The Native Hawaiian Religious Group’s mission is to connect the Asian Pacific Islanders (API) community within San Quentin to their spiritual and cultural roots.
Resurgence of the Native Hawaiians Reclaiming their traditions and cultural identity By Anthony Manuel Caravalho
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28 WALL CITY FALL 2021
and drug usage at home, I believe Hawaii can be more than a tourist attraction. To me, it all starts with a willingness to encourage people to be and do more by leading.” The San Quentin Native Hawaiians and members of the AAPI community together make up the NHRG. The group assists in the rehabilitation of the incarcerated men. The group’s mission is helping participants connect with their roots and culture through traditional dance and chants, while encouraging a spiritual journey. Some of the men were disconnected from their culture before incarceration. As a result, they gravitated towards gangs, drugs and violence. Through the NHRG these men are able to hold them-
Eddie Herena, SQNews
he Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) prison population in the U.S. skyrocketed 250 percent in the 1990s, while the country’s overall prison population grew by only 77 percent. AAPI is now counted within a group called “Others” by the prison tracking system. Among “Others” released from state prisons across this country in 2005, the recidivism rate for the AAPI community is sobering. Seventy-two percent were arrested for another crime within three years. For the AAPIs that return to San Quentin’ there is hope through
spiritual services called the Native Hawaiian Religious Group (NHRG). In San Quentin, one of the few remaining native Hawaiians is perched in his cell, meditating and reading about returning to the place he now understands is his home — Hawaii. Travis Vales, 28 years old, has his sights set on returning to the Islands, “to go home,” after his prison term is complete. “Being at San Quentin has allowed me to touch my familial roots like I would never have done on the streets. Now, I want to utilize my knowledge and skills to provide affordable housing, and to teach basic work skills and money management. If I can assist in fighting the epidemic of homelessness
