Eddie Would Go

The wildfires on Maui have killed at least 80 people so far. At least 2,207 structures have been destroyed. Over 1,400 people are in shelters. People have been advised to only drink bottled water as the water systems in Upper Kula and Lahaina have been damaged and may contain benzene which is a carcinogen. The Lahaina fire is now the second-worst wildfire in the United States over the past 100 years.

There has been criticism of the government’s response as people did receive alerts on their cell phones, emergency sirens failed to activate. Officials say the system for the emergency sirens was damaged by the fire.

The people who will not be criticized are those fighting the wildfire, the firefighters. These men and women are risking their lives to save their neighbors and their homes. Eddie would go.

“Eddie would go” is probably the most famous phrase in surf culture worldwide, but even more so, on the islands of Hawaii. Why is that?

Eddie Aikau was a big wave surfer who challenged the monster waves in Waimea Bay on the North Shore of Oahu. Eddie was a pureblood Hawaiian born in Maui and raised in Oahu. He was also a lifeguard who saved over 500 people without losing a single life. In 1977, Eddie won the Duke Kahanamoku Invitational Surfing Championship after being a finalist for six straight years.

Eddie faced a lot of discrimination in his homeland because of his race. Today, Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders make up just a little over ten percent of the state of Hawaii’s population. Hawaiians are a minority in their own homeland.

In 1972, Eddie was invited to participate in the Gunston 500, a big wave surfing competition in South Africa. This was during the Apartheid era when other people were discriminated against in their own homeland because of their skin color, so Eddie wasn’t allowed to even enter the hotel where the other competitors were staying. Eddie said the racism was so bad that he tried to stay off the streets during his visit.

In 1978, Eddie joined the Hokulea, a 60-foot replica of a Polynesian voyaging canoe, for a 2,400-mile sailing journey from Hawaii to Tahiti, using ancient navigational techniques only, like the stars in the night sky. The Hokulea only made it 20 miles before it capsized off the shore of Lanai, and the crew lost all provisions and telecommunications. Help was needed, but who was going to get help? Eddie would go.

Eddie got on his surfboard and paddled toward the island of Lanai in a monster storm. Eddie was never seen again.

The first Quiksilver Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational was held in the winter of 1985/1986 at Waimea Bay. This was the North Shore, so the contest required that waves had to be 20 feet or bigger. When the organizers were deciding whether to raise the green flag or not, one of them said, “Eddie Would Go.” The expression stuck, and the contest got underway.

Eddie, who was shunned and discriminated against in his homeland is now as big of a Hawaiian icon as Duke Kahanamoku and King Kamehameha (his statue is in the Hall of Statues in the United States Capitol building).

I love the Eddie story. I loved it the first time I heard it because it’s like mythology yet it’s true. It happened. Eddie isn’t a hero because it just sounds and looks good, no. He’s a hero because he is one.

I’ve only seen a few cartoons on the Maui wildfires but like most cartoons of this sort, they’re sad and sappy. They’re not very good. When I saw this cartoon yesterday, I thought, “That’s traced and pretty, but I need to do something better. I have to do better. I need to draw a cartoon as though I’ve not just been to Hawaii, but as though I lived there.” Because I did live in Hawaii. I did not want to draw just another memorial cartoon for Maui.

I drew two other ideas and then this hit me and I knew it was THE cartoon on this. CNN got one of those. You and my newspaper clients get Eddie.

I know that most readers will look at this cartoon with all the understanding of a dog looking at a clock, but despite that, I feel it’s one of my strongest of the year, if not throughout my career. Maybe if you don’t get this cartoon, then it’s not for you. Or, it makes you learn something. Eddie means something to Hawaii that he’ll never mean to the rest of the world, and that’s OK. That’s why Hawaii is special.

Proofreader Laura told me I have a soft spot for Hawaii. I do. If you visit Hawaii, you think it’s paradise and about the weather, leis, poi, volcanoes, hula skirts, blah blah blah. But if you lived there (and not on a military base or a gated community), you understand that Aloha means much more than hello and goodbye.

I haven’t been back to Hawaii since 1998, but I still have friends there. It’s still in me. I still feel it. Hawaii was the place where I felt the most comfortable in my skin, and that’s a place I’m still trying to get back to. Part of the reason for that feeling was the island but also my work environment at the Star-Bulletin (that’s another story). A lot of mainlanders get island fever after a while on the islands. For me, I felt I was home. It’s not just physically beautiful, it’s the people and culture. It’s also a very challenging place to live. It’s not all paradise. I spent my first month in a hotel in Waikiki and I knew that wasn’t really Hawaii. Part of my job was to understand it as I had to draw six cartoons each week on Hawaii issues. And I left just as I felt I was getting started and still learning the place. I left in the middle of covering one of the biggest scandals in the state’s history. So for me, there will always be unfinished business with Hawaii. For me, there will always be an emptiness that I will never fill, even if I moved back. That time is gone.

Because of all that, I had to draw a good cartoon on the Maui wildfires. I thought of my friends in Hawaii while I was drawing this, specifically, Mary, Bryant, and Blaine (there were many others but they’ve kinda faded over the years). I was hoping they’d like it. I hope Eddie would like it.

Music note: I listened to Israel Kamakawiwoʻole

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