[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 36 (Thursday, February 25, 2021)]
[House]
[Pages H625-H626]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    HONORING HAWAIIAN LANGUAGE MONTH

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Hawaii (Mr. Kahele) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. KAHELE. Mr. Speaker, I rise this morning to honor Mahina `Olelo 
Hawaii, or Hawaiian Language Month.
  Colleagues, I have the wonderful privilege of being native Hawaiian. 
My culture has served as a guiding light throughout my entire life, a 
light that has survived because of the many kupuna, our elders, who 
protected this

[[Page H626]]

light and who protected our Native indigenous language.
  For Native Hawaiians and so many other indigenous peoples, our 
language is essential for our people to live and thrive. In fact, we 
have an `Olelo No'eau, a proverb, that says: ``I ka `olelo no ke ola; I 
ka `olelo no ka make.'' ``In the language rests life; in the language 
rests death.''
  Established in 1840, Hawaii's public education system is the oldest 
west of the Mississippi. In fact, in the 19th century, Hawaii was one 
of the most literate nations in the world, with over 90 percent of the 
population able to read and write.
  January 17, 1893, is a date that is etched in the consciousness of 
almost every Hawaiian, the day the Hawaiian Kingdom was overthrown. At 
the time of the overthrow, our language was used in all sectors of 
society by all of the kingdom's citizens, from our homes and schools to 
businesses and government, and even the halls of justice.
  In 1896, just 3 years after the overthrow, a law was enacted that 
stated: ``The English language shall be the medium and basis of 
instruction in all public and private schools.''
  That one sentence dealt a smothering blow to our language. If you 
want to extinguish a people, you extinguish their language by taking it 
from the ears and mouths of future generations. You take it away from 
their children.
  Piece by piece, action by action, the racist provisional and republic 
government and others with influence attempted to stem the flow of 
oxygen to our `olelo Hawaii. But they could not extinguish our fire.
  While Hawaiian was relegated to use in isolated spaces, even perhaps 
to whispers in private, we spoke, and we spoke in Hawaiian. We kept the 
embers burning for nearly a century.
  How do you revive a language? The same way they tried to extinguish 
it. We share it with our children. Fire-keepers started private 
preschool language nests, or Punana Leo, and in 1978, Hawaiian became 
an official language of the State. But it would take 100 years to 
change that 1896 law banning Hawaiian in schools when, in 1986, K-12 
Hawaiian language immersion was reestablished in Hawaii's Department of 
Education.
  These early language pioneers continued to rebuild the fire, step by 
step, action by action. By the 1980s, we graduated our first bachelor's 
degrees in Hawaiian language. From less than 50 Native speakers under 
the age of 18 to more than 25,000 now self-identifying as Hawaiian 
language speakers today, our fire still burns, and it is growing.
  It is no longer novel to hear Hawaiian spoken in our local coffee 
shops and our grocery stores, and my family proudly joins along fellow 
fire-keepers to stoke the `olelo Hawaii flame, as my daughters attend 
Hawaiian language schools Punana Leo `O Hilo and Ke Kula `o 
Nawahiokalani'opu'u.
  While I am filled with pride, Mr. Speaker, it comes with a mix of 
other emotions: disappointment at underfunding; frustration at the lack 
of equity in government use of Hawaiian as an official language; and 
trepidation, knowing how close we came to having our language snuffed 
out.
  While I am encouraged by our progress, I know there is more work 
ahead. We must continue to raise up the languages of all of America's 
first peoples.
  UNESCO states that a third of the world languages have fewer than 
1,000 speakers left. Language is essential to cultural diversity, and 
diversity is essential to our shared humanity.
  While Mahina `Olelo Hawaii, or our month of celebrating Hawaiian 
language, is coming to a close, we will continue to stoke the flames of 
`olelo Hawaii month by month, year by year, generation to generation 
because, Mr. Speaker, ``I ka `olelo no ke ola; I ka `olelo no ka 
make.'' ``In the language rests life; in the language rests death,'' 
and our resolve is greater than ever to ensure that our languages will 
live on.
  ``E Ola Mau Ka `Olelo Hawaii a me na `Olelo `Oiwi A Pau Loa.'' ``The 
Hawaiian language, and all indigenous languages, shall live.'' Mahalo.

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