I’m no good at numbers. It’s a disability common to my profession. We writers have always detested them.
Naturally, I was relieved to see the rest of the world catching up with us; upholding the theory that such things as words/numbers, logic/creativity, right brain/left brain are by nature mutually exclusive. But then to my chagrin, a study came out of the University of Utah last month debunking that notion.
So I suppose now I have to admit my “professional disability” might possibly be related to the fact that I find numberly things like abstractions irksome and boring.
Fortunately, I only had to take one math class to earn my undergraduate degree in Journalism. I think it was called, “Practical Math.” All we really needed to know, our professor advised, is how to calculate percentages … and I still can’t do even that without looking it up. That’s how much I dislike numbers.
You can imagine my surprise when quite recently, lo and behold, I found some numbers that caught my interest. It happened while I was researching census data on Native Hawaiians for a resolution to introduce at this year’s Association of Hawaiian Civic Club’s Convention in Lihue in November.
When the 2010 Census data was first published, I’d read and written about the fact that close to half of all Native Hawaiians, 237,107, now live in the continental United States. That was nothing new. But as I stared at the swirling Census figures again, I thought I saw something interesting in the soup.
Meanwhile, to my surprise and dismay, my resolution was meeting with some staunch opposition from within the Honolulu-based Hawaiian Civic Club I belong to. So, to bolster my argument I bravely slogged my way back into the Icky Numbers World of the census and started feeling around in the muck.
What was my amazement then when I dredged up, not a boring old number, but a rather beautiful numerical gem!
I had to wipe off the slime first, the jewel was somewhat encrusted with residue commingled as it was with the stats on “Other Pacific Islanders.” But when I had it nice and clean, just Kanaka Maoli, there it was! My beautiful gem: 37.86 percent.
That, my brothers and sisters, is the percentage of the total population we would represent in our islands if all Native Hawaiians had a vote in OHA elections.
So what you say? Is this number still boring you? Okay, I know what to do. Let me dress it up with more words.
Take my beautiful 37.86 percent gem and compare it to the state of political affairs in Hawaiʻi today. According to the 2012 Census Bureau estimates, Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islanders were only 10.1 percent of the total Hawaiʻi (Fake) State population.
No matter how you cut it, a crumbly bit of shale little 10.1 percent is not something you can build a nation on. Not at all promising if you want to reclaim your sovereignty. Nothing like the critical mass necessary to finally have self-determination and self-government.
My wonderful number on the other hand, , 37.86 percent, looks like one Tita!
What? She’s too manly for you? I admit, she is a diamond in the rough.
Perhaps if I gave her a proper name you’d be more comfortable.
Names, after all, are so very important in our culture, sacred even.
I wanted to give her a name with mana, something that spoke to her true essence and kuleana, too. I wouldn’t dare name her “Voting Bloc.” Sounds haole, yeah?
“Kakou Thing” didn’t work either. Who would call this precious one a “thing!”
I had to dig around again, only this time I went straight to the beautiful diamond mine itself, the words of our Queen Liliʻuokalnai, expressed in her beautifully powerful mele “Ke Aloha ʻAina.”
So, without any further ado, please allow me to introduce you to: “Ihoʻokahipuʻuwaikupaʻamekalokahi.” Be of one heart, and stand firm with unity.
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