Cultural and Sovereignty Involvement
Salazar has been strongly influenced by her descent from Hawaiian royalty and from her great grandfather, Robert Kalanihiapo Wilcox, a military and political leader. At nineteen, she was initiated into the Daughters and Sons of Hawaiian Warriors, Mamakakaua, a lineage society of descendants of Hawaii's ruling chiefs. Throughout her musical career, Salazar has promoted Hawaiian history, culture and sovereignty. She served as family liaison to the Mayor’s Office of Culture and the Arts for two years, with the goal of planning, commissioning and unveiling a life-size bronze statue of her great-grandfather Wilcox. His statue was installed at Wilcox Park in downtown Honolulu, on the corner of King and Fort Street.
Salazar served for seven years as Kuhina Nui (Regent) to Ka Lahui Hawaii, a Hawaiian sovereignty organization. Before her death in 1988, her mother named Owana Kuhina nui and her son, Noa as Ali`i nui Kalokuokamaile III. She informed Owana's brothers that their sister and her son would succeed her. All brothers supported their mothers decision.
In July 1998, Salazar and her son withdrew from Ka Lahui. In press interviews around the centennial of the United States' annexation of Hawaii under the 1898 Newlands Resolution, she noted that it was only a joint resolution of the US Congress, not a treaty.
Read more about this topic: Owana Salazar
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