George Helm

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George Jarrett Helm, Jr. (b. Mar 23, 1950 - Disappeared, 1977) was a Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) activist and musician from Kalamaʻula, Molokaʻi. He graduated from St. Louis High School on Oʻahu, about which he said, "I came to Oʻahu to get educated. Instead I lost my innocence." While at St. Louis, he studied under cultural experts John and Kahauanu Lake, and achieved mastery in vocal performance and guitar.

George Helm is known for many outstanding qualities: he was one of the greatest Hawaiian falsetto vocalists ever known, and amazed audiences by his ability to play fast, complex guitar parts while singing in an "almost inhuman" vocal range; he was a powerful speaker, writer and "revolutionary" philosopher who pioneered many sovereignty concepts; and he was, as his posthumous album title suggests, a "True Hawaiian[1]" who surfed, fished, farmed, loved, sang, worshipped and thought in the ways of old[2].

George Helm began his front-line activism in the Molokaʻi-based group Hui Alaloa around 1975, and became "deeply involved[3]" the Protect Kahoʻolawe ʻOhana[4], a Hawaiian-led organization that sought to end the bombing of Kahoʻolawe, a Hawaiian island used as target practice by the U.S. Navy. In 1976, 9 activists occupied the island of Kahoʻolawe, Helm among them. He was moved intensely by the power and beauty of the island, and dedicated the rest of his life to fighting for its protection.

Helm, stating, "we were touched by some force that pushed us into commitment (Hawaii Observer, 1976)," appealed to the Hawaiʻi State legislature[5] and to the U.S. congress, where he proved to be a great writer and orator, for Kahoʻolaweʻs protection; however, the bombing continued. More Kahoʻolawe landings ensued, and in on January 30, 1977 five men (Helm, Walter Ritte, Richard Sawyer, Charles Warrington and Francis Kaʻuhane landed on Kahoʻolawe in an attempt to gain greater public recognition of the struggle. Everyone was arrested except for Ritte and Sawyer, who stayed hidden on the island for 35 days, with very limited food and water (Ritte, Sawyer: 1978).

Concerned for Ritte and Sawyer, and beset by vivid dreams and visions, George Helm set out -- first by boat, then by surfboard -- to Kahoʻolawe with Maui fisherman and park ranger Kimo Mitchell and water expert Billy Mitchell (unrelated). They reached the island, but Sawyer and Ritte had been picked up. The next day, the boat that was scheduled to meet them did not come, as it had sunk. Inexplicably, the three apparently decided to return to Maui despite high surf and a wound to George Helmʻs head; Helm and Kimo Mitchell were last seen near the crescent-shaped islet of Molokini by Billy Mitchell, who was the only survivor of the group(Morales, 1984[6]).

Today, George Helm is hailed as one of the Aloha ʻAina movementʻs greatest heroes; among young activists he is as legendary as the great Eddie Aikau is to young surfers. Although his only musical recordings were made with minimal technology in a downtown bar, they are played regularly on all Hawaiian music stations[7]. Generations later, George Helmʻs music is still inspirational to many, both as it is considered to be some of the finest examples of Hawaiian falsetto ever created and because it is epitomized as one of the most powerful expressions of the Hawaiian soul.

[edit] Quotes:

we are in a "revolution of consciousness ... What we (are) looking for is the truth[8]."

"...there is man and there is environment. One does not supersede the other. The breath in man is the breath of Papa. Man is merely the caretaker of the land that maintains his life and nourishes his soul. Therefore, the 'âina is sacred. The church of life is not in a building, it is the open sky, the surrounding ocean, the beautiful soil...[9]"

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