Vogueさんのインスタグラム写真 - (VogueInstagram)「The Hawaiian word for grief is "kaumaha," which translates to “something heavy is going to be lifted,” and that’s ultimately what Yvonne “Von” Mahelona (@vonkekuini) considers herself today: a vessel to help people lift their spirits. “As Native Peoples, our land and our stories and our traditions have been ripped away from us,” she says. “And that’s because, for Western imperialism and their systems, nothing is sacred. The message of colonization is: You are not sacred, and this land is not sacred. Whatever you do to take care of yourself and your land is invalid. That’s why we’re always going to be fighting for land justice and water justice and climate justice and liberation.” To this day, Mahelona continues to fight for a variety of causes—including water justice around the Red Hill water crisis on O‘ahu and land and climate justice following the devastating Maui fires on August 8. But her way of fighting these injustices is a little different from what you might expect. Inspired by her time on Mauna Kea, one of Hawai‘i's most sacred sites, Mahelona left her job as a bank accountant to become a grief worker who uses ceremonial rituals to help people process their emotions and heal. And to her, grief work is activism work; the two are inextricably linked. “We’re working so hard to survive under capitalist patriarchy, under these systems that were created to make a profit for certain people and institutions and systems—but not for us,” she says. “And if we’re not leaning into community and ceremony, we’re just going to burn out, to run ourselves into the ground…and that’s kind of what the powers that be want, isn’t it? They want us to be so tired and give so much that we have nothing else to give anymore." Tap the link in our bio to learn more about the O‘ahu-based activist and grief worker's work and mission. Photographed by @_carlosjaramillo_, styled by @marcusjcorrea.」10月10日 0時15分