Without Apologies

In 1988, Haunani-Kay Trask spoke at an Aloha ʻĀina concert organized by the newly established Center for Hawaiian Studies. Earlier in this series, you heard Kumu Haunani unapologetically declare, “We are not American!” In this powerful address, she affirms: “We are Hawaiian! We are Hawaiian! We are Hawaiian!”

In episode 5, Haunani-Kay Trask leads the charge for the construction of the Hawaiian Studies building on the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa campus. In 1986, Dr. Trask was appointed the chair of a UH system-wide Hawaiian Studies Council, marking the beginning of her nearly decade-long struggle to construct the Hawaiian Studies building. Through years of lawsuits and opposition, Haunani-Kay guided...

In episode 4, Dr. Trask asked, “What did our kūpuna say?” In this episode, we share a moʻolelo, as told by Kumu Haunani-Kay's mother — Haunani Katherine Cooper. As a boarding student at Kamehameha School for Girls, Haunani Cooper published this retelling of an ancestral story from East Maui in 1934, titling it “The Revenge of Kauwiki.” Read by Dr. Brandy Nālani McDougall.

In 1982, Dr. Trask delivered a speech—"From a Native Daughter”—that came to define a generation of Native Hawaiian scholarship. She challenged inaccurate and racist narratives about Hawaiʻi and Hawaiians, calling us to ask who gets to write our histories? And, what’s at stake when our past is erased? In episode 4 "A Native Daughter," we trace the ancestral source of this speech: the lineage of nat...

"This is the beginning of the struggle; this is not the end." In 1978, people throughout Hawaiʻi turned out to speak against the US Navy's live fire training on Kahoʻolawe. After the Protect Kaho'olawe 'Ohana (PKO) sued the Navy to stop the bombing, the Navy was legally compelled to draft an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for their continued use of the island. Haunani-Kay Trask and other PKO...

In episode 3, Haunani-Kay Trask joins the struggle to stop the US Navy’s bombing of Kaho‘olawe. From 1978 through the early 1980s, Trask played a central role in the Protect Kahoʻolawe ʻOhana (PKO), when the ʻOhana secured regular access visits to the island. Haunani-Kay knew she could bring her organizing experience, her education, and her voice to the movement. She worked to limit the Navy’s pol...

In 1991, faculty in the University of Hawaiʻi Philosophy department were calling for Professor Haunani-Kay Trask to be fired. They were upset about a scathing op-ed she had written in the University's student newspaper Ka Leo o Hawaiʻi . But, she refused to be silent. Instead, she spoke even more powerfully. It was February 7, 1991 at a forum on the politics of academic freedom and white supremacy...

For eight years, the people's movements in Madison were Haunani-Kay Trask's greatest teachers. She earned three degrees at the University of Wisconsin, but Haunani learned even more from the marches, the sit-ins and organizing meetings. Episode 2 tells about the student strikes, anti-war protests, and feminist movements that shaped Haunani-Kay more profoundly than her classes. In Eros & Ash ,...

Between our main, narrative episodes, we’re sharing recordings of some of Dr. Trask’s full-length speeches, so you can hear her in her own voice, speaking to you from the archives. This archival episode features Kumu Haunani-Kay’s most well-known speech, delivered on January 17, 1993. Some folks call it the “We are not American!” speech, for its most famous line. Dr. Trask repeated this refrain ag...

Episode 1 of Without Apologies , a podcast series that brings you the voice, the power, and the political analysis of Kumu Haunani-Kay Trask. Each episode focuses on one of her speeches and the story behind it. Our journey opens with the speech Dr. Trask is best known for, delivered at ʻOnipaʻa 1993—the centennial commemoration of the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom—where she declared, "We are n...

A new podcast bringing you the voice, the power, and the political analysis of Kumu Haunani-Kay Trask, one of the most prominent Hawaiian scholars and leaders of the 20th century. Hosted by Noelani Goodyear-Kaʻōpua and Kahunawai Wright, Without Apologies features some of Dr. Trask's unforgettable speeches and the stories behind them. Listen, as Kumu Haunani’s voice resounds like a sharkskin drum,...