Hi, I'm Adrienne. I'm a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, a writer, a blogger, and scholar,

anti living in what is currently known as Rhode Island. And I'm Matika. I'm from the

swimmish in Tlaila peoples, and I'm a photographer, and a doer of many, many things.

There's a lot happening in the world right now. We're still in a global pandemic, and winter

is coming. But today, and for the next three episodes, we want to take you back to January of 2020,

and tell you a story that we think is really important. This is a story about land, about culture,

and about connections to place. And it's a good story. Last January, our whole team got on the plane.

I got on the plane with Alma B. She was just eight weeks old. It was her first plane trip.

And we went to Hawaii. And Hawaii was like you, just like you imagined it to be. It was sunny and

warm, and it smelled good, and it felt good. And we did all the Hawaii things that you do when

you go to Hawaii, you know, like eating spam misooby from the ABC store, where we got our slippers.

And you know, we went to the beach, and we were just, you know, having a fun little time

together, like in real life, in person. And the truth is though, that's not why we were there.

And that's not what the story is about. This is the story of the movement to protect

Mona Al-Waqeha. And Hawaii is not our vacation land. Hawaii is the homeland of the Kanaka-Mali

people. Right now, they are fighting to protect one of their most sacred sites. And that's why we

flew all the way across the ocean. Because we felt like it was essential to make the trip, to talk

one-on-one with the activists and elders who are dedicating their lives to the movement.

So, let me set the scene for you. You know, you were like, we're in Hawaii, we're on this really

warm tropical place, and then we drove up to the mountain to Puhulu-Hulu, the resistance camp.

And as we were driving up, the weather started to change. It was suddenly cold, the mist was thick,

and we arrived during evening protocol to see folks doing their olean jackets and bare feet.

...