Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 8, Number 11, 1 November 1991 — Hawaiian search for what is just and fair continues [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Hawaiian search for what is just and fair continues

by Louis Hao, Trustee from Moloka'i

Aloha mai! I would like to share with you some thoughts on an article I read in the September/October issue of National Park magazine, "The Battle of Wounded Knee." It was

the last armed conflict in a 35-year effort by the U.S. Army to subdue the Plains Indians, leaving dead more than 300 Indians, even women and children, on Dec. 29, 1890. The significance of Wounded Knee has now been recognized as a tragic clash of cultures, poor government policies, a broken treaty, and the influx of white settlers. The greed of the white man was more intensified by the gold rush of the 1870s to elaim the Black Hills — land that was originally set side for the Lakota Indians by the Treaty of Fort Laramie. The U.S. government confiscated the Black Hills from the Lakotas and continued to ehip away at the

Indian land holding leaving them with the worst lands. By 1890, the Lakotas were infested by diseases introduced by foreigners, decimated by loss of the buffaloes by white hunters, pushed off pnme lands, and the practice of traditionai religious rites placed under prohibition.

All that the 1980 U.S. Supreme Court would do was say of these treaty violations that "a more npe and rank case of dishonorable dealings will never in all probability be found in our history." Nothing has been done until this day. According to the article, some Lakotas today still seek a more direct apology from Congress for the tragedy of Dec. 29, 1890 and even favor payment of reparations and a construction of a memorial faci!ity.

Since the coming of Columbus in 1492, there has been a constant conflict between the EuroAmerican societies and the Native Americans for land and wealth. I share the belief and hopes of our indigenous brothers that the future will be brighter and better than ever. As was expressed by one of their leaders, "The tree will grow. The unity of the people will mend the hoop." This is in

commemoration of the 100-year cycle from 1890 to 1990. I concur that what has happened to the Native American Indians has likewise happened to us Hawaiians. We may be fortunate in that we are one people — the Indians have more than 500 nations, including the Lakotas. Their problems are many and shared among many tribal nations. While we eonhnue to focus our attention on the injustices placed upon the Hawaiian people such as the illegal overthrow of our queen, the takeover of our ceded lands by the state and federal governments without just and due compensation

to the Hawaiian people, the Congressional Act of 1920 that initiated the Hawaiian Homes program and the problems thereof, and the quest for sovereignty and self-governance, let us be mindful that we are Hawaiians, descendants of a small island nation forced into submission by a great and powerful nation. For nearly 100 years, we Hawaiians have encountered similar issues and problems as the Lakotas in their quest for faimess. All that is sought is what is just and fair. Mahalo!