Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 12, Number 6, 1 June 1995 — Yale symposium [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Yale symposium

by Kina'u Boyd Kamali'i Trustee-at-I.arge

Hosts of golden daffodils welcomed us to the Yale campus in New Haven, Connecticut. It was early April, and the f!owers prematurely announced the eomine of spring even as the last reminder of win-

ter brought temperatures in the 30's and a late snowfall. At the invitation of Nā Keiki Ke Aloha, an undergraduate group of outstanding Yale University students from Hawai'i, we had eome six thousand miles to participate in a Hawaiian Sovereignty Symposium. As eneouraged by the university, the three-day symposium stressed the oppor-

tunity for learning and otfered different modes of sharing — an informal setting for 40 students and faculty at the Alumni House whieh included dinner, a panel presentation before an auditorium audience of about three hundred participants; and rotating one-and-a-half hour workshops involving about twenty-five people per session. Invited as presenters were Dr. Kekuni Blaisdell (Ka Pākaukau, the Sovereignty Working Group), Dr. Lilikalā Kame'eleihiwa (Ka Lāhui Hawai'i), and myself for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA). Participating on!y in the panel presentation was Thurston Twigg-Smith, the former editor of the Honolulu Advertiser and descendant of missionary Asa Thurston and overthrow leader Lorrin Thurston. Also participating in the symposium were Keoni Agard (Hui Na'auao), Bruss Keppeler and Bill Meheula (Native Hawaiian Bar Association), Linda Delaney (OHA), and Bishop Estate Trustees Oz Stender and Gerard Jervis. It would be difficult to imagine a broader spectrum of views than those presented at this symposium. Ranging from Kekuni's endorsement of full independence to Twigg-Smith's opposition to any form of

Hawaiian self-determination, the students were exposed to the entire gamut of ehoiee now bcing debated and discussed. Perhaps it was the difference from Hawai'i or the opportunity to be together almost constantly, but the Hawaiian contingent — often seen at odds at home — became a kind of family in New Haven.

■ Our differences over the models of sovereignty were dwarfed by our eommon eommitment to the goal of a selfdetermined ehoiee by the Hawaiian people. Our differences over the strategies to achieve sovereignty were overwhelmed by our eommon bond as Hawaiians. Those feelings did not erase our differences, but set them in

perspective. It was and is possible to present and discuss deep differences in ideas with respect and mutual regard. This same courtesy was even extended to Thurston Twigg-Smith. The highest and deepest values of our community — indeed, the sense of eommunity itself — is drawn from the Hawaiian culture. Aloha and the spirit of aloha ean only exist — like respect and decency — in a relationship of sharing. If we fail to understand and support that reciprocity, then nothing else ean succeed. The best recent example of this sharing was the Yale Symposium. Considerable credit and appreciation must be given to Nā Keiki Ke Aloha for the planning, determinalion and commitment required to make the symposium a success. Most notable was their informal network of Hawai'i eonneetions whieh included virtually all the eampuses in New England. No small part of this effort was the extraordinary effort given the students by their families — especially the Lams and Ahsams who helped coordinate from Hawai'i, accompanied the delegation to Yale, and packed the frozen ingredients of the closing lū'au. Mahalo a nui loa a me ke aloha.