Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 1, Number 1, 1 June 1981 — COMMITTEE REPORTS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

COMMITTEE REPORTS

Land and Natural Resources

The overall objective of the Land and Natural Resources Committee chaired by Rod K. Burgess is to secure aland base, whieh will be held in trust by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs for the betterment of conditions of Hawaiians and to protect and advocate land, water and native rights issues impacting upon our people. The members of this committee generally agree on the following:

• The aina was the source of the sustenance of Hawaiian culture, tradition and religion. • In less than 100 years, the Hawaiian people were dispossessed of nearly 90% of their kupunas' land. • As a direct loss of this land, the social and eeonomie effects on the Hawaiian people have been devasting; statistics show that Hawaiians have poor educational and eeonomie opportunities, are at the bottom of ineome scales and form a majority of the prison population. • To better the conditions of our people, educational, eeonomie, cultural and religious programs and activities must be developed, advocated and implemented. To aeeomplish this a secure land base is vital. Under proposed program objectives, emphasis will be on (1) state lands; (2) federal lands; (3) private lands; and (4) Hawaiian Homes Commission lands. The primary objective regarding state lands is to insure the maximum level of ineome derived from ceded lands, and to insure an accurate inventory of ceded lands, both ineome producing and nonineome producing. Some of the planned activities are 1) to establish a relationship with DLNR whieh is responsible for the management of ceded lands. 2) to monitor and evaluate the ceded land inventory whieh DLNR is in the process of developing. 3) to identify unencumbered lands and to study the feasibility of developing lands for agricultural, industrial, commercial, residential and cultural purposes. 4) to research current issues where state lands impact upon the Hawaiian community and 5) to advocate the leasing and usage of these lands by our Hawaiian people because a disproportionate percentage of state lands are leased to Hawaiians.

The primary objective regarding federal lands is to secure and identify surplus lands and to institute programs of eeonomie, religious, culutral and historical value. One of the planned activities is to establish relationships with federal agencies managing and controlling lands such as General Services Administration, the military services and the National Park Service. The primary objective regarding private lands is to acquire real property interest from private landholdings and to research and advocate for Native Hawaiian and Hawaiian rights. Some of the planned activities addressing this objective is to identify private landowners wanting to assign lands to OHA, to negotiate with them the use of lands for prospective projects, to identify and research long-standing issues such as access rights, adverse possession, water and mineral rights, and to make referrals to the appropriate agencies.

While Hawaiian Homes Commission lands are clearly separate from OHA, the Board of Trustees want to develop a relationship with DHHL whieh is of mutual benefit to the respective programs. For instance, OHA could negotiate general leases with DHHL for commercial and industrial purposes. Under the law, as amended, DHHL is authorized to negotiate general leases with native Hawaiians or native Hawaiian corporations, providing them an opportunity to enter into commercial ventures by utilizing Hawaiian Home Lands with a latitude far greater than that provided to its !essees of residential and agricultural leases. Another objective is to evaluate and advocate the positions of DHHL to the best interest of their beneficiaries, the Native Hawaiians. Accomplishments to date are the development of a program to provide legal assistance to our people in the area of defending their ownership to lands in whieh their interest are being threatened judicially perhaps under "adverse possession" and to assist them in clearing "clouds on title" to lands in whieh they hold an interest. This program is to be implemented via a grant to the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation (NHLC) whieh will provide the legal assistance necessary to address these areas. (Also see related story on page 7). The members of this committee are as follows: H.K. Bruss Keppler, Attorney At Law, Randy Kalahiki, Legal Aide, Government Community Relations; Bernard P. Kea, President, Community Planning; Ira Hutchinson, Retired Appraiser for State Gouernment, presently serving as Regional Governor for American Society of Appraisers.

Eeonomie Development OHA maintains a vested interest in all Hawaiian eeonomie development programs or projects. This vested interest in significant eeonomie wellbeing for Hawaiians is the motivating principle for the creation of the Eeonomie Development Committee. This committee is eochaired by T rustees Joseph G. Kealoha and Roy L. Benham. Besides planning programs for the Hawaiian community, the committee also sees a need to establish contact with agencies of the federal, state, and Pacific island governments. This relationship is important because events occurring nationally and internationally affect the eeonomie conditions in Hawaii.

The purpose of the committee is to systematically investigate all possible means of generating eeonomie prosperity and stability for the Hawaiian eommunity. To accomplish this, the goals of the committee are twofold: (1) to formulate plans that will aid in attaining eeonomie self-sufficiency for Hawaiians and (2) to develop viable and suitable ineome producing business ventures and investments for Hawaiians. The members of the Eeonomie Development Community are as follows: Scott May, President, Cardinal Mailing Service, Bill Kahapea, Branch Manager, Bank of Hawaii; Bill Chee,

President, Locations, ine.; Walter Yim, President, Walter Yim & Associates; T.C. Yim, Former State Senator and Farmer. To accomplish the above goals the committee has developed the Business Assistance Program whieh assists Hawaiians who want to start their own businesses or who wish to expand their businesses. Primarily the Business Assistance Program provides free, personal and individualized service to interested Hawaiians who apply. An in-depth analysis is provided to eaeh new business venture that includes expert guidance in specific areas of business, including but not limited to, management, marketing, production, financial and budgetary matters. This service offers in addition, sound alternatives, if called for, of sources of funding and offers solutions to some specific and special concerns that are sometimes inherent in the creation of new businesses. While the consultants of the Business Assistance Program cannot dispense legal advice nor ean they act in the capacity of loan creditors, it is important to note that advocacy efforts made on behalf of any prospective Hawaiian entrepeneur is a special feature of this program. All consultants to the Business Assistance Program are volunteers who are currently employed in the financial/business field. All are committed not only to the services this program offers but also to the Hawaiian community.

I Culture The Culture Committee is chaired by Trustee Walter L. Ritte, Jr. His advisory committee is comprised of five members of the community: Rocky Jensen, Director, Hale Naua III Society of Hawaiian Artists; Native Hawaiian artist, Kawehi Ryder, Kalo Farmer, Kahaluu; Frank Hewitt, Kumu Ffula/Entertainer, Kuhai Halau O Kawaikapu O Kalani Pa 'Olapa Kahiko; John Dominis HoIt, Owner/Publisher, Topgallant Publishing Company; Hawaii Cultural Research Foundation; Pauline Joerger, Assistant Professor Of Histoiy, UH Manoa. This committee seeks to strengthen the ties between Hawaiians and our South Pacific cousins. The concentrated push to solely teach the history and culture of our Western visitors has left us with a serious void concerning our roots and Pacific 'ohana. To expand their awareness of Pacific island lifestyles, on May 8th, Trustee Ritte and three members of the Culture Committee departed Honolulu to New Zealand to engage in meaningful cultural, poliheal and educational exchange with our Maori cousins. This trip was made possible by a grant from the Hawaii Cultural Research Foundation, a private nonprofit organization. (See article on Aotearoa on page 6).

Besides expanding their cultural awareness, the committee members advocate aloha 'aina. To that end, they have outlined specific areas of eoneem for new land use designations called "Traditional Land Use": • Forest Management: Native plants for food, timber, medicine, etc., should be planted. • Kula Land Management: Loeal hunting for subsistance and not state sport hunting should be supported. • Shoreline Management: To protect valuable makai views, specific shorelines should be kept free of any building obstructions. The kind of management reflected in the above specific suggestions insures aboriginal gathering rights. Since the State Constitution mandates our rights as

Hawaiians to gather, the committee feels we should plant and manage to have useful things to gather. Another specific suggestion is that existing rivers not be diverted as was done in Hana and Kipahulu, Maui. This committee has also notified the Board of Trustees of OHA that evidence exists to support the historical and cultural value of Kawainui Swamp, Kailua, Oahu. Grave concerns have also been expressed to Governor George R. Ariyoshi about the shortcomings of the State's "Hawaii '82" program. In addition, this Committee has sent Hawaiian language cassette tapes, cultural information of both historical and current issues, for use in the Hawaiian Language program at the penal institution located in Lompoe, California.

In the future, a series of workshops on Hawaiian language and Hawaiian historieal sites, burials, artifacts, the preservation and maintenance thereof, will be sponsored by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. This committee expects to develop valid Hawaiian language programs and legislation, where necessary, to really protect what is valuable to Hawaiians. It is anticipated that during this summer a workshop on Hawaiian and Native Rights will be held. At present mana'o is being gathered from Native Alaskans, Native American Indians and Pacific Islanders. A major thrust of this particular workshop is the hard-core examination of the Hawaiians' inherent rights in the aina, water, geothermal, oeean, other minerals and more. This committee also continues to work closely with the DLNR on the State Historic Preservation Plan to insure that Hawaiians have meaningful input into this plan and that Hawaiians play an integral part in the "implementation" of the plan. Therefore, by the next Legislative session, support from this committee as well as OHA shall be forthcoming.

Heahh and Human Resources

The Committee on Health and Human Resources has been very active and has met many times. One of its first aeeomplishments was the selection of an advisory committee. This volunteer eommittee is made up of individuals who express eoneem for the Hawaiian eommunity and who possess knowledge and expertise in the health, education, and social welfare fields. The specific purposes of this committee are to develop effective human resource programs and to seek improvement and/or expansion of existing human resource programs for all Hawaiians. At the present time, the eommittee has identified two major areas of eoneem. These are crime (its causes and treatment), and employment (eeonomie wellbeing vs. unemployment). In addition, the committee seeks several goals:

1) To systematically inventory agencies and programs in health, social and other services in the state with specific focus on delivery to Hawaiians. 2) To investigate why many services are not used by Hawaiians. 3) To conduct statewide health education seminars. 4) To seek more and suitable childcare centers for Hawaiian children. 5) To advocate home centers for the elderly, especially on the neighbor islands. The statistics on delinquency, as reflected in the State Analysis Center's "Crime in Hawaii" 1980 report, and the purported facts iUustrated in the report, show that Hawaiians and part Hawaiians lead all ethnic groups for crimes eommitted by juveniles in the State of Hawaii. The impact of this report as well as others that have eome to the attention of this

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committee has demanded that the issue of crime, its roots, its treatment and most important, its prevention become this committee's number one priority. At the present time efforts are being made to gather data relating to the sociological, eeonomieal and psychological causes of delinquency among Hawaiian children. Another major step taken by this committee was to sponsor a brainstorming session on crime that brought together several members of the community who share expertise in crime-related problems. Among those in attendance were Chairperson Thomas K. Kaulukukui; Kahu Abraham Akaka; Major Roy Kaaa of the Honolulu Poliee Department; Elaine Mullaney, Hawaiian Kumu at Oahu Correctional Facility; Judge Walter Heen; Kenneth Ling, Administrator of the Detention Home; Senator Dante Carpenter, island of Hawai'i; Kayo Chung, former Administrator of the Youth Correctional Center; Hank Raymond, Executive Director of the Hawaii Council of American Indian Nations; Gard Kealoha, Public lnformation Officer of Alu Like; A. Frenchy DeSoto, Chairperson of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs; Edwin Auld, Administrator of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs; and Gregory NaliTelua, Kupuna. The sharing of the mana'o did mueh to enlighten all. This committee will actively seek means to enhanee family relationships.

This committee has also decided to work closely with the OHA Education Committee to jointly develop a program of educational activities that should be included in the eunieulum of the new Hawaiian Studies Program. The eommittee includes: Malie Mossman, Teacher and Counselor at Windward Community College; Danita Aiu, Director of Kaua'i Historical Society; Reverend Tuck Wah Lee; Kayo Chung, Former Administrator, Youth Correctional Center; and Gard Kealoha, Public Information Officer of Alu Like.

Education OHA's standing committee on education is composed of four trustees. The committee is co-chaired by Dr. A. Leiomalama Solomon and Peter K. Apo. Trustees Thomas K. Kaulukukui, Sr. and Roy L. Benham serve as committee members. Also serving are Larry Kamakawiwoole, /ormer s taff member, Hawaii Loa College; Ambrose Rosehill, attorney; Margaret Apo, member, Board of Education; Mrs. Agnes Cope, kupuna; William Waters, member, Board of Education; Neil Hannahs, Assistant to the President, Kamehameha Schools; Pua'ala McElhaney, Community Relations, Alu Like; Darrow Aiona, member, Board of Education; Lydia Hale, teacher, Hawaiian Language/Kaaawa Elementary School; and Earl Kawaa, student, University of Hawaii.

The committee has concluded that existing educational programs and services are unresponsive to the fundamental needs of Hawaiians. Although an increasing number of Hawaiians through sheer determination are making their way through the existing maze of educational programs, this number remains alarmingly small. Thus a strong foundation of meaningful programs and services that are responsive to the unique educational problems faced by the average Hawaiian must be established. We propose to launeh a two-pronged effort. One effort is to advocate for Hawaiians for better public education and the other effort is to provide direct services to them. To be successful advocates, we need the support of such bodies as the Office of the Governor, the State Board of Education, the Department of Education, the

Hawaii State Legislature, the Board of Regents of the University of Hawaii, and the United States Congress. Even limited support from these major decision makers could result in: significant improvements in the educational system; additional appropriations for developing quality Hawaiian programs and services; the appointment of more Hawaiians within the educational network and; the additional hiring of Hawaiians to direct programs and services. The general goal or "purview" is that the Education Committee shall be an advocate of and focus its eoneem on the planning, improvement and implementation of all education opportunities for Hawaiian children and adults. This is supported by the following four objectives:

(1) To assure that Hawaiian and Native Hawaiian youth have access to primary and secondary level education experiences that are responsive to their needs. (2) To provide Hawaiians and Native Hawaiians with increased access to meaningful higher education and px)St-graduate education. (3) To promote the study of Hawaiian culture, history and language. (4) To assure the development and implementation of a Hawaiian education program as mandated by Article X, Section 4 of the Hawaii State Constitution. Two subcommittees have been established to deal with the initial planning process. One subcommittee chaired by Dr. Leiomalama Solomon will develop a master education plan while the other chaired by Peter K. Apo will develop short range projects to provide some inhal direct benefits to the Hawaiian community. To formulate this master plan, providing funds are available, meetings will be held throughout the state to gather community input. In addition to this, we will also refer to research done on the educational needs of the Hawaiian community. In summary, the Education Committee is proceeding cautiously in their long range planning. At the same time we are hoping to offer some direct services as soon as possible. In the meantime, we hope to have continued support from the Hawaiian community.

There are at present only two adhoc eommittees created by the Board of Trustees. An ad hoe committee is usually created to address singular issues or problems. The life expectancy of an ad hoe committee is as long as the problem or issue demands attention. OHA's Ad hoe Committee on Education chaired by Trustee Roy L. Benham has as its explicit task a liaison function between the federally created Advisory Council on Native Hawaiian Education (P.L. 96-374, 20 USC 1221-1) and the Hawaiian community. In addition, this ad hoe committee provides the vehicle to actively monitor, on behalf of Hawaiians, the specific goals of this Advisory Council. This task is exceedingly important in view of the fact that if the Congress of the United States determines through the council's findings that existing federal, state and loeal programs fail to satisfactorily address basic and special educational needs of Hawaiians, then it is entirely possible that additional federal funds will be allocated for this purpose.

At present there are five goals of the Advisory Council. Collectively, these goals 1) seek reasons for a low level of educational attainment among Hawaiian children; 2) seek causes for this laek of attainment; 3) seek to specify any unique health, social and psychological needs of Hawaiian children that account for a lower level of educational attainment; 4) seek to evaluate the effectiveness of state and

federally assisted educational programs that serve Hawaiian children; and 5) seek to make specific recommendations to Congress and the Hawaiian community on how to achieve educational parity for Hawaiians with other ethnic groups. Congress has allocated $400,000 to be administered by the U.S. Department of Education, to this Advisory Council to achieve the above five goals. OHA's Ad hoe Committee on Education shall work closely with the Advisory Council and take an active role in sharing with the Hawaiian community the progress of this eouneil.

Late in December of 1980, Congress established a Native Hawaiian Study Commission. Because OHA has a mandate to protect and advocate the best interests of Hawaiians, it set up an Ad Hoe Committee on Reparations to maximize full participation of the Hawaiian eommunity in the Commission's work. To that end, in January letters were sent to prospective committee members. By March the Committee was formed with ten members: Louis Agard, Hawaiian organizer; H. Rodger Betts, Attorney, Corporation Counsel of Maui; John CharIot, Professor of Hawaiian Religion, UH-Manoa; Rep. Kinau Kamali'i, House Minority Leader; MeIody MacKenzie, Staff Attorney, Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation; Shorty OIayan, Salesman, 3M Company; Bernard Punikaia, Organizer, Save Hale Mohalu, Winona Rubin, Executive Director, Alu Like; Jon Van Dyke, Professor of Law, UH-Manoa Law School: Gregory Nali'i'elua (Papa Kala) Kupuna.

The first order of business for the Ad Hoe Committee on Reparations was to respond to President Reagan's March 10 dismissal of the Commissioners on the Native Hawaiians Study Commission. The committee met to discuss the possible course of action for OHA in advocating the necessity of the Commission before the President. A memo discussing the legality of the President's act also developed from the meeting. Poliheal ae-

tion was planned through Hawaii's Congressional representatives, the Governor, the State Legislature and the mayors of four county governments, as well as through a press conference to advise the public. With appreciation, OHA received letters of support from all of the above; in addition, the State Legislature issued a Joint Resolution reaffirming the need for the Study Commission. The public also responded favorably, with letters of support coming from the United Japanese Society, Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs, Oahu Canoe Racing Association, Hawaiian Businessmen's Association, and Democratic Party of Hawaii, among others.

Although OHA pursued the possibility of legal recourse, the committee decided to wait to see whether President Reagan would appoint another set of commissioners. Acting on the assumption that the President would, OHA sent a list of recommended names of possible Hawaii representatives to fill the three Hawaii slots. This list was carried to Washington D.C. With assurances that the Study Commission would be restored, the Ad Hoe Committee proceeded to plan for a good working relationship with the Study Commission. The committee's primary job is to focus the Commission's work on reparations for Hawaiians. It is also particularly concerned about raising the public's awareness and understanding of the Commission and its work. To that end, various media programs are being developed to educate the public — programs such as documentaries, fact sheets, and so forth.

Plans are also being made to assist the Commission in its work, particularly during the fact-finding period. For instance, OHA will present testimony to the Commission that will clarify the legal and historical background of the overthrow of 1893 and ks effects. OHA will also assist in seeking testimony from the Hawaiian community, especially from our kupuna. However, before planning more specific projects, the committee will define its relationship with the Commission and will present its goals before the Board of Trustees. After the Board approves the goals, then more specific and concrete plans ean be made.

Ad Hoe Committee On Education

Ad Hoe Committee On Reparations

Inaugration Ceremonies at I'olani Palaee on January 17, 1981 of the nine elected members of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs Board of Trustees. Photo byi Pipi Wakapama