HAWAIIAN STYLE
Red T-shirts reflect spirit of Hawaiian solidarity
It was the law of supply and demand, Hawaiian style. And it made the recent Waikiki "March for Justice" red T-shirts a red-hot commodity — and, for organizer Vicky Holt Takamine, a pleasant merchandising madness.
After the recent judicial decision allowing a non-Hawaiian into The Kamehameha Schools, frustrated Hawaiian community leaders — dismayed by that and other recent court challenges to Native Hawaiian entitlements — "had to do something," said Takamine. "We had to make our outrage known."
Naturally, "everyone looked at me," Takamine joked. "The 'Queen of Demonstrations.' "But we weren't interested in coming together just to bring attention to the anger and frustration" of the Kamehameha admissions decision, she said. "We wanted a broader stage, for other threatened entitlements" — native rights, programs, ceded lands, revenues.
"We wanted to bring awareness to everything being attacked."
Timed to coincide with the planned Office of Hawaiian Affairs "Family Day" at Kapi'olani Park on Sept. 7, it was from the beginning based on the intrinsic Hawaiian value of sharing: "We asked if (OHA) would mind a sharing. And, we wanted to share the larger event with other Hawaiian organizations. You always ask! We didn't want to be maha'oi," impertinent.
"I tend to go with my na'au." And her gut said "go for it." She called on other values as well: kuleana and lokahi. "We delegated (among organizations); everyone took on a kuleana," said Takamine. "And that's why it worked so well: everyone came together."
From the beginning, Takamine thought big: "I didn't see 50 (marchers). I didn't see 500. I saw 5,000 — that would make a statement."
That and the color red.
Red: one of the royal colors, and appropriately, the color of koko, blood, a concept of percentage that had become important in the rights movement — but, mostly because red is vibrant.
Recent ho'ailona, signs/portents, supported her color choice: 'Ilio'ulaokalani, her Hawaiian rights organization's namesake, that red-tinged, "red dog of the heavens" cloud formation, and the recent running of the 'aweoweo, both thought to portend a significant event in the Hawaiian community. She wondered if the recent appearance of reddish Mars in Hawaiian skies was perhaps another.
So red shirts it was: five thousand, in the matter of a week, a task that would surely make any veteran halau or band organizer cringe. Wayne Wainwright of Kapala'ahu (literally: garment printing) did the design and printing: "KU I KA PONO" in the 'olelo makuahine, the mother tongue; and "JUSTICE FOR HAWAIIANS" in English.
"You could see us coming," Takamine jokes of the intensity of the red design.
"We wiped out (local) distributors," Takamine said, laughing. When they ran out of red T-shirts, Wainwright switched to tank tops.
Students volunteered to distribute the shirts from tables at the march: "No! trucks," rally veteran Takamine said. "Six of them — one for each (shirt) size." An hour after a 6:30 a.m. set-up, the T-shirts, at $5 a pop, were gone — and had become an instant collectors' item.
Many of the estimated 8,000 to 10,000 marchers, some wearing their own red T-shirts, had flown in from Neighbor Islands, and Mainland states as far away as Florida.
Those without official shirts clamored for one. "You're going to be seeing more of these" at future events, said Wainwright. "It's a 'rally shirt' now."
"It's because (the fight) isn't over," said Takamine. "The shirt represents the struggle."
Already hundreds of orders are streaming in to Wainwright and Takamine, sending Wainwright to scour the Internet for T-shirt sources. By the end of the year, he estimates he'll have filled as many orders as at the original march.
"This march brought people together," said Takamine. "It's not about race. It's that common understanding that something has to be done" — and, this time, people "showed up for the party."
And, maybe, to get that red T-shirt.
