Hawaii

Naka Nathaniel: We Need To Foster A Culture Of Belonging In A Land Of Inequality

Published

1 year ago

August 21, 2024

Press Room

Naka Nathaniel: We Need To Foster A Culture Of Belonging In A Land Of Inequality

After some follows on Instagram in the wake of FestPAC, my feed is full of reels of Maori haka.

I love it.

I admire New Zealand for having a fierce international reputation. Our Pacific ohana in Aotearoa are without peers when it comes to greeting malahini (strangers) and adversaries.

Watching these posts, I was reminded of a previous conversation with a very wise uncle. He said that decades ago, Hawaii had become too welcoming. He said that most cultures prioritize protection first and hospitality second.

Somehow, in Hawaii we had it flipped. Unlike the Maori, we put our dancers out in front and not the warriors.

He said he couldn’t understand it: When a stranger arrives on your shores you should determine if they’re there to invade you and take what you have. Instead, in Hawaii we sidelined our warriors and, to him, were too hospitable.

For too long, it has been easy for visitors to arrive in Hawaii and be welcomed with lei and a mai tai and not the truth of injustices past and present that have left Native Hawaiians sidelined.

As I read through the comments on my column last week about John Oliver succinctly reporting out Hawaiian history and concluding that Hawaii was being run to benefit everyone but Hawaiians, I kept thinking about how we can figure out a better way forward for our discussions.

I don’t want the discussion to be reduced to one of victims versus villains. That just alienates everyone and causes more division.

I want Hawaii to have a culture of belonging.

However, fostering a culture of belonging is tough given the harsh state of inequality here. The trend is for wealthy people to move here and for those with generational ties to Hawaii to move away.

Maori performers from New Zealand, Aotearoa, showcase a traditional dance at FestPAC, where Polynesian representatives gathered in Hawaii to celebrate their individual cultures together. (David Croxford/Civil Beat/2024)

I was thinking about another conversation I had awhile back with Ualani Davis, a kanaka maoli artist. We were discussing the idea of how to truly foster the notion of Hawaii being welcoming to all who would abide by the aloha spirit.

However, the notion of the welcoming aspect of aloha has been thrown askew by marketing messages.

“The whole monetization of the aloha spirit, they don’t need Hawaiians,” said Davis. “They just need the aloha spirit, and that’s free. You don’t need to pay anyone for aloha spirit, and that’s all they really need to sell Hawaii.”

Extreme inequality is hampering our cohesiveness thanks to the island state’s desirability as a supposed paradise.

We’ve seen it very starkly after the Maui wildfires last year. The haves are able to be patient and wait for a rebound. The have-nots have already left the island.

The haves are prominently displayed on a wall in the Kahalui airport. The “Kamaaina Proud to Call Maui Home” wall is adorned with photos of celebrities and musicians who took their riches and bought property on Maui as a reward for their success.

Unfortunately, the claiming of those rewards has come at the expense of those who grew up alongside those pictured on the accompanying wall celebrating the “Maui Nui Wall of Fame.”

But again, I do not want to alienate anyone with the victims versus villains designation.

The term a “culture of belonging” was popularized in the business world grappling with the racial reckoning in the summer of 2020.

As the Harvard Business Review wrote, “After all, belonging is essential to humans. Psychologists rank our need to belong on par with our need for love. Because the need to belong is universal and fundamental, focusing on it has the power to draw in the whole workforce, even those who might feel excluded from — or threatened by — current DEI conversations. When companies emphasize a culture of belonging, they call everyone in, creating space in the conversation to address our shared humanity and build a bridge to greater empathy and inclusion for the groups that are the most marginalized in the workplace today.”

How can we make that apply in cultures here in Hawaii that are often siloed by inequality?

Starting with knowledge and understanding goes a long way. Being knowledgeable about the history of Hawaii helps. That’s why John Oliver’s history lesson on HBO resonated with so many audiences. His report was entertaining, educational and not laborious.

Should we have a culture that’s more challenging and less automatically welcoming?

I’d vote for being welcoming, but I’m curious to hear others’ thoughts in the comments.

I don’t think we’re in an intractable place when it comes to facing the challenges of inequality here in Hawaii. We have tools at our disposal that we’re only just now starting to understand how to use.

Our state constitution has strong provisions that could help: In this year alone, the Hawaii Supreme Court cited the Spirit of Aloha to rule against unfettered use of the second amendment. The right to a healthful environment also was successfully used by the plaintiffs in the Navahine settlement.

The most powerful tool could be the Law of the Splintered Paddle. The first written law of the Hawaiian kingdom, which provides for the protection of innocent people such as kupuna and keiki, is in the state constitution. I’m very interested to see how smart people in Hawaii could use it to tackle our toughest issues like inequality.

Nearly everyone who lives here understands that Hawaii is a unique place, deserving of appreciation and protection that should take priority over selfish and shortsighted interests to acquire and extract. Those selfish and shortsighted interests can serve one well in other places, but in Hawaii, it keeps the islands on a path to being the province of the ultra-wealthy, retirees and the low-wage earners who serve them.

We need to find aloha-driven leaders who can emphasize a common cause, bridge gaps and create belonging. That’s how we can solve our problems.

Source link

Hawaii

What’s Cooking: Celebrating Lunar New Year with Hawaii Dim Sum & Seafood

Published

4 minutes ago

January 10, 2026

Press Room

What’s Cooking: Celebrating Lunar New Year with Hawaii Dim Sum & Seafood

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – A family-run Chinese restaurant in Honolulu’s Chinatown is gearing up for Lunar New Year festivities.

Hawaii Dim Sum & Seafood Restaurant owner Karen Tam and her son Kirave Liang joined HNN’s Sunrise to showcase their dim sum and Chinese specialties.

Lunar New Year specials include a special jai with 18 vegetarian ingredients and the sweet, sticky, steamed rice cake gau in brown sugar and coconut flavors, which symbolize good fortune and prosperity.

”We eat food with a lucky meaning to start the great year,” Tam said. “We have jin dui (sesame balls) every day.“

Feb. 17 marks the start of the year of the Fire Horse, when families gather to celebrate with big meals and auspicious dishes. Hawaii Dim Sum & Seafood will offer set party menus and special orders for foods not commonly found in Honolulu, such as whole stuffed duck, braised abalone in oyster sauce, and basin meal.

“It’s the biggest fest of the year. We celebrate Chinese New Year by eating with family in a round table,“ Tam said.

Hawaii Dim Sum & Seafood also has private rooms with karaoke systems and a banquet hall to accommodate small family gatherings to large parties.

Hawaii Dim Sum & Seafood is located on 111 N. King St. and is open from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily, There is street parking and paid parking behind the restaurant on Nimitz and Maunakea.

For more information, visit hawaiidimsumseafood.com or follow on Instagram @hawaiidimsumseafood.

Source link

Hawaii

Hawaii suffers first defeat of the season against Loyola Chicago | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Published

12 hours ago

January 10, 2026

Press Room

Hawaii suffers first defeat of the season against Loyola Chicago | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

The second-ranked Hawaii men’s volleyball team expected a different Loyola Chicago team to show up Friday night in the rematch of Thursday’s 94-minute sweep by UH.

They were certainly correct in that assessment.

Hawaii coach Charlie Wade said flatly the Ramblers were better after No. 7 Loyola Chicago handed Hawaii its first home loss in January in two years in a 25-23, 25-22, 24-26, 29-27 win before a season-high crowd of 5,811 at Bankoh Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.

Aleksandar Sosa put down a match-high 19 kills and setter Ryan McElligott set the tone with four of his five aces in the first set for Loyola Chicago (1-1), which out-served and out-blocked the Rainbow Warriors.

“I thought they touched a lot of balls on the block and those first two sets, the first set, we had three or four balls back on our side to score some points and we didn’t,” Wade said. “We kind of screwed it up. We weren’t quite as crisp and efficient and against a good team, we let them hang around and they come back and make some plays late.”

Hawaii looked done for the night trailing 20-13 when it mounted a furious comeback in the third set to avoid a sweep.

Loyola Chicago had five match points in the fourth set and finally put the contest away with a double block of Ofeck Hazan to complete the upset.

“I think they served way better and we really struggled passing their serve,” said Hazan, who started in place of Trevell Jordan in the middle. “They were more creative out of system. (Thursday) they just hit into our block and today they just found the touches or just played better.”

Louis Sakanoko led Hawaii with 18 kills and set a career high with 12 digs, and Kristian Titriyski added 16 kills before sitting out the fourth set. UH hit .254 for the match and had six aces to the Ramblers’ eight. Loyola Chicago hd 15.5 blocks to Hawaii’s 10.5.

“We weren’t clicking on all cylinders and I’m not trying to use this as an excuse, but (setter) Tread (Rosenthal) didn’t practice all week. He had a back that tightened up,” Wade said. “Trevell’s back tightened up and I thought Ofeck played pretty well and he gave us a nice spark, but you’re just a little off rhythm there. Kristian was kind of grabbing his back late and obviously we made the decision to go with Kainoa (Wade) to give us a spark and he gave us that.”

Kainoa Wade and Sakanoko each served three straight points for UH in the third set after it fell behind 20-13 and Finn Kearney came off the bench to serve the final two points that ended in blocks to get UH back in the game.

Hawaii hit just .171 in the fourth and made eight service errors. It had 20 serving errors for the match and served in at less than 80%.

“Obviously it’s a work in progress. We’re in game four of the year,” Kainoa Wade said. “We got a lot of work to do, but we’ve got to trust what we know. We’ve served a lot of balls in our lives, all of us, so we know we can go on runs and make plays.”

The Ramblers gave Hawaii a taste of its own medicine in the opening set with McElligott building a strong poker hand of aces during an 8-0 run during which Charlie Wade used both timeouts.

McElligott had three aces after Jake Read’s kill put him behind the service line, and despite two Hawaii timeouts and the media timeout, he poured it on until UH caught a break with a Loyola Chicago net violation on an overpass that almost certainly would have been a Ramblers point.

Sakanoko followed with back-to-back kills, including a deep tip into the far corner over a triple block that prompted Loyola Chicago to call timeout leading 17-14.

Hawaii extended the run to 5-0 after Titriyski put down a kill following a long rally to pull UH within a point.

The Rainbow Warriors got back to even at 22-all on Kainoa Wade’s ace as a serving sub. The set was tied once more until a Rosenthal service error and a McElligott ace for his fourth of the set handed UH its first set loss of the season.

Rosenthal wasn’t able to spin serve all night due to the back injury.

Neither team separated by more than a point in the second set until Justin Todd had two aces during a 4-0 UH run to put the ‘Bows ahead 13-10.

Hawaii led 21-19 when the Ramblers scored six of the next seven points to go up two sets to none.

UH’s only point during the final 6-1 run came on a Loyola Chicago service error. The Ramblers scored three of their points on errors by UH and another on their sixth ace of the match.

The Rainbow Warriors will have four days off before playing four matches in three days next week.

Hawaii has doubleheaders against Roberts Wesleyan and Rockhurst in reverse order on Wednesday and Friday.

Source link

Hawaii

2026 Sony Open field is announced. See who’s playing in Hawaii

Published

1 day ago

January 9, 2026

Press Room

2026 Sony Open field is announced. See who’s playing in Hawaii

The Sony Open in Hawaii has the honors of being the kickoff event to the 2026 PGA Tour season after the cancellation of The Sentry at Kapalua this season.

Instead of Maui, the Tour debuts in Honolulu on the island of Oahu, Jan. 15-18, at the Seth Raynor-designed Waialae Country Club, where Nick Taylor prevailed in a playoff over Nico Echavarria last year.

Among the changes this season is the field size, which was reduced from 144 to 120, and, there is no longer is a Monday qualifier offering four spots. Will that help with pace of play? Stay tuned.

The field includes the following notables in addition to Taylor and Echavarria: Daniel Berger, Keegan Bradley, Michael Brennan, Corey Conners, Tony Finau, Chris Gotterup, Brian Harman, Russell Henley, Billy Horschel, Robert MacIntyre, Collin Morikawa, Adam Scott, Jordan Spieth, Sahith Theegala, Gary Woodland and 62-year-old Vijay Singh.

Here’s the full field for the Sony Open, which will be live on Golf Channel all four days as well as NBC with early-round coverage on Saturday and Sunday.

This year’s Sony purse is $9.1 million and the winner also will receive 500 FedEx Cup points.

Source link