Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 5, Number 2, 1 February 1988 — Decade of the Hawaiian [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Decade of the Hawaiian

By Moanikeala Akaka Trustee, Hawai'i

As we īmua īnio the new year, let this not be the end of the Year of the Hawaiian but let 1987 be the beginning of the Decade of the Hawaiian. Although Ho'olako has achieved its main goal of making us aware of our Hawaiianness this past year, there are still countless

problems within the nawanan community that must be rectified if we are to survive as a people. We need at least a decade of concentrated effort — human resources, financing through Native entitlements, creative thinking and to Ho'olokahi throughout the Hawaiian community in order to regain our cultural integrity. It is a matter of survival — we Hawaiians are an endangered species, and our 'aina is threatened with extinction. We as keiki o ka 'aina feel it when the land hurts and the 'aina is aching. Aloha 'Aina was not just the name of a poliheal party of loyalists for homerule (during the period of the overthrow); it was also the land use philosophy practiced by our kupuna. The ahupua'a system was not only a land division from mauka to makai, but it appears the old maps show our kupuna used this concept also as land-zoning. Taking an area of 'aina and physicai environmental factors, rainfall, etc., into consideration, our ancestors determined the size of an ahupua'a. Living in halanee with the 'aina, as the population grew the ancients also devised fish pond systems with amazingly high yields in order to feed the expanding populaee. There are some estimates that the native population numbered half a million or more before Captain Cook's arrival. With this Western onslaught eame foreign diseases, missionary influence, racism, theft of our 'aina, greed and the cultural-physical genocide whieh has brought us to this point in history. Aloha 'Aina means to live in tune with our 'aina and oeean, yet modern non-Ha-waiian values and foreign financial control have teamed up to destroy fishing grounds and invaluable historical sites along the Nanakuli-Waianae coastline as a result of Campbell Estate's West Beach resort development. In this Decade of the Hawaiian we as Trustees, through the entitlements owed to our people related to our ceded land resources and reparations, must be able to help better conditions for you, our people. I do not want to be labeled an alarmist at this time of "good feeling" about being Hawaiian. Yet, we know deep down inside that there are deep seated social and health problems with our people and 'aina. With our ceded land entitlements, reparations, and just and fair treatment by the state and federal governments, we ean begin to address the critical problems of housing, land, education, health and human services, eeonomie development, and culture so that we may Ho'oulu Lahui — raise the Hawaiian nation — our people to the deserved, dignified position in this our homeland. My Fourth of July birthday instinct tells me this does not eonflict with all that America is supposed to stand for. Contact your legislators and the Governor's office and emphasize the need for a proper and fitting resolution for our ceded land entitlements. Malama pono. Ua mau ke ea o ka aina i ka pono.