Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 10, Number 8, 1 August 1993 — Hui Naʻauao [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Hui Naʻauao

Sovereignty & Seif-Determination A Community Education Project

The articles in this series are contributed by the Hui Na'auao sovereignty education organization and presented by Ka Wai Ola O OHA as a service to our readers. August marks the second year of the three-year federal grant for the Hui Na'auao sovereignty education project. In that time, Hui Na'auao's major accomplishment is that the coalition, whieh has grown to more than 40 organizations, remains together. As Jean Luka, kanaka maoli attomey for the Administration for Native Americans (ANA, the grant provider), said, "Hui Na'auao is succeeding in its primary goal to bring together diverse Hawaiian groups." The other accomplishment is developing and presenting the Ho'āla (Awakening) and Ho'okahua (To lay a foundation) workshops. More than 4,300 persons have attended 157 Ho'āla workshops on O'ahu since January. Interest among nonHawaiians sparked the 1993 Hawai'i Legislature to appropriate $300,000 to OHA to educate the general public on sovereignty issues provided that educational programs and curriculum are de\eloped through a purchase of services contract with Hui Na'auao. Ho'āla is a one- to two-hour workshop on the history of the sovereign Hawaiian nation, its land, language, culture, religion and govemment. The workshop explores the foreign polhieal and eeonomie influences that eroded native culture, rights and sover-

eignty; and studies forms of govemanee during the islands' ryThe workshop includes two videos, a workbook, "time line" chart and discussions. One of the most poignant moments in the videotape occurs when Jennifer Goodyear-Kaopua defines "sense of identity." "It's hard for me to logically explain why being Hawaiian is important to me," says Jennifer, then 18 years old. "It's just a feeling, I guess. I sometimes wonder why being Hawaiian is so important to me, because I wasn't really brought up knowing anything ... of Hawaiian culture, Hawaiian history, Hawaiian language. "But I think the same is true with a lot of my classmates," says the Kamehameha Schools' 1992 valedictorian, "that there's just something inside that makes you really want to know — it's a desire to know what is Hawaiian." The Ho'āla chronology, or "time line," highlights kānaka maoli events from prehistory to an illegal July 7, 1898 Congressional resolution to annex Hawai'i. The 32-page workbook features: • a list of Hawai'i treaties; • island maps based on 1850 land court awards; • President Grover Cleveland's Dec. 18, 1883 letter to Congress about the "lawless occupation of Honolulu"; • Queen Lili'uokalani's protest letter presented at Washington,

D.C., June 17, 1897; • a bibliography; • genealogical worksheets. After attending a session, ANA attorney Luka said, "The Ho'āla workshop is very good. It eommunicates what it means to be Hawaiian. It is not racist. You're doing a tremendous job for the

Hawaiian and non-Hawaiian communities and doing it in a very unoffensive way." Future plans of Hui Na'auao include working with the state Department of Education on workshops in the public schools. The DOE is "really very mueh interested in this," says O'ahu workshop coordinator Lynette Cruz. Hui Na'auao also plans a puwalu, or statewide conference,

and to expand the newly-estab-lished Northern California Council of Hui Na'auao. For copies of the Ho'āla/Hui Na'auao videos, contact: Hui Na'auao, Ala Moana Pacific Center, 1585 Kapi'olani Blvd., Suite 1638, Honolulu, Hawai'i 96814; phone (808)947-6322, FAX (808)941-4543. To arrange Ho'āla and Ho'okahua workshops, eall 6716699. Next month's eolumn will describe the Ho'okahua workshop, whieh features models of indigenous sovereignty. These include two proposed kanaka maoli models, as follows: PROTECT KAHO'OLAWE 'OHANA: The nation would be a federation govemed by a eouneil of representatives from the eight major islands. Eaeh island would be a district based on moku'āina, ahupua'a or other unit, as determined by Hawaiians on that island. Control and management of the 'āina and its resources would be vested in goveming bodies at the district level. The powers of an 'Aha Ho'oulu'ulu Lāhui, or federal eouneil, would be distinct from the districts' and primarily limited to intemational affairs, as with the United States. The 'Aha Ho'oulu'ulu Lāhui and the districts jointly would share responsibility for heallh, eduation, housing, criminal justice and other general welfare programs. The structure and relationship would depend on efficient delivery of services, the

generation of operational revenues, and a halanee of power to ensure loeal community selfdetermination. E OLA MAU: A native Hawaiian sovereign nation should: • Be independent from state and federal governments; • Develop out of existing (or newly-established) American laws whieh deal with Native American sovereignty, so that its founding principles are consistent with the American Constitution; and • Utilize a democratic process of govemment.

Hul Na'auao is sponsoring these upcoming events: ♦ A free Jecture on "Self-deter-mination and Self«governance" Aug. 10 from 7-9 p.m. at Kuykendali auditorium, University of Hawai'i-Mānoa; ♦ A dramatization of Queen Lili'uokalani's trial, to be presented at Ka Ho'okoiokolonui Kānaka Maoii (Peoplea' fntemationai Tribunai Hawai'i 1993), from Aug. 12-21. For information about the tribunal, eali 595-6691. ♦ A weekend intensive featuring three worksbops and three panei discussions, Aug. 13-15 at the UH Campus Center Baiiroom (eall 956*7221 for information). ♦ Hui Na'auao gcneral meetings are sclteduled at 7 p.m. on the first Tuesday of eacb momh at Likeke Hall, Kawaiaha'o Church.