Indigenous Native Hawaiians and Pacific Island (NHPI) communities are faced with unique challenges. In the Pacific islands and other coastal communities, climate change threatens the land, food security, and delicate eco-systems. Systemic barriers to equity, justice, and opportunity have compromised NHPI families and communities, limiting opportunities and threatening their safety.
Speakers include experts from both government and civil society sectors:
- Krystal Ka’ai – Executive Director, White House Initiative on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders
- Okenaisa Fauolo-Manila – Director of the Samoan Studies Institute, American Samoa Community College·
- Dr. Manulani Aluli Meyer – Associate Specialist of Student Affairs, University of Hawai’i, West O’ahu
- Keone Nakoa – Washington, D.C. Bureau Chief, Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA)
- Reverend Dr. Upolu Luma Vaai – Principal, Pacific Theological College, Fiji
- Audrey E. Kitagawa – Chair, G20 Interfaith Forum Anti-Racism Initiative
Event Sponsors:
- G20 Interfaith Forum - IF20
- International Academy for Multicultural Cooperation
- fscire
- World Faiths Development Dialogue·
- The Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs
- Georgetown University
Chapters:
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Dr. Manulani Aluli Meyer
Manulani Aluli Meyer is the fifth daughter of Emma Aluli and Harry Meyer who grew up on the sands of Mokapu and Kailua beach on the island of O’ahu and along the rainy shoreline of Hilo Palikū. She obtained her doctorate in Philosophy of Education from Harvard (Ed.D. 1998) and is a worldwide keynote speaker, writer, and international evaluator of Indigenous PhDs who now works at the University of Hawaiʻi West Oʻahu campus.
Reverend Dr. Upolu Luma Vaai
Reverend Dr. Upolu Vaai is Principal and head of Theology and Ethics at Pacific Theological College in Suva, Fiji. He is a Fijian theologian and Pacific indigenous philosopher, specializing in Pacific relationality, eco-relational theology, decolonizing education, and relational hermeneutics. He is known for his research in Pacific indigenous philosophies and spirituality, theology, and climate change.
Audrey E. Kitagawa, J.D.
Audrey E. Kitagawa, J.D., is President/Founder of the International Academy for Multicultural Cooperation, President of the Light of Awareness International Spiritual Family, and Chair of the Anti-Racism Initiative and the Gender Equality Working Group of the G20 Interfaith Forum. She is the former Advisor to the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict at the UN, a UN Representative for the URI, a member of the Advisory Council of the Global Security Institute, and a Board member of the International Center for Religion and Democracy. She has been listed in Who’s Who of American Law, Who’s Who of American Women, Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in the World, and Prominent People of Hawaii. She was enstooled into the royal family of Ajiyamanti, Ghana as the Nekoso Hemaa (Queen Mother of Development) where a school she helped to build, the Nana Ode Anyankobea Junior Secondary School, is named after her.