Patsy Mink’s Environmental Advocacy and the Native Hawaiian Sovereignty Movement, 1960s–70s

Japanese American politician Patsy Takemoto Mink is rightfully remembered by historians for her work on Title IX, and, more recently, for her work on welfare reform. But less known is Mink’s deep passion for second wave environmentalism, which dovetailed with her time in office, and her training in zoology and chemistry. This paper discusses Mink’s environmental advocacy during the nascent Native Hawaiian sovereignty movement, which took inspiration from the Black Power and Red Power movements of the same era. I pay close attention to Mink’s complicated positionality as a Japanese American trailblazer, an Asian settler on Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) land, and an ally to white American environmentalists. I discuss Mink’s work with the U.S. National Park Service, an agency which she worked with closely over her decades in public service, and her navigation between many worlds: between “locals” and “mainlanders,” between Kānaka Maoli and the U.S. government, and between hunters and preservationists. I argue that Mink’s movement through these various realms transformed her into a powerful mediator who both participated in and resisted American colonialism in Hawai‘i. More broadly, Mink’s labor on environmental issues reclaims a place for Asian Americans – and Asian women in particular – in the American environmental movement, as well as sheds light on the role of Asian settler elites in the Hawaiian sovereignty movement.