just to reiterate for my new followers, I am a settler on illegally occupied Native Hawaiian land. no amount of family ties and roots or time I spend here will ever make this my “home.” living here comes with cost, I inactively participate in the displacement of Native Hawaiians

no matter my reasons for living here, there is no excuse and no way to pardon and deny the harm that me and every single settler contribute to. i am not the exception, none of us are

this being said, i still think i should clarify why i’m here. my primary reason is for college- i got an incredible scholarship and this was essentially my only chance at an education i could afford.

secondly, I am not Hawaiian, but I have Hawaiian family by marriage. (However this does not make me entitled to their land or culture or anything of course) my family on my moms side immigrated here for work decades ago as a lot of filipinos here did

my grandparents live in Hilo and I have two aunties and my uncle and cousins here on O’ahu, I grew up frequently visiting family on the islands. so i felt less intimidated to move here on my own for school

so that’s a little bit about why I live here. I am a settler and my place here is to elevate Native Hawaiian voices and stand beside them in advocacy for their land and culture. This is their land, it always was and always will be.

every beach I go to, every nice picture I take, everything I do on this island is only possible because of the US’s illegal and cruel involvement here. My life here would not be possible without the years of pain the US has caused Hawai`i

so yeah i don’t know where i’m going with this, i just wanted to express the shame I feel (and should feel, we all should feel) for profiting from Hawai`i. please learn about where you live and whose land it is. be respectful. stand with Natives, but don’t speak over them.