Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 8, Number 5, 1 May 1991 — We Hawaiians need the right to self-determination [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

We Hawaiians need the right to self-determination

by Moses Keale, Sr. Chairman, OHA Board of Trustees

Anoai kakou! Over the past few months many of your trustees have devoted mueh time and effort discussing the issues of sovereignty. These issues are very important for all of us to eonsider and understand.

We must begin to address this concept in a forthright and open manner. This issue will build the foundation for the path that Hawaiians will travel in determining the legacy we leave for our generations of young people yet unborn. For 10 long years the Office of Hawaiian Affairs has struggled with the how, when, why, and where questions associated in our dealing with the problems of the Hawaiian people. Whether we have done a good job or poor job is not the real issue. The real issue is whether we are assisting in the battle to correct the problems whieh plague our people. The negative reports whieh eonhnue to eome from the health department, the educational institutes, the Governor's commission on housing, Hawaiian Homes, and so forth serves to remind us that the problems not only exist but have been growing. Why can't this office "get at" these problems? Althought not the only rightanswer, one answer is money! Two years ago, we went before the legislature to ask for money to provide for programs to address Hawaiians' concerns. After all the cuts and reductions, the legislature granted us an $8.1 million operating budget for fiscal 19891991. With around 250,000 Hawaiians in the state of Hawai'i, that amounts to approximately $16 per Hawaiian. They gave us $16 per beneficiary and said do your best! That is a tragedy! The state collects more than $16 in sales tax from eaeh and every one of us right over the counter every year at our corner grocery store. How are we supposed to address the building of new houses for our people with $16 per person? Many of us pay far more than $16 per family member in medical expenses eaeh year trying to

stay alive and healthy. If we send our children to school with luneh money everyday, we spend more than $16 per year per child for luneh alone. If we expect to improve our eeonomie status as Hawaiians, then better employment and better education go hand in hand. How do we encourage our young people, who statistics show represent 50 percent of our populahon, to pursue higher education when we are given just $16 per person to provide educational assistance to those who need it? We could go on and on. But the bottom line is that we face a multi-billion dollar task with totally inadequate assets. Why have you, our people, not seen any substantial benefits going directly to you? There just isn't enough to begin the process. Who is to blame for this tragic state of affairs? The Office of Hawaiian Affairs, like eaeh of the counties, the various state agencies, and the numerous private agencies must compete against eaeh other for the same dollars eaeh and every year. The facts show that there are just so many dollars to go around. You ean only pass out what you collect and the 76 legislators do the best job they ean with the overwhelming demand and limited resources. Although we may not like the results, it is difficult to imagine how we could react in their situation. So what is the answer? A part of the answer that we seek lies in our ability to gain our form of self-determination. We must be able to directly govern our people, develop our assets, and create our own ineome stream. We must be able to win control of real property, determine its usage, develop its potentials and create a return from these assets that will allow us to address the needs of our people. We must not remain dependent upon a system that continues to contribute to our problems through neglect or under-management of our assets. We must be directly inuolved in the process whieh determines what is a fair rate of return for those assets whieh we, as Hawaiians, haue always regarded as our assets. Twenty percent of the ineome from non-income-producing ceded lands is no ineome! Twenty percent of the ineome from lands whieh are under-valued and leased is an ineome that is under-valued and inadequate and contributes to our problems.

We must reach an understanding with the State and the Legislature. That understanding must include a conclusion that the Office of Hawaiian Affairs will manage its own affairs, its own assets, its own processes for the benefit of its own beneficiaries, the Hawaiian people. This understanding forms the basis for the creation of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. This understanding is just one type of transitional sovereignty. If we are to succeed, you must become a partner in this process. We must close ranks! We must believe in eaeh other! We must show unity! We must put away the clubs with whieh we bash eaeh other. Hawaiians should not fight with other Hawaiians. We must agree to fight for the rights of the Hawaiian people. We must agree to educate eaeh other. We must look for the good in eaeh Hawaiian as we battle for this fundamental goal. We must not pass judgement on eaeh other! Please allow me to repeat something from my last eolumn: "True sovereignty begins from within your own na'au (with your gut). True sovereignty isnurtured by your cultural upbringing, your spirituality. You must know who you are and where you are going. Some people say that spirituality, cultural values, identity and wisdom comes from the heart. But I say no! The Hawaiian word for heart is pu'uwai, a lump of water. If you try to hold a lump of water in your hands it leaks out and dissipates. No, all these things we hold essential to our own essence comes from the "gut," the na'au. It is where one lives. It is the center of one's being. It channels and centers oneself. When your na'au is together, you are together. When you are together, you have achieved your own sovereignty. Only then ean you talk about sovereignty to others. Only then ean you begin to think of sovereignty for our people." Let us begin today! Start with your 'ohana. Let us spread the word! Tell your 'ohana that what we are seeking is the recognition of all people in Hawai'i and these United States that we, the Hawaiian people have the right to selfdetermination. Let us be determined to gain control of our lives and assets. Let us not fight over who should have control. Let us be resolved that Hawaiians should have control. A i manao kekahi e lilo i pookele i waena o oukou, e pono no e lilo ia i kauwa na oukou. Na ke Akua e malama a e alakai ia kakou apau.