KE AUPUNI UPDATE - AUGUST 2026
PKO Celebrates 50 years
Long before the year 2000 when I became the Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Hawaiian Kingdom, I was an activist. More accurately, I was a musician who would show up at protests and rallies to encourage the brave souls who were willing to stand up for our rights and our lands.
Yesterday I attended another significant event at ʻIolani Palace. It was the 50th Anniversary celebration of the founding of the Protect Kahoʻolawe ʻOhana (PKO), the grassroots organization whose kūʻē (protest, resistance) actions challenged and changed the trajectory of Hawaii.
Although there were many notable kūʻē actions all over the islands during the ‘70s, the PKO’s efforts to stop the bombing of Kaho’olawe and push for its repatriation was the most prominent at the time.
It began when young Hawaiian activists from Molokaʻi decided to do something about ending the use of the nearby island of Kahoʻolawe as a bombing and shelling target, which the US Navy had continuously pounded since the beginning of World War II. The young activists talked with their kūpuna (elders) then committed to be guided by the kūpuna’s wisdom.
It was a long haul, with many sacrifices. The general public and many fellow Hawaiians viewed the breaking of restrictions and laws as not acceptable behavior for kanaka. Making defiant landings and occupations, getting arrested, court battles and the tragic loss of George Helm and Kimo Mitchell were hard on the activists, their families, community and the movement.
But eventually the PKO was successful. In the 1980s the Navy tapered off its live fire activities and stopped completely in 1990. Then, in 1993, Kaho’olawe was placed into the hands of the State of Hawaii to administer on behalf of “the Hawaiian nation”.
The PKO’s activities revealed not just the abuses taking place on Kahoʻolawe, but the deeper underlying questions regarding the negative impacts of the United States’ very presence in Hawaii. Most importantly, it brought into sharper focus the prospects of nationhood, sovereignty and independence. It called for the return of all the ʻāina; all the lands of the entire Hawaiian Archipelago.
In pursuing their mission, the PKO re-introduced new generations of Hawaiians to the ancestral concepts of aloha ʻāina, mālama pono, kuleana, kūlana and more. They emphasized and exemplified hoʻolohe pono (listening intently) to our stories, our language, our genetics, the natural elements, and the wisdom of the kūpuna and others in the community. The PKO played a major role in lighting the fire of the movement to Free Hawaii.
Yesterday at ʻIolani Palace there were only a few of us who were part of the PKO movement 50 years ago. In fact, I would venture to say that 80% of those in attendance yesterday were not yet born when the PKO first landed on Kahoʻolawe. And yet, the dancers, musicians, chanters, speakers, organizers, those manning the information booths and the large crowd, were all enthusiastic and clearly committed to the cause of Aloha ʻĀina and independence.
I came away from the PKO event yesterday, as I have from events of the past few years, with the confidence that our movement and the future of our lāhui is in the very good hands of the next generation; and the one after…
Aloha ʻĀina —
“Love of country is deep-seated in the breast of every Hawaiian, whatever his station.” — Queen Liliʻuokalani
Ua mau ke ea o ka ʻāina i ka pono.
The sovereignty of the land is perpetuated in righteousness.
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Malama Pono,
Leon Siu
Hawaiian National
Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Hawaiian Kingdom (since 2001)
