this year i'm not at home in hawaiʻi for irei no hi but this day is still a chance to reflect on legacies of war and what peace and genuine security means for our communities. as we have seen so clearly in recent weeks, the militarization of daily life does not bring safety.

genuine security means cancelling @RimofthePacific and not endangering people, lands, and waters to the threat of violence. it means both defunding and abolishing practices of policing and surveilling integral to the incarceration of black, brown, and indigenous communities.

on an irei no hi two years ago, i listened to aiko yamashiro and @lisagrand808 talk about acknowledging where our pain comes from and working through peace as an active, daily practice of remembrance, vulnerability, and relationality. i am still learning what that means everyday.

at the time i wrote an essay in the hawaii independent calling for the end of @RimofthePacific and urging people to think about what peace and demilitarization would look and feel like. it's here if anyone wants to read it.
https://thehawaiiindependent.com/story/ending-rimpac-feeling-peace/

reflecting on it now, it is no coincidence that i end the piece thinking through insights from robin d. g. kelley. the lessons we learn from okinawan visions of peace and justice are deeply resonant with the freedom dreams and politics of desires he shares with us in his work.

anyway, i'm spending this year's irei no hi thinking about all of the above but also yuichiro onishi's point that demilitarization is a way we can remake afro-asian solidarity for our time. it's not just about complicity, guilt, and critique. it's so much more than that.

i can't answer alone what the "so much more" is because that's a collective effort and vision. but i feel like ruth wilson gilmore puts it perfectly when she says, "where life is precious, life is precious."