Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 4, Number 9, 1 September 1987 — He ʻOnipaʻa Ka ʻOia ʻIʻo [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

He ʻOnipaʻa Ka ʻOia ʻIʻo

By Moanikeala Akaka Trustee, Hawai'i

t Kala mai īa u tor not having an article in the August Ka Wai Ola 0 Oha. I do feel it is very important to keep in touch with you, our constituents and inform you about what is going on with our 'aina and people. Those of you who know me are aware of my credentials. Being Trustee is

a challenging, tiring and often thankless unpaid job. I have better things to do than fabricate tales about my fellow Hawaiians. I have accepted the challenge as OHA Trustee and will defend the truth on all matters concerning the fate of our people and 'aina. In these troubled times, any elected official should do no less. We must be informed if we are to make intelligent decisions about our present and future. The Lord knows we Hawaiians have been victims of subterfuge and deceit from inside as well as outside of the Hawaiian community since western contact. In the spirit of aloha 'aina, I have been forced to bring before you truth that from occasion have stung certain individthe land, paying the rent in kind, generally in pigs, other foodstuff or mats, four times in the year. It is important to note here that not only did the tenants have rights of access to the mountains and oeean, rights to gather supplies on the uncultivated lands of the landlord and to fish within the oeean reef adjoining the landlord's lands, they had the right of occupancy or residency.

Because such traditional rights were not commonly recorded in such places as the Bureau of Conveyances and, in fact, may not even have been written but would have been created orally, a potential user would have to first establish that an ancēstor or predecessor in interest had such a residential right, that the intended user had inherited all of such right and the land upon whieh the right is to be exercised is ascertainable. Because of the two-sided requirement of residency on one hand and rent on the other the user would also have to work out a mechanism to pay the on-going lease rent. As to the lands on whieh a elaim for tenancy would be most effective, one may have to speculate. However, if I were involved, I would wish that the land presently "belonged" to the federal, state or county government or one of the large (the landlord) estates. The ceded lands, including Hawaiian Home Lands, would be pnme targets because they are largely undeveloped, they were lived upon by tenants and because they were initially and specifically conveyed "subject always to the right of tenants."

Finally, as to the initial question of whether or not Hawaiians have the right to occupy ancestral lands, it would seem that present Hawaiian claims may indeed have sound historical and lega! basis. However, those rights will almost certainly have to be fought for, tooth and nail, in the court of the colonizers, a plaee where Hawaiians have not always been treated fairly. It is my hope that when a proper case appears, that the Hawaiian legal community will marshall its best resources to onee again elaim our traditional rights. Establishing homesites for Hawaiians on this 'aina hanau, the land of our forefathers, will be an extremely important battle to wage.

uals. As your elected representative, I feel you have the right to know. I don't like to mention that sometimes it is other Hawaiians that support the status quo and exploitation that keep Hawaiians down and that also have negative effects on our precious 'aina. This is not new for there were some Hawaiians that worked in collusion with the foreigners when our Hawaiian nation was illegally overthrown and Lili'uokalani deposed. To this day, some of our own kind are stepping on Hawaiian backs and selling out our 'aina be-

cause of their own greed and ambition. Havmg Hawaiian blood does not automatically make one a ehampion for things Hawaiian past, present or future. I was one of the handful that started the movement for justice for our 'aina and people in Kalama Valley in 1970. We few Hawaiians and locals looked around at the plight of our land and people and organized to help George Santos, pig farmer, and other Hawaiian and loeal families who were kicked off Bishop Estate leased land to extend Hawaii Kai. That was a beginning of modern Hawaiian history. During the time of this struggle, we helped Pae Galdeira and "The Hawaiians" to organize so more Department of Hawaiian Home Lands would be opened to our people. To this day, there are over 15,000 families waiting for DHHL lands. Some wait 10-20-30 and 40 years for the 'aina; others aive uo and die waitina.

Molokai'i Hawaiians in 1975 formed Hui Alaloa to open up shoreline access as most Moloka'i residents were denied access by Molokai'i Ranch. Members of that group, including Dr. Emmett Aluli, Judy Napoleon and Walter Ritte, helped initiate the Protect Kaho'olawe 'Ohana. We of the Big Island became some of the original ohana members of PKO statewide and helped to spread the word about the bombing of that sacred 'aina. Aunty Edith Kanakaole named us ohana (PKO) as extended family. George Helm and Kimo Mitchell, two Hawaiian heroes disappeared on Kaho'olawe in 1977. In 1981, Kaho'olawe was designated a National Historic Site. How many of these are being used as a bombing target?? Just a few weeks ago, the media carried reports about the Navy mistakenly bombing the one third of Kaho'olawe they had agreed to "not bomb" when the Navy and Ohana signed a Consent Decree in 1981.

Labor Day 1978, over 55 women, men and children were arrested on DHHL land. We were landlords "eome to collect the rent." George Ariyoshi called out the National Guard at the Hilo Airport runway (some with rifles raised). The Honlulu Advertiser said there was a Hawaiian "goon squad" waiting for us at the terminal. Ironic that these very Hawaiians would probably be some of the first to benefit when we begin to get the Hawaiian entitlements we have been strugqling for years to gain for you— our people.

In 1981, as a result of a suit that had been filed by the Keaukaha-Panaewa Farmers Association and the Labor Day 1978 airport incident, Judge Shunichi Kimura ruled that revenues should be paid for those airport lands. These Hawaiian activists at risk of life anel limb put over one half million dollars a year into DHHL's operating funds between 1981 and 1984. In 1984, if you will recall, DHHL tried to exchange the three airports a total of 2 14 acres of land for 13 acres of Shafter Flats industrial lands. It was felt by the eommunity at that time and endorsed by Oha's Board of *See He 'Onipa'a, p 13