Moanikeʻala Akaka (1944 - 2017)

In the struggle for Hawaiian Rights, few if any have fought longer and harder than Edwina Moanikeala Akaka.  

From the struggle to stop the evictions from Kalama Valley in 1971 to the stand to protect Mauna Kea from the Thirty Meter Telescope in 2015, "Aunty Moani" stood strong for the Lāhui for more than 46 years, virtually her entire adult life.  

Diagnosed with cancer last fall, for the third time in her life, Aunty Moani rallied once again to battle the disease. And, although she fought hard to stay with us, just as she fought hard for the Lāhui and ʻĀina her whole life, this time, she wasn't able to recover. It was with the greatest of sadness she passed on April 15th in Hilo.

We are organizing this fundraising campaign to assist Aunty Moani's ʻohana with the costs of her Celebration of Life, May 28, 2017, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Hilo One (Hilo Bayfront Beach Park).  

We hope that everyone who loved Aunty Moani will be with us that day!

In recognition of her many years of service to the Lāhui, we also wanted to share with you some highlights from the many contributions she made to our nation:

*  In 1971, she was one of 32 activists arrested, after occupying roof tops in Kalama Valley, trying stop the eviction of residents from their lands to make way for a  tourist resort and upscale residential development. Scholars described it as "the first prolonged resistance in the post-Statehood era."

* She was a founding member of the Protect Kahoʻolawe ʻOhana, which led the fight to stop the US Military's 49-year bombing campaign of the sacred island.

*She was a founding member of Ka La Hui, the largest sovereignty group in Hawaiian history. 

* In 1978, she was one of more than 50 activists who  risked their lives blockading the Hilo Airport runway in an effort to  "collect the rent" from the state of Hawaiʻi who had charged the airport just $1 to lease 92 acres of  Hawaiian Home Lands. The protestors faced 190 National Guardsmen in full riot geat and potential sentencing of a year in prison.

*That same year, she served as one of five Hawaiʻi delegates to the Nuclear Free Pacific conference in Pohnpei.

*As an Office of Hawaiian Affairs trustee for 12 years,  she fought to improve the conditions of Hawaiians, including negotiating a $600 million settlement for the Department of Hawaiian Homelands, directly resulting from the gains made in the Hilo Airport protests.

* At age 70,  Aunty Moani was one of a handfull of kūpuna whose arrests on Mauna Kea on April 2, 2015 - blocking TMT construction vehicles on the Mauna Kea Access Rd. - prompted Hollywood star Jason Momoa (and thousands worldwide) to join a world-wide social media campaign #WeAreMaunaKea to protect the sacred summit of the largest mountain on the planet from further desecration and industrialization.

PLEASE JOIN US IN HILO TO CELEBRATE HER LIFE AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS on:

Sunday, May 28, 2017
10 AM - 3 PM 
at Hilo Bayfront Beach Park



Visit the Moanikeala Akaka FB Event Page to RSVP and learn more about the celebration!