Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 10, Number 5, 1 May 1993 — KICC presents report to Waiheʻe as hoʻokupu [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

KICC presents report to Waiheʻe as hoʻokupu

Editor' note: The Kaho'olawe Island Conveyance Commission' s report to Congress, titled "Kaho'olawe Island: Restoring a Cultural Treasure," was delivered to Speaker of the House of Representatives Tom Foley, Vice President Al Gore, and President Biil Clinton March 31. The June issue of Ka Wai Ola 0 OHA will contain a complete look at the report's contents. The following article describes the presentation of the report to Hawai'i Gov. John Waihe'e. by Jeff Clark In a ceremony including chant and hula, the Kaho'olawe Island Conveyance Commission (KICC) on April 7 formally presented its report to Gov. John Waihe'e. For the good part of an hour, Waihe'e's puhlie signing room was affected by the mana of dusty, wounded Kaho'olawe, the sacred island dedicated to the god Kanaloa. Maui chanter and kumu hula Keali'i Reichel chanted as KICC commissioners A. Frenchy DeSoto, Dr. Noa Emmett Aluli, chairman Hannihal Tavares and H. Howard Stephenson entered the room. Hawaiian culture expert Parley Kanaka'ole, addressing Waihe'e as "son of this land" and telling him, "You are my chief," moved across the room in a respectful crouch and presented him the report. "This (the report) will be the voice of the people. ... This is the voice we bring to you, and it is your voice that will carry it," he said. Waihe'e accepted the book and the two embraced. Then Reichel and three of his students offered what the kumu

called "a ho'okupu from the people of hula." The wāhine danced two hula while Reichel chanted about beautiful Ahupū (a Kaho'olawe bay and gulch) and the giant 'opīhi of Kaho'olawe's Kanapou Bay. Waihe'e thanked the commission for making it a very special day, and for their more than two years of work, discussion and debate that went into the report's completion. He recognized the product as more than just the work of the commission, saying the commission's undertaking had under it the foundation of a commitment of many other people. "I would suggest our ho'okupu would be to finish this work" outlined in the report, whieh recommends that the federal government retum the island to the state of Hawai'i, he said. "The commission's report lays out the framework. ... I assure you the state of Hawai'i and I personally will be totally eommitted to making sure it happens," he said of the conveyance. "We need to bring back this living land that has been wounded so mueh." Tavares said the KICC listened to the people's mana'o over the last two and a half years, and what eame through was that Kaho'olawe "is a special island and it has to be treated with care and compassion and understanding." He thanked the govemor for his leadership, saying, "Though this is not a state commission, but a federal commission, your feeling about this was a guiding light for all ofus."

Parley Kanaka'ole presents Kaho'olawe report to Gov. Waihe'e Photo by Patrick Johnston