The University of Hawaii at Manoa’s Hawaiinuiakea School of Hawaiian Knowledge is slated to host an inaugural Pi‘o Summit on Thursday at the East-West Center, focusing on sovereignty and justice tied to wai, or water.
“We have a long, beautiful history with wai in our islands,” Kamana Beamer, a Hawaiinuiakea professor who is leading the summit, told the Honolulu Star- Advertiser in an email statement. “Anything that damages our most precious resource is a threat to our future. Our summit will hold space for these challenging conversations and for enacting alternative futures for our islands.”
The one-day event will bring together local leaders and cultural practitioners to discuss matters related to protection of land and water. It will feature two panels: one with practitioners who advocate for water and land protections or who work directly with water as a resource in places such as fishponds and kalo farms. The other panel, “Wai and Red Hill,” includes the Honolulu Board of Water Supply’s chief engineer, Ernie Lau, and activists on the front lines of the movement to shut down the Navy’s Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility.
Cornel West, a political activist and philosopher, is scheduled to deliver a keynote talk at UH’s Kennedy Theatre, according to a UH press release. The talk will focus on imperialism in the context of liberation and justice movements worldwide.
Beamer said he hopes that the discussions will generate fresh perspective to environmental challenges and also inspire courage in community leaders amid situations such as that at Red Hill, where 2021’s fuel spills contaminated the Navy’s drinking water system.
“I expect there to be a range of honest and liberating conversations about our collective kuleana to wai and the future of Hawaii,” he said. “The Pi‘o Summit will be a space of regeneration for efforts toward water justice for our islands and people.”
Seats for the in-person event, which will be at the Imin International Conference Center, are fully booked. However, the community is invited to attend the free event via livestream at Facebook.com/kanaeokana. The summit will run from noon to 4:30 p.m., while the keynote discussion by West will be from 5 to 7 p.m.
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Linsey Dower covers ethnic and cultural affairs and is a corps member of Report for America, a national service organization that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues and communities.
