Land Acknowledgment for Colorado by Puahau Aki
‘ŌLELO MAHALO ‘OIA‘I‘O NO NĀ KĀNAKA ‘ŌIWI O KĒIA ‘ĀINA NEI
(Land Acknowledgment for Colorado by Puahau Aki)
Hawaiian translation by Dr. Lilikalā Kame‘eleihiwa,
Professor and Brandt Chair for Comparative Polynesian Studies,
Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies,
Hawaiʻinuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Ke mahalo nei wau i kuʻu noho ʻana i ŧ wā ma ka moku ‘āiԲ ‘o Kololako, kahi a Nā Kānaka ‘Ōiwi, ‘o ia ho‘i ‘o nā po‘e Arapaho, Cheyenne, Comanche, Kiowa, Lakota, Plains Apache, a me Ute i loaʻa ke pilina no ŧ ʻāina, ʻo ia hoʻi ko lākou ‘āiԲ kulāiwi. ʻO ŧ ʻāina ʻo kō lākou kūpuna me kō lākou makuahine, i hānai iā lākou, a iā mākou kekahi, a nō kākou pākahi ke kuleana e hoʻi i kēlā aloha me ko kākou aloha a me kō kākou mālama ʻana kekahi.
I acknowledge I occupy space here in Colorado, where the Native Americans, the Arapaho, Cheyenne, Comanche, Kiowa, Lakota, Plains Apache, and Ute have a familial connection and relationship to this land—their ancestral lands. S/he is their grandparent, their mother, who has provided for them and for us, and whom we all are obligated to aloha and care for in return.
Ke mahalo nei wau i kuʻu noho ʻana i ŧ ‘āiԲ mamuli o ka wā hana ʻino ʻia i Nā Kānaka ‘Ōiwi, me ka hopena o ka nele o ke ola kino, ke ola, ka ʻōlelo, ka moʻomeheu, ke Ea, a me ka ʻemi ʻana, eia naʻe ka ʻaihue ʻana, i ka pilina ma waena ʻo Nā Kānaka ‘Ōiwi me ŧ ʻāina.
I acknowledge I am able to occupy this land because of historical events that occurred to the detriment of Native Americans, which caused loss of health, life, language, culture, sovereignty, and the attenuation—if not outright loss—of the familial connection between the Indigenous Peoples and this land.
No laila, i mea e hoʻoponopono i kēia hewa, a e hoʻomaka hou i ka pono, ke mahalo nei wau i kuʻu noho ʻana i ŧ ‘āiԲ kulāiwi ʻo ia hoʻi ʻo ka ʻāina kūpuna i mālama ʻia e Nā Po‘e Maoli o ŧ ‘āiԲ, ma muli wale o ke kumukūʻai i Nā Kānaka ‘Ōiwi o kēia ‘āiԲ nei.
Therefore, in the spirit of healing and beginning to make things right, I acknowledge I am able to live on these homelands originally occupied and tended by the Native People of these places, only at a great (and continuing) cost to the Native Peoples of this land.