he appointed to govern Disney’s special district voted to nullify a company plan to expand and develop the area. It was only then that Disney filed a lawsuit against DeSantis claiming he violated their first amendment rights over the homophobic law.

Every step of the way Disney was happy to suck up all the tax perks and financial autonomy it could get away with, regardless of whom its host was harming. Only when its financial status was threatened has it claimed to be on the side of LGBTQ communities.

Aside from Eskamani, few Democrats have called Disney out for its hypocrisy and for reaping special financial perks, instead supporting the corporation for being a job creator. Democratic Congressional representative Darren Soto chastised DeSantis, saying, “It’d be nice if he stopped attacking Central Florida’s top employer.” He added, “We’re talking about trying to get [Disney] to invest more money to create more jobs. And this is not helpful to those efforts.”

Soto’s words suggest that he sees Disney performing a massive favor to the state by operating its resort and parks there instead of the other way around. But the sort of jobs that Disney creates is precisely what has fueled deep income inequality in the U.S. Its presence in Florida has meant thousands of poorly paid jobs that keep Floridians in a hand-to-mouth existence, unable to cope with the rising cost of living. Aubrey Jewett, a University of Central Florida political science professor, told USA Today, “Yes, we have a lot of jobs. But they don’t pay very much. And we seem to have lost ground over time, especially when it comes to housing costs.”

One Disney worker told the Guardian, “We’re grossly, grossly underpaid for the hours that we work,” and that “[a] lot of Disney workers are barely squeaking by. You have workers with families sleeping in their car.”

Disney heiress Abigail Disney, who is an outspoken progressive, even made a documentary about the poor treatment of Disneyland workers in Anaheim, California, where the company also enjoys special tax benefits in exchange for creating jobs and where it was granted an exception to a voter-passed minimum wage increase. Just as in Florida, Disney’s California jobs are worth about as little as the taxes the company pays to the state.

In addition to constantly being granted exemptions for taxes and regulations, corporations like Disney enjoy a mythical status in the U.S. for being so massively profitable that their dollar signs obscure capitalism’s ugly underbelly.

Disney should not have control over land, resources, tax regulations, or wages. And lawmakers should not be allowed to trample over the rights of minorities. It’s not difficult to oppose both Disney’s power grab and DeSantis’s dangerous culture wars. Indeed, both positions are fully consistent with progressive ideals of protecting and furthering the rights of human beings.

This article was produced by Economy for All, a project of the Independent Media Institute.

Author:  Sonali Kolhatkar is an award-winning multimedia journalist. She is the founder, host, and executive producer of “Rising Up With Sonali,” a weekly television and radio show that airs on Free Speech TV and Pacifica stations. Her forthcoming book is Rising Up: The Power of Narrative in Pursuing Racial Justice (City Lights Books, 2023). She is a writing fellow for the Economy for All project at the Independent Media Institute and the racial justice and civil liberties editor at Yes! Magazine. She serves as the co-director of the nonprofit solidarity organization the Afghan Women’s Mission and is a co-author of Bleeding Afghanistan. She also sits on the board of directors of Justice Action Center, an immigrant rights organization.

Claiming to protect children, Republicans are going after libraries and librarians instead of the police, gun manufacturers, and actual child sexual abusers.

By Sonali Kolhatkar

Missouri Republicans in early April voted to cut all public funding for libraries as part of their state budget proposal.

Leading the move was Cody Smith, a top Republican lawmaker and chair of the state’s budget committee, who made no attempt to hide the fact that he was retaliating against librarians because they dared to join the ACLU in suing the state over a Republican-led book ban. Smith said, “I don’t think we should subsidize the attempts to overturn laws that we also created,” even though the ACLU is entirely funding the lawsuit.

Indeed, Republicans forced Missouri’s librarians into suing their state in what appears to be yet another flashpoint in the GOP’s increasingly desperate culture wars. In 2022 the GOP passed SB 775, criminalizing librarians for providing “sexually explicit” material to minors. They face a $2,000 fine or up to a year in jail if found in violation of the bizarre law.

Thankfully, the state Senate Appropriations Committee moved quickly to restore public library funding, with Senate Republican Lincoln Hough admitting, “I think it was kind of a punitive cut that the House made.”

But the threat still remains after Missouri’s Republican State Secretary Jay Ashcroft pushed through an administrative rule that threatens funding if libraries violate the book ban. He did so in an explicitly undemocratic manner, saying, “I have to figure out how to do this, because by rule I can get it done much more quickly than if I wait on the legislature.”

“Defund the Library” could be the GOP’s new slogan, succinctly encompassing a free-market agenda to destroy public funding of institutions that enlighten and educate, all under the disingenuous banner of “protecting children.”

Missouri’s library debacle isn’t an isolated incident. Patmos Library in Jamestown, Michigan, lost its public funding last November after it refused to ban books that conservative voters deemed objectionable.

Louisiana Republicans are also advancing a state bill that threatens library funding over material deemed objectionable.

And Texas Republicans voted to cut library funding in retaliation for “drag queen story hour” readings, again claiming to do so in order to protect children from being exposed to men and gender-nonconforming individuals wearing makeup and dresses with pride.

A Vox analysis of libraries under attack explained the disturbing trend: “Usually, lawmakers start with book bans. If the bans aren’t as effective as they’d hope, they escalate to threatening to defund local libraries.”

U.S. libraries have long been institutions embodying freedom: the freedom to learn, and to do so anonymously, without regard to one’s financial status. When Congress rushed through the USA PATRIOT Act in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, librarians were among the first to counter the anti-democratic law, refusing to spy on their users for the government. They stood up to the federal government and even the Federal Bureau of Investigation. One Connecticut librarian named Peter Chase, who was bound by a government gag order over a requirement to turn over records, said, “As a librarian, I believe it is my duty and responsibility to speak out about any infringement to the intellectual freedom of library patrons.”

Libraries offer free use of computers and free internet service, an especially important service for people living in low-income neighborhoods, rural areas, and tribal communities. During the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, when lockdowns forced children out of classrooms, many libraries created community hot spots and enabled Wi-Fi access in their parking lots so that kids without home internet could connect remotely with their classrooms.

Libraries do so much more than lend books. They offer passport services, help with job applications and school research, and provide low-cost or free spaces for community events. They promote local authors and participate in city-wide reading programs and book clubs. A 2021 California report on libraries in the state concluded that “Through digital labs, makerspaces, career centers and business resources, memory labs, public programs, community partnerships, and online resources, public libraries help communities explore, learn, connect, and have fun beyond their traditional ‘library’ brand.”

When Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders ran for president in the 2016 election, he cited public funding of libraries as an example of democratic socialism in action, and libraries as “socialist institutions.”

Indeed, these socialist institutions are hugely popular. A Gallup poll of leisure activities conducted every 10 years found in 2019 that going to the library was “the most common cultural activity Americans engage in,” even more so than going to the movie theater. Libraries were far more popular among women than men, and low-income residents were far more likely to use their local library’s services than their higher-income neighbors.

In Michigan, where several libraries are dealing with book bans and where Patmos Library in Jamestown faced defunding, a March 2023 poll found broad support among the public, across party lines and political affiliations, to support libraries and the free dissemination of information.

These days it seems as though any public institution that actually helps and protects Americans is ripe for Republican-led destruction. It’s no wonder that conservatives are taking aim at this pillar of American democracy, deeming libraries “bastions of Marxism,” and “woke” purveyors of material that encourages racial justice and questions sexual orthodoxy. Not only have hundreds of books been banned across the country, but Republicans, like the ones in Missouri, are threatening librarians across the nation with fines and imprisonment. The Washington Post in a May 2023 analysis found that “[a]t least seven states have passed such laws in the last two years.”

Unlike police, who routinely kill and maim Americans, and who rightfully deserve to be targeted with defunding, and unlike gun manufacturers whose weapons continue to wreak constant violence and death across the country, librarians are the ones protecting and serving the public and its right to access information freely. But the GOP prefers to protect police and weapons makers while attacking librarians.

One New Jersey high school librarian named Martha Hickson was shocked to face unfounded accusations from a conservative of being “a pedophile, a pornographer, and a groomer of children,” during a heated debate over a book ban.

It turns out that not only do Republicans have a deep disdain for librarians, but also for children, the purported focus of their vociferous concerns.

Setting aside the GOP’s failure to protect children from mass shooters, Republican lawmakers have often shielded sexual predators. Pennsylvania Republicans refused to hold the church accountable for years of sexual abuse of children. Dozens of House Republicans refused to vote for the Respect for Child Survivors Act, a bill that would have protected child victims of sexual abuse. And Republican Congressman Louie Gohmert even praised a pastor friend and read his sermon on the House floor—a pastor who was a convicted child sexual abuser.

In fact, Daily Kos has a forum where readers submit news reports of “Republican Sexual Predators, Abusers, and Enablers.” The list is shockingly long.

Indeed, we should not be surprised to find out then that a Kansas City right-wing activist named Ryan Utterback, who pushed for Missouri’s book ban on the basis of protecting kids from LGBT-themed books, turned out to be an accused sexual predator. Utterback faces a felony charge of second-degree child sexual molestation.

In the battle over who really protects our children—librarians or Republicans—librarians are the ones who belong in our good books.

Our movement's ballot initiative campaign, "Floridians Protecting Freedom", is launching to protect access to abortion and ensure our personal medical decisions are ours and ours alone to make.

Time and time again, our state government has chosen to ignore the will of Floridians by passing increasingly restrictive laws to limit access to abortion. They’ve done this despite polling — and election results —  that have shown the majority of Florida voters support access to abortion. 

The campaign is all hands on deck! Let's get abortion on the ballot in 2024; Floridians will reclaim our right to control our medical decisions, our lives, and our futures.

A succesful campaign will require all of us to do our part.  Join now by accessing the following resources:

1. Go to Volunteer Petition Training | Floridians Protecting Freedom (everyaction.com) and sign up for a Tuesday evening, one-hour, online training session.

2.  Access the Volunteer Guide, Floridians Protecting Freedom

3.  Check out the Hub Map at https://flfree.link/hubs to determine where you can drop off the signed petitions.  Note: you will be provided with an address if you choose to mail them.

4.  Link to petition https://flfree.link/petition   Print them, collect them, submit them!  Directions on how to do so are in the volunteer guide.

5.  Donate  https://flfree.link/give   Every dollar counts in supporting this massive effort.

Thanks so much for your help in this campaign.  We look forward to working with you!

Floridians Protecting Freedom Organizing Team

It's impossible to refute the basic fact.  So the logical conclusion is ...............  YOU GOT IT!

I'll just bet many of you and I have something in common.

That is we both believe that whoever wins the most popular votes should become President of the United States!

And we are both frustrated and angry about our Electoral College System.

It's time to fix the Electoral College by uniting with Common Cause members from across the country and bring pressure on Congress to pass the

National Popular Vote Compact!

For complete information on how you can do this, please go to:

commoncause.org/national-popular-vote

Passage of this bill could make a big difference in the future of our democracy!

Trans people aren't real people, right? 

By Lisa Demmi

That's the only reason that I can come up with to understand why so many people think we shouldn't treat them like people. I mean they certainly have done this to themselves, right? Because it makes sense that someone would choose a life in which they are setting themselves up for discrimination, hate, and abuse. Crystal clear, if you ask me.

Yes, I'm being sarcastic. What a surprise. When I heard about the legislation that is waiting for Desantis to sign into law, I was literally speechless. AND if you know me, you know I am never speechless.

First, we have the "Don't Say Gay" Bill. For details, read here. This has the potential to tick up the numbers of suicides among gay kids. Who wins and who loses here? What's the cost? Even one kid's life is too much.

Next, we're very clear that "gender affirming care' is not good but guns are. Hence, we have this bill passed that is attacking that kind of care. From an article in CNN Politics, "Gender-affirming care spans a range of evidence-based treatments and approaches that benefit transgender and nonbinary people. The types of care vary by the age and goals of the recipient, and are considered the standard of care by many mainstream medical associations." For the full article, click here. Why is the government making decisions about what anyone can do with his or her own body? I know...see "abortion."

Have you ever spoken with a trans person? Do you know what it's like to wake up day in and day out and hate your body? You can't get out of your own skin. Sometimes, you just want to die. Do you know how they feel about themselves prior to transitioning? And then talk to that same person after transitioning. It's like night and day. They are happy, they are productive, and they are less likely to turn to suicide. They are people like ALL other people.

I'm not sure what a trans person ever did to you but I'm confident it was nothing. I think people have made stories up in their heads about them just like they do with any other person, place or thing that they're unfamiliar with. Maybe its scary because it's unknown.

If you believe in a God or a great entity, do you think he or she makes so-called "mistakes?" What would be the purpose? Let's even back that up. Why do you think trans people are "mistakes" or wrong or unworthy or even inhuman?

While we're at it, why don't you have the same rage and disdain for those who actually do molest children like priests, school teachers, etc? Should we ban ALL priests and teachers? No, but we should treat them the same way as anyone committing a crime. Yet, we don't always do that.

What about guns? How many kids do they kill every year? According to ABC news, nearly 600 teens and children had been killed as of May 1st of this year. Let's make sure to leave that legislation as is. No need to ramp up protection there. To me that's 600 times we failed as humans.

There's an obvious disparity with how people who are different are treated. If i'm black, I'm scared to even drive a car or stand outside my own house for fear of being arrested or killed. If I'm Muslim or Asian, I'm afraid to show my face in public because ALL Muslims are terrorists and all Asians caused COVID. If I'm disfigured in a noticeable way, then I'm a monster. If I'm neurodivergent, I'm stupid or weird or wrong or crazy. If I'm Gay, then I'm immoral and a sinner and evil. Hell, all these groups of people and others are also evil.

When did we get so hateful and vicious? AND WHY are we so hateful and vicious?

I go go on and on for hours about this but let me try to boil it down to a sound bite.

We are ALL human. We are all more alike than a lot of us think. And we are ALL worthy.

Be better now.

Newsletter on LinkedIn  'SPEAK(ing) My Mind"

Author: Lisa Demmi     

There is fair and equitable,compassionate and caring and then there is GREED!

Harvard Radcliffe Institute held a major public conference January 26–27, 2023, to probe the complex and unpredictable ways that Roe v. Wade and its aftermath shaped the United States and the world beyond it for nearly half a century. The existential issue of abortion—and the galvanizing impact of Roe in particular—transformed the nation’s politics and public policy and its social movement energies, as well as the operations of the courtroom and the clinic. This opening session of the conference featured speakers with a range of perspectives from the front lines of debates about abortion, birth, and birth disparities. Each told stories from their work and talked about the work of stories in their own social movement and thought leadership.

Program, Thursday, January 26, 2023

Welcome Jane Kamensky, Carl and Lily Pforzheimer Foundation Director, Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, Harvard Radcliffe Institute, and Jonathan Trumbull Professor of American History, Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences 4:28 Framing Remarks Michele Bratcher Goodwin, Chancellor’s Professor of Law and founding director, Center for Biotechnology and Global Health Policy, University of California, Irvine School of Law Presentations 20:32 Renee Bracey Sherman, founder and executive director, We Testify 36:36 Catherine Davis, founder and president, The Restoration Project 48:46 Getty Israel, founder and CEO, Sisters in Birth, Inc. 1:04:48 Moderated Conversation with Speakers Moderator: Michele Bratcher Goodwin Close of Program Jane Kamensky

For information about Harvard Radcliffe Institute and its many public programs, visit https://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RadcliffeIns... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/radcliffe.i... LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/radc... Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/RadInstitute

Are you listening?  Are you ready to speak truth to power?

Edith Kanaka'ole (also affectionately called “Aunty Edith”), a native Hawaiian composer, chanter and dancer, was a champion for the preservation of native Hawaiian culture and arts. Kanaka'ole lead the highly celebrated dance school, Hālau o Kekuhi, where her legacy as a Kumu Hula, or chief practitioner of traditional Hawaiian dance and culture, took flight.  

Kanaka'ole was born Edith Ke'kuhikuhiipu'uoneonaali'iokohala Kenao on October 30th, 1913 in Honomu, Hawai'i. Honomu is located on the Big Island, which is one of the eight Hawaiian Islands. Her parents John Kanaeleolualaka`ikenao (born in 1870) and Mary Kekuewa Ahiena (born in 1880) were also born on the Big Island, though the two grew up on two different sides of it. Eventually meeting halfway, the two married and had twelve children total (Public Broadcasting System, 1991). When asked about the number of siblings she had, Kanaka'ole could hardly recall if she was the ninth or tenth child in the Kenao family (Public Broadcasting System, 1991). Her childhood in Honomu was quite active. She spent many days at the beach or the river catching fish with her family and dining on them together (Public Broadcasting System, 1991). 

Kanaka'ole's future as Hawai'i's most prominent Kumu Hula had roots in her early life. Her interests in both Hula and music were clear from a young age and driven by her parent’s endeavors. Her mother, Mary, taught Hula which is a type of Native Hawaiian dance that often tells a story. Hula performances vary in style, with some being accompanied by chants and/or music of all different tempos. Whether more ancient or modern in style, Hula is meant to connect dancers to “Hawaiian ancestral knowledge,” (Go Hawaii, n.d.). Kanaka'ole's father, John, was a musician who both sang and played a variety of instruments. Some of John’s specialties included the harp, violin, and guitar (Public Broadcasting System, 1991). 

Kanaka'ole’s parents' expertise in areas of traditional dance and music was important due to the events happening during their early adulthood. There was an increase in Western imperialist efforts in Hawai'i in the late 1800s. From Hawai'i’s last king, King David Kalākaua, signing treaties with the United States to an influx of white landowners and businessmen, Native Hawaiian culture suffered greatly (National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.). Discriminatory policies were ushered in and “many aspects of traditional culture [became] prohibited, including teaching the Hawaiian language and performing the native Hula dance.” (National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.). Hawai’i’s last monarch, Queen Lili'uokalani, attempted to preserve sacred lands and traditional cultural practices but her efforts were prevented by non-native businessmen. United States imperialism continued to threaten and attempt to erase the cultural livelihood of Native Hawaiians well into the 1900s. 

Growing up in an environment that aimed to preserve and celebrate Native Hawaiian culture was certainly a large part of Kanaka'ole’s eventual expertise in music, chanting and Hula. While she did not finish intermediate school, when asked about her schooling she joked that she stopped at "seventh grade and a half" (Honolulu’s Star-Bulletin, 1979). It is interesting to reflect on the fact that, despite not finishing school herself, Kanaka'ole would ultimately become a beloved educator both in public school and university settings. Taking the time to study the areas that truly brought her joy (such as the Native Hawaiian language, culture, and Hula) throughout her teen years and early adulthood were what set her on her path to mastery and becoming a cultural icon.

With her talents budding before the age of the Hawaiian Renaissance (a period marked from the early 1960s to the late 1970s), a commitment to Hula provided ongoing opportunities for Kanaka'ole to engage deeply with Hawaiian culture and history (Lewis 1984, p. 168). This renaissance highlighted a resurgence of public expression of Native Hawaiian identity and spiritual practice. Kanaka'ole would come to be a prominent figure in this movement. Though she first learned the art of Hula through her mother as a child, she continued training under notable Kumu Hula Akoni Mika (Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia, n.d.). Learning Hula and connecting so deeply with her culture through this art was life-changing for Kanaka'ole. She was empowered to become an outspoken champion for the recognition of Indigenous Hawaiian culture and experiences - particularly in the face of cultural discrimination. Embodying Hawaiian values of unity and love through her kindness and uncanny ability to touch the hearts of many, she then became regarded as an authority figure by her community. It was also during this time that Kanaka'ole met and married her husband Luka Kanaka'ole in January of 1933. The couple had six children together.

Outside of Hula, Kanaka'ole had many other areas of expertise. She was a talented composer who created various Hawaiian chants - traditionally called oli - and songs, many of which are featured on the albums she recorded. Bringing her two talents together, she often choreographed Hula dances to accompany her musical creations. Kanaka'ole cherished this craft and believed oli to be at the core of Hawaiian history, culture and identity (Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia, n.d.). She became recognized for her performances and performed often. In 1950, she toured the mainland United States, Canada, and various countries in Asia (United States Mint, 2022). Shortly thereafter, Kanaka'ole’s mother passed away. In honor of her mother, Kanaka'ole created a school that specialized in teaching the art of Hula. Formed at the beginning of the Hawaiian Renaissance, she was able to use all of her years of training to teach those who wished to engage with Hula. She named her school Hālau o Kekuhi. In Native Hawaiian, these schools are referred to as “hālau” and “kekuhi” references a colorful fish called a flying gurnard. Kanaka'ole trained two of her six children at Hālau o Kekuhi. Both her children and many students learned the art of Kanka'ole’s distinct style of Hula, where dancers conduct ”dynamic movements in a very low bent-knee stance,” though it is still considered traditional – just with Kanaka'ole’s own unique twist (Kaeppler 2006, p. 308). 

Though her community already highly regarded her cultural contributions, Kanaka'ole continued her efforts for the preservation of Hawaiian culture in the face of continued cultural discrimination. While Hawai'i’s official statehood in 1959 ushered in more legislative rights (the ability to be represented in Congress and the right to elect their own governor, for example), assimilatory policies did not disappear (National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.). One prominent example was continued battles between Native Hawaiians and the government over lands that held spiritual significance. Overall, Hawaiians were undergoing significant attacks on their cultural livelihood. Kanaka'ole became even more impassioned by the hardships her community was facing. She set out to share her cultural knowledge with Hawaiian youth, particularly through her work as a professor at the Hawai'i Community College from 1971 to 1979 and the University of Hawai'i at Hilo from 1973 to 1979. Her courses and seminars were on a variety of topics - Hawaiian chants and myths, genealogy, Polynesian history, land ownership, and ethnobotany (United States Mint, 2022). 

As Kanaka'ole sought to keep Hawaiian customs alive as the pressure of assimilation loomed, she wanted to reach wider audiences. She helped to create a Hawaiian language program for a public school in Hilo, Hawai'i called the Keaukaha School. There’s no doubt she was the one for the task, as Hawaiian was often featured extensively in her music (Tatar, 1982).  The number of Hawaiian language speakers continued to decrease after Hawai'i statehood and the state legislature banned the speaking of Hawaiian in schools (Tagarelli, 2020). If students were found speaking the language, they were subject to punishments. These bans only further lowered the amount of Native Hawaiian speakers at the time. Even so, Kanaka'ole’s efforts to reinvigorate the language worked; as of 2020, over twenty language immersion schools exist (Tagarelli 2020). The number of speakers has increased thanks to these schools, though UNESCO still considers the language critically endangered (Alexandre and Moseley, 2010).

Another of Kanaka'ole’s prominent endeavors was her assistance with the Imua Project, which would eventually be renamed the Hawaiian Studies Kupuna Program for Hawaiian public schools (Hawaii Tribune Herald, 2013). Elders, or kupuna, assisted in teaching youth about Hawaiian history, identity and culture in all Hawaiian public schools. Program founder Kwai Wah Lee sought out Kanaka'ole to interview elders who might be interested in participating in the program (Hawaii Tribune Herald 2013). Kanaka'ole showed up for her community, aiding locals in providing better opportunities for youth in any way she could.

Later in life, the then Governor of Hawai'i, George Ariyoshi, awarded Kanaka'ole with the 1979 Distinction of Cultural Leadership award in recognition of her commitment to her community (Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia, n.d). The award focused on those who have contributed greatly to three areas of focus: Hawaiian culture, arts and humanities (United States Mint 2022). This award is the highest honor granted by the state of Hawai'i, and Kanaka'ole was undoubtedly strong contender given her life’s work. She went on to win several other awards all in recognition to her devotion to preserving traditional Hawaiian culture.  

Kanaka'ole was diagnosed with cancer and passed away at the age of 65 on October 3rd, 1979. Her second and final album entitled “Hiipoi I Ka Aiina Aloha” or “Cherish the Beloved Land” was released posthumously (Tatar, 1982, p. 337). In 1979, the album won “Best Traditional Album” in the Nā Hōkū Hanohano Awards – an award show developed by a team of Hawaiian recording artists - by public vote (Hawai'i Academy of Recording Arts, 2021). The success of the second album marked a series of wins for Kanaka’ole. Her first album, “Haakui Pele I Hawai'i” or "Pele Prevails in Hawai'i," had also won the “Best Traditional Album” award the year prior (Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia, n.d.).

Many within her community and beyond spoke highly of Kanaka'ole just after her passing. The Honolulu Star-Bulletin remarked that she was “[one] of the Big Island's most cherished educators” (Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 1979). The University of Hawai'i at Hilo also named a building after Kanaka’ole. With regards to Hula and Halau o Kekuhi, Kanaka'ole’s daughters Pualani Kanaka’ole Kanahele and Nālani Kanaka’ole each took on the role of Kumu Hula as their mother’s successors. Her daughter, Pualani, eventually passed on the role to two of her children. Only one still serves as a Kumu Hula with Halau o Kekuhi to date, with Nālani Kanaka'ole and Pualani’s daughter, Huihui Kanahele-Mossman, as the school’s current leaders (Edith Kanaka'ole Foundation, n.d.). They continue to work tirelessly to highlight Hula as a medium of dance that is worthy of being held in as high regard as other classical forms of dance, such as ballet and modern dance (Edith Kanaka'ole Foundation, n.d.).

Presently, Kanaka'ole is one of five women to be honored in 2023 by the U.S. Mint’s four-year long American Women Quarters program. The chant Kanaka'ole composed entitled “E hō mai ka ʻike” is the inscription on the back of her commemorative coin. This phrase translates to “granting the wisdom,” which is both indicative of Kanaka'ole’s wealth of knowledge and her dedication to imparting her wisdom in the name of uplifting Native Hawaiian narratives and traditions (United States Mint, 2022). Other organizations such as the non-profit Edith Kanaka'ole Foundation continue to honor her legacy by keeping Native Hawaiian culture alive and even undertaking humanitarian initiatives, such as providing scholarships for Native Hawaiian youth seeking higher education. 

There is much to learn from Kanaka'ole’s vast experiences and inspiring life. Her love for Hula, chants and keeping Native Hawaiian traditions alive and well stemmed from a deep pride in her culture and the possibility of a better future. She was steadfast in her beliefs. In the face of intense cultural discrimination, she was a force to be reckoned with - all in the name of love of her people. As Kanaka'ole herself remarked, “We’re all part of one family…We all work together to solve problems.  …When we find time to contribute, returns come back to us tenfold.”  

AUTHOR: MLA – Dawson, Shay. "Edith Kanaka'ole." National Women's History Museum. National Women's History Museum, 2023. Date accessed.  

 Chicago- Dawson, Shay. “Edith Kanaka'ole." National Women's History Museum. 2023.