Beautiful writing from a friend on what it means to be an ally amidst the Mauna Kea movement, and how it’s linked to cultural erasure in poetry and in personal landscapes
“Humpback Whales” by Christopher Michel is licensed under CC BY 2.0
Ally is a Verb: A Whale’s Song
by Rajiv Mohabir
I have had my land erased from me, he is being erased from his own land. When I was younger my family called my Raimie—a British name. When I first went to India I started going by Rajiv, my Indian name my parents gave me. I wandered my traditional fields feeling out for the calling of where they buried my ancestors’ navel string.
Bryan refers to himself as Kamaoli when he speaks Hawaiian.
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To ally I must pectoral slap and fluke thrash against the ideas of “ally” and “settler.” These are convenient terms—they should be verbs. To ally: an action. It must be intoned in active voice.
These terms don’t hold the complexities of identity in assemblages—but they are a place where I can start my migration.
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Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner 