`EHU KEKAHU CARDWELL
With over 18 years experience as a professional broadcaster, `Ehu was on the air at several radio stations in Hawai`i, including KCCN AM, all Hawaiian radio, which helped spark a renaissance in Hawaiian music and culture. He was also one of the “Poi Boys” on K-POI AM.
During his tenure in radio on the US west coast, he was a broadcaster in San Francisco, for the ABC Radio Network, as well as working in Los Angeles and San Diego.
His passion has always been the people and cultures of Polynesia. His mission is to educate America and the world about a Free Hawai`i.
For nine years, he was public relations and media coordinator for the San Diego Pacific Islander Festival, the largest festival of its kind on the American continent.
He has served on the board of the Samoan Community Council of San Diego and as a member of the Ka Lei Maile Ali`i Hawaiian Civic Club in Honolulu.
`Ehu helped produce the Aloha Marches of 1998 and 2000 in Washington, DC. He coordinated media for both marches which resulted in both international and national coverage.
`Ehu worked directly with Koani Founder John “Butch” Kekahu III in the last four years of Butch’s life. He is one of the individuals Butch selected to carry on the foundation’s work prior to his passing in late 2001.
He is hanai of Butch & Mikala Kekahu of Anahola, Kaua`i.
His influences are two incomparable broadcasting talents -
The Real Don Steele of Los Angeles Boss Radio 93/KHJ and
Huell Howser of PBS Californiaʻs Gold. He is forever indebted to both for their brilliance in broadcasting and the impact they had on him.
`Ehu is host of Voices of Truth – One-On-One With Hawa`i’s Future, the Koani Foundation’s weekly award-winning television show that airs throughout Hawai`i, in many cities throughout the US and the world and on the Internet.
He also does weekly commentary on Free Hawai`i TV.
He has participated at the Permanent Forum On Indigenous Issues at the United Nations and has advocated on Capitol Hill for a Free Hawai`i.
AL KU`AHI WONG
Al Ku'ahi Wong was born in 1946, raised in Honolulu, Hawai`i and has lived in the Boston area for the last 33 years.
With 30 years of service in the federal government which includes four years in the US Navy during the Viet Nam war, Ku`ahi retired in May of 2005. For the last 17 years during this time he worked as an Environmental Protection Specialist assigned to the drinking water program at the New England Office of the US Environmental Protection Agency. Ku'ahi also organized and managed for eight years as a collateral assignment EPA’s first Asian Pacific American Employment Program.
Ku`ahi was also the founder and President of Wahi Ku Moku, the Boston Hawaiian Club (BHC) which existed from 1990 - 2005. During this time the BHC collaborated in cultural outreach programs with numerous area Museums including the world famous Peabody Essex Museum (Salem, MA). The PEM was the site of numerous Hawaiian concerts, outreach and special programs. One in particular was the formal ho`okupu and lei presentations to Kuka`ilimoku, King Kamehameha’s personal deity.
In 1997 Butch Kekahu contacted Ku`ahi and sought his assistance to help organize the 1998 and 2000 Aloha Marches in Washington, DC.
To assist with the 2000 Aloha March and at his suggestion, Ku`ahi organized the BostonTi Party on July 4th which took place on a replica of the Boston Tea Party Ship in Boston’s inner harbor.
Butch traveled from Hawai`i bringing with him donations of ti leaf leis which were to be cast from the ship. Leis were also mailed in advance to Ku`ahi. A photo of Butch casting a lei was published in all of the major Hawaiian newspapers.
Unfortunately 87 ti leaf leis arrived one day late. One idea was to send these leis to be presented to the King Kamehameha statue in Washington, D.C. as part of the 2000 Aloha March. Instead, Ku`ahi re-wove them into 3 separate leis which were again re-woven into one long open ended lei.
A formal presentation of that lei was made to Kuka`ilimoku prior to a ki ho`alu concert which was already scheduled at the PEM shortly after the Boston Ti Party event. The PEM’s photo of Kuka`ilimoku wearing that lei and detailed information of him can be seen here.
Ku`ahi is also a lover of classical music, opera, European travel, Chinese food and one handed pool and currently volunteers his time to serve on the following government and non-profit organizations -
* Commissioner, MA Governor's Asian American Commission (4/06-12/08)
* East Coast Director, Koani Foundation (Kaua`i, Hawai`i)
* Executive Committee, Boston Chinatown Post 328, American Legion
* Director and co-founder of the Greater Boston Chinese Cultural Exchange Committee.
LEON KAULAHAO SIU
H.E. Leon Kaulahao Siu is the Minister of Foreign Affairs for Ke Aupuni O Hawai`i — the Hawaiian Kingdom — and has served in that capacity since the year 2000. Prior to that, he served as the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs for four years.
Since the early 1970s, Mr. Siu has been involved with the reactivation of the lawful Hawaiian Kingdom as an independent nation-state. As the Minister of Foreign Affairs his duties are: to revive still-existing treaties and to develop, nurture and advance diplomatic relations with other states and international bodies. He serves as a key strategist and spokesman for the reinstatement of the Hawaiian Kingdom.
Mr. Siu has participated in numerous international discussions and panels concerning human rights and the rights of original peoples and nations, particularly with regard to self-determination in governance, economic development, protecting natural resources, maintaining cultural integrity, and so forth. He has advocated these matters before the UN Human Rights Committee, Human Rights Council, Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Permanent Forum on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, World Intellectual Properties Organization, and others.
He has also led the reentry of the Hawaiian Islands into crucial discussions on global sustainability. He participated in the Marshall Islands conference on climate change at Columbia University, and attended and contributed to regional discussions on sustainable development in the Pacific conducted by the Melanesian Spearhead Group, the Pacific Islands Development Forum and the Pacific Islands Forum.
Currently Minister Siu is the acting chair of the newly formed Decolonization Alliance a coalition of original nations and supporting organizations working to reform and advance the UN’s decolonization process in order to return self-governance to original peoples and nations.
BACKGROUND
Foreign Minister Siu hails from a tiny fishing village on the island of Hawai`i. He has an unusually diverse background in native arts, fine arts and media. He is an accomplished visual artist, musician, vocalist, recording artist, composer, poet, director and producer of audio, film and video works. He is in high demand for his expertise and versatility in producing cross-disciplined, cross-cultural, multi-arts projects.
Mr. Siu is the only Hawaiian composer to have had a major work performed and recorded by the world-famous London Symphony Orchestra. He has composed soundtrack music for several award-winning documentary films, including the 1977 National Geographic documentary film, The Voyage of the Hōkūle`a (a Polynesian voyaging canoe which has sailed a world-wide voyage to call attention to caring for the Earth). Mr. Siu is also known for his numerous recordings and his work in a variety of music genres (including children’s songs). He remains active in producing audio and video recordings, and performing in various venues throughout the Hawaiian Islands and occasionally elsewhere.
Mr. Siu is one of the leaders involved in a spiritual and cultural revival among native Hawaiians. As an extension of that, he is also an overseer of global spiritual gatherings that serve to reaffirm in native peoples around the world the Creator’s beauty, grace and purposes within the context their own cultures.
Mr. Siu is an astute political analyst, strategist and activist and has received awards and recognition for his work in affecting public policy. He is engaged in communicating Hawai`i’s liberation efforts to the United Nations, European Union and other international bodies, as well as raising visibility and standing for the Hawaiian Kingdom in the international courts and other legal structures.
Mr. Siu is often invited to speak at colleges, seminars, conferences, community gatherings, etc. on topics ranging from ancient and modern Hawaiian history and culture, to American pop culture, to the arts, to current events and local and international politics. He has a notable presence in print and a wide range of electronic media in Hawai`i and internationally.