While I certainly respect the views and opinions of those in our community regarding COVID-19 vaccinations and testing, I feel compelled not only as a Native Hawaiian, but as a leader of a Native Hawaiian-serving organization, to highlight the peril our people have historically faced in light of foreign disease and epidemics brought to our homeland.
Whether we look back to the actions of ali‘i like Kuhina Nui Kina‘u in 1836, who ordered the Honolulu harbor pilot to screen all foreign-arriving vessels for smallpox. Or, in 1839, when Kamehameha III signed the Quarantine Law. Or the 1848-1849 measles outbreak, which Samuel M. Kamakau highlights “carried away about a third of the population.” Or when, in 1854 the smallpox vaccination was made compulsory. All the way up to more recent times in 1911, when major fumigation and sanitation efforts began to eliminate mosquito hazards in Hawaii.
These well-documented actions, whether supported by maka‘ainana or not, were implemented for the well-being of all, especially of Native Hawaiians.
So, the continued actions being taken today in light of a continuing global COVID-19 pandemic — whether agreed to or not, whether supported or not — are not without historical precedent in helping to care for our own Hawaiian people.
Currently, however, many Native Hawaiians failed to learn the lessons of the past, and the impact foreign-0introduced diseases had and will continue to have on our people.
As reported in a recent story in Maui Now, the number of new Native Hawaiian COVID-19 cases per week have increased by over 600% in the past two months, from 63 new Native Hawaiian cases in the first week of June, to 458 cases in the last week of July, outpacing increases in all other major race/ethnicity groups in Hawai‘i.
Also, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs estimates that the vaccination rate among the Native Hawaiian community may be as low as 35% (compared to the state average vaccination rate of 60%).
Yet one only needs to look at Native Americans and see a completely different approach, as they are reported to have the nation’s highest COVID-19 vaccination rate.
The Los Angeles Times recently featured a story in which a poll of Native Americans by the Urban Indian Health Institute highlighted 75% of respondents saying they were willing to get vaccinated. The primary motivation for Native Americans was “a strong sense of responsibility to protect the Native community and preserve cultural ways.”
Tribal leaders understood that vaccines were the clearest way out of the pandemic even when Native Americans, of any group, should be the one most opposed to government-backed vaccines.
I acknowledge that any concerns or questions Native Hawaiians may have about COVID-19 vaccines are conversations that need to be had with an individual’s primary care physician. They know you and your ‘ohana best.
Any philosophical disagreements with current testing or vaccination protocols being established is one that should be resolved by recognizing that organizations have the responsibility to make decisions and establish procedures that safeguard our Native Hawaiian communities and the general public. In a global pandemic, these protocols demonstrate the commitment organizations have to all who we interact with and serve — and the multigenerational families that many Native Hawaiians go home to every day.
As Americans, we all have the right to make decisions based on individual preference, putting our personal desires ahead of the common good. However, for Native Hawaiians, many of whom are beneficiaries of our ali‘i trusts — the very existence of which is predicated on the mass extermination of kanaka by disease — an individualist approach is contrary to the legacy and precedence set by our kupuna.
And so, while I respect everyone’s right to personal decisions and beliefs, my kuleana as a Native Hawaiian is to ensure a safe environment exists for everyone and to continue leading our community in the most pono way possible. Just as I’m sure Kina‘u, Kamehameha III and other ‘oiwi leaders did when faced with similar decisions in the past.
Scott K. Parker, Ed.D., serves as head of school for a large, independent school serving Native Hawaiians on Maui; he also is a retired staff sergeant with the Hawaii Air National Guard.
