Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 8, Number 12, 1 December 1991 — Patterson speaks for the ʻaina [ARTICLE]

Patterson speaks for the ʻaina

The voice of the keiki o ka 'aina is little heard in the land when it comes to development and tourism. This was the thought of the Rev. Kaleo of tourism upon Native Hawaiians. Patterson's topic was discussed he alo a he alo (face to face) with participants at the Third Global Congress of Heritage Interpretation International, held Nov. 38 in Honolulu. He spoke as a member of the Hawai'i Eeumenieal Council on Tourism, a Eeumenieal Council on Tourism, a coalition of churches in Hawai'i concerned about tourism's impacts. Patterson is minister to the Ko'olau Hui'ia Church in Anahola, Kaua'i. In 1989 the Council issued a declaration whieh, he said, brought "shockwaves" when it was published because the group put the reality into words — all is not well in Paradise. "Tourism is not an indigsnous practice nor has it been initiated by the Native Hawaiian people," the declaration stated. Rather, tourism and development are promoted and controlled by those who already have wealth and power and their primary purpose is to make more money, he said. Further, Patterson said, the eeumenieal coalition believes tourism is a new form of exploitation whieh threatens native culture, sacred sites and beaches in order to build resorts and related developments. This development, the eouneil says, brings an economy that perpetuates the poverty of Native Hawaiians and leads to other major societal ills. "Who greets the arriving visitor with a lei at the airport, you know, the person standing there with a ^ign? And who registers the guest at the hotel?

Often the face is that of a Native Hawaiian." The culture and land of the Hawaiian is presented to draw the visitor, Patterson said. The reality is that this "cultural prostitution" has made the Native Hawaiian the sickest, the most often jailed, the one on the bottom of the list. "How ean an industry involved in 'image' not be involved in the very community it promotes to enhanee its business," he asked the audience. 'We are a small, but prophetic voice," he £aid, warning that if developers do not listen to the people affected by the developments the very thing that brings investment to Hawai'i, the Aloha Spirit, will be no more. Every major development in recent years has met with opposition from Native Hawaiians seeking to protect som.e aspect of their culture, he said. Patterson recommended that developers of tourism bring members of the community into the process at its start, instead of after, to avoid the destruction of sacred sites and the inevitable demonstrations. " We need to do the same thing with people as is done with the ecology in tourism," he said "bring people early into the process." Presently, the Kaua'i Hyatt Regency is participating in a program to get the community more involved in the development process as it progresses. Patterson said Mel Ventura, a native of Kaua'i and developer of the Hyatt project, was very instrumental in bringing those involved in the resort development together with the loeal community and Native Hawaiians to work out differences and preserve sites. The Hawai'i Eeumenieal Counci! on Tourism may be reached by writkig e/o P.O. Box 113, Kapa'a, Hawai'i 96746.