Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 6, Number 10, 1 October 1989 — Now is the time to raise your voice [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Now is the time to raise your voice

By A. Frenchy DeSoto Trustee At-Large

Aloha. The congressionai hearings conducted by Senator Inouye are pau, and I would like to express my aloha to the Senator and his committee and staff, for their indulgence, patience and kindness shown to our people.

Some would ask, what did these hearings aecomplish? Well, I believe quite a lot. First off, these hearings were historic, never held before. But most importantly, these hearings afforded the Hawaiian community an opportunity to have entered into the congressional record our frustra-

tions, our conditions, our culture, our perceptions and our recommended solutions. Although this process was, to many of us, extremely painful, we, most of us, contributed with aignity and decorum. We were well informed and astute, speaking with great conviction, eoncerned that the committee would understand clearly what we had to say. For the record there is the testimony that talks about our refusal to totally assimilate. How the 'aina is part of us, how the oeean and the elements are part of us, how our lives have been impacted upon with cruelty and greed. We articulated our need and insistence to maintain our culture and language; to insist on our having the ability to fulfill our spiritual as well as eeonomie needs. Clear in our collective thoughts is our insistence to re-establish our own governments, therein

creating the opportunity for self-determination. Many designs were offered. In the final analysis only we will determine how to achieve the strongest Kapa that will weather the storms so that our seeds do not experience the 'eha we kupuna and makua have experienced. We, as a people, stand on the very threshold of change, with all of our differences of opinion and methodology, and I believe that we ean still work together. I am committed to this eventuality now. Differences are not bad. Compromise must be made so that we ean achieve our eommon goal of self-determination, freedom and peaee, and dignity. Let us work together, ke kino, ka mana'o, a me ka 'uhane. Separately we don't have a ehanee in hell. Together, we will be a force to be reckoned with. The time is here.