Micronesian Connections Forum

February 16, 1:30pm - 6:00pm
Mānoa Campus, Room 3125/3121, John Burns Hall, UH Mānoa Campus

Perspectives on Micronesian Communities in Hawaiʻi and Micronesia's Pacific Connections (particularly Hawaiʻi)

Program:

Opening: Dr. Ty Kawika Tengan, and Paul Otoko

Panel 1: Personal Stories of Micronesian Students. Students discuss individual struggles and perspectives on discrimination: Ebil Matsutaro, LJ Rayphand, Dolmii Remeliik, Nikita Salas

Panel 2: Public Policy and Issues Relating to Discrimination: Senator Kalani English, Law Professor Charles R. Lawrence, Health Law Policy Center/Community Projects Legal Director, Dina Shek. Moderator: Jon Osorio.

Panel 3: Overview of Micronesian Communities in Hawaiʻi - COFA, Health, Housing, and Education: Neal A. Palafox, Joakim Peter, Josie Howard, and Dahlia Asuega.

Closing: Navigational Students of Pius "Mau" Piailug

Pius "Mau" Piailug: "I have laid the stick that connect people together. Now it is up to you, your generation and the generations to come, to build upon that stick a bridge that will ensure the free sharing of information and teaching between the two peoples until the day we become united again as a single people, as we were once before; before men separated us with their imaginary political boundaries of today's Polynesia and Micronesia."

The idea for this forum was influenced by Master Navigator, Mau Piailug's quote above and a concern with inter-ethnic relations in Hawai'i, particularly concerning our newest immigrant groups from Micronesia.

Education, research, and civic engagement can go a long way to avoid repeating the results of difficult integration in the local community, discrimination, and prejudice of new immigrant groups of Hawai'i. With this forum, we aim at contributing to a positive and open dialogue in the UH community about the current situation, leading to both public knowledge and policy changes.

Come when you can, leave when you have to.

Light refreshments will be served.

Organizers: Lola Bautista, Jesi Bennett, Ulla Hasager, Willy Kauai, Leonard Leon, and Joakim Peter.


Ticket Information
Free and open to the public

Event Sponsor
Ethnic Studies Department, College of Social Sciences, Diversity and Equity Initiative (SEED), as well as Pacific Islands Development Program, Mānoa Campus

More Information
Ulla Hasager, 956 4218, ulla@hawaii.edu

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