Activist Writing

Those seeking to change society often write about the movement they are helping to lead.  Their writing is usually a fluid combination of:

History of injustice

History of activism

Call to activism

Such is the case with Haunani-Kay Trask, From a Native Daughter, University of Hawai'i Press, 1999.  Trask was a key leader in advancing the Native Hawaiian rights movement.  If one has empathy, the book is painful to read.  At the same time, Trask’s spirit is inspiring. She shares an unvarnished commentary on what has happened to her people, and a call to take corrective action.

Haunani-Kay had many venues for her activism:

 

She was a community organizer within the Native Hawaiian community

She was an activist organizer within Hawai`i

She was an advocate within Hawai`i 

She was an advocate beyond Hawai`i in other organizations and governments (e.g., U.S. federal government, Native American rights groups)

She had tenure and taught in the university, a major subject of her book

She had her writing and research

As you can see, writing was only one venue.

BENEFITS

The benefits of Haunani-Kay writing about the movement she embodied were many:

An enduring legacy of historical perspective, and a call to action, for the Native Hawaiian community and allies.  The book lives on.

An advocacy tool for rights groups.

An enduring legacy within the academic community.

A general introduction to Native Hawaiian history.

For the religious community, an enduring legacy, including a particular critique of missionary history. 

PITFALLS

There are pitfalls to activist writing.  Trask undoubtedly was aware of these aspects of writing down her thoughts and stories.  Still, she felt the benefit of reaching and influencing people to care, outweighed the inevitable parsing that would occur.  

Objectivity and Detachment

The written word gives an inherent appearance of objectivity, detachment.  It neatly sits on a bookshelf, or today, on a smart phone.  Writing is contained, something that can be studied; controlled.  

Irony

Activist writing is often for the educated community.  Lack of education is usually a core part of the injustice being written about.  In Trask's case, she was writing on behalf of a people who originally did not write, to the descendants (among others) of the people who brought writing but also oppression. Trask lived in both worlds.  

Posthumous

Reading written activism after the activist has died is tricky.  When Trask was alive, she could use all the activist venues at her disposal at once, writing included.  Now that she has moved to the next world, understanding her is usually only through one or two facets, such as reading her writing, as well as engaging with her mentees.  Her movement lives on, but without her at the center.

    

I digested the writings of MLK Jr long after he had died.  It was contained in a classroom until I began hearing his writings in church.  Then it became something real (came alive), as I have lived and worked in a religious context.  MLK Jr understood the task of religion was to bring historical narrative into the present and future.    

Freedom

One thing I like about activist writing is that it makes pain possible to hear. 

 

Throughout her book, Trask shared pain, usually collective pain, but also personal pain.  

Often this was expressed through anger.  Fueling this anger was the trauma of the Hawaiian people, and the land itself.

 

In reading Trask (and other activist writing), I had the freedom to be empathetic.  

I didn't have to read, but I did.  I didn't have be empathetic, but I was.  I was able to digest Trask's book at a pace that I could emotionally handle.  Such has been the case when I have read other activist writing.  

This freedom has allowed groups of concerned individuals to come together to discuss, preach, and teach, about activist writing.  If these groups choose, they have the freedom to take action.  Or inaction.  

One thing I don't like about activist writing is freedom.  

Yes, this sounds contradictory, but it's simply a paradox.  

I can set the book down anytime.  In today's fractured information economy, I can click off the webpage or online presentation.  To use the most modern term, I can "ghost" the entire activist movement.   

Freedom is a privilege.  Choosing to engage is a point of privilege.  This privilege was not a reality of the people being advocated for.  For example, the Native Hawaiian community did not have the freedom to digest their own suffering at a pace they dictated; they were in the middle of it.  

Subjective Truth

Activism in written form is a live question, especially in today’s fractured world of questioning reality.  As I write this blog, I am conscious that truth has once again become subjective in our world.  People's authentic voices are being questioned by those who weave powerful alternative narratives.  Like a mirror that reflects a mirror, written activism can seem an illusion, when its truth is questioned.  

This can lead people to walk away from the writing, and the movement it embodies.