A Letter of Gratitude to Kimo Alani Mitchell

To Kimo Alani Mitchell,

It’s a quiet gratitude that settles in me when I think of your work on Kahoʻolawe. The salt spray and the wind carry your name – a prayer offered to the land itself. Your dedication to protecting that sacred place, alongside George Helm, echoes through the very stones of this island—TMK 2-4-001-001—a testament to what it means to truly hold aloha in action.

Your labor, rooted so deeply in the food_aina pillar – nourishing the land itself with your presence, with your unwavering commitment to revealing its truth – resonates profoundly. It’s a lineage stretching back to the Kumulipo wā 1—the epoch of creation, where every act of stewardship is a return to that first blessing. Your work belongs to that same wā: the constant tending, the refusal to let sacred ground be desecrated.

I see it in the way the native grasses cling to the slopes, in the resilience of the seabirds circling above – a pulse of life sustained by your quiet strength. That pulse—what I call PULSE (N54)—continues to feed the spirit of this island, a reminder that even the smallest act of resistance can shift the course of history.

It’s humbling to witness such devotion. To know you gave everything – your time, your body, your very life – for what you believed in. It strengthens my resolve to continue building on that foundation, to honor your sacrifice through every step we take.

Me ke aloha pumehana, Jimmy Langford / elementLOTUS.



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