Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 10, Number 8, 1 August 1993 — Native Hawaiian appointed to civil rights committee [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Native Hawaiian appointed to civil rights committee

* by Patrick Johoston Patricia Cook, a native Hawaiian and long-time women's rights advocate, has been appointed to the Hawai'i advisory committee to the United States Commission on Civii Rights. The comraittee, one of 51 such groups nationwide, is an independent, fact-finding agency of the executive branch of the federal government. The advisory eommiliee convenes four times a year to examine civil rights issues in Hawai'i. In 1991 it issued a report about the broken trust between the federal government

i and Hawatians over Hawaaan home lands. The committee will possibly elaborate on that study in their future work. Cook's appointment is a twoyear position whieh began in June of this year. lt ean be renewed at the end of the two-year period. She is one of four Hawaiians on the committee. Others include Oswald Stender, Charles Maxwell,

and Colette Machado. A senior planner for special projects at the city's Department of Human Resources, Cook was reconimended largely as a result of her work with the Honolulu county comraittee on the status of women. "Thev were very excited about our 16-point action plan whieh addresses some women's issues," she said. These include child care, sexual assault and domestic violence, non-traditional employment opportunities, pay equity, representation of women on boards and commissions, sexual harassment, family leave, and flex-time for family emergencie&.

Patti Cook