“If you feel you need to remove non-whites from where you live, please feel free to remove all the non-white things from your life as well. And also remember that includes surfing.” Photo: cliffkapono.com
Editor’s note: Surfer, PhD candidate, and contributor Cliff Kapono recently posted the following heartfelt reflection to the events in Charlottesville in an Instagram post. We found them so compelling we asked if we could publish them here.
Uneasy thoughts race through my head as I listen to this morning’s NPR coverage on the recent events in Charlottesville, Virginia where a white nationalist, neo-Nazi, and Klu Klux Klan protest resulted in the death of a young anti-protest white woman named Heather Heyer. Although many have been posting, reposting, hash-tagging and tweeting this topic heavily over the last four days, this morning I am particularly compelled to join in on the conversation. I know many won’t care about this post or about this event and that my reach across social media is modest at best, but in some strange way i feel responsible to at least acknowledge the ongoing state of racism in the US. Though the cases are isolated and rare, I have not experienced true racism until leaving Hawaiʻi. Throughout my travels I have come to understand that many fear things they don’t understand, but I fail to understand how easily it is for many to forget just how heavily we rely on “non-white” cultures in modern society. From our personal care products to our means of transportation. How much is based off of “white culture?” I suspect not much. So I offer a humble perspective to those who by chance read this post and who use intimidation tactics, hate speech, and violence to push their exclusive perspectives on others… if you feel you need to remove non-whites from where you live, thats okay. Please feel free to remove all the non-white things from your life as well. Maybe things then will be made great again. And also remember that includes surfing, which is an indigenous expression that now includes all races, nationalities, and genders. It is also made up of those who aren’t intimidated or afraid of white supremacy or racism. It includes those who will fight for what is right and who recognize we are the majority in and out of the water. “You people” are not. Me ka Ikaika! #lesskooks.
