Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 13, Number 1, 1 January 1996 — Our Reader Write [ARTICLE]

Our Reader Write

Bishop Estate trustee salaries obscene The many negative remarks made of Princess Bernice Bishop trustees is something I, a graduate (of Kamehameha Schools) am not proud of and too often am embarrassed. Would Bernice have allowed trustees to threaten our loeal government with lawsuits over Hawai'i Kai Queen's Beach development? Isn't there too mueh development going on on this island as evidenced by water shortages, traffic gridlock, bankrupt golf courses, brand new unoccupied high rises, and the paving over of Leilehua Plains. When will the trustee's obsessive love and support of developers end, so trustees ean stop profaning the land of Hawai'i? Will there not be a time in Kamehameha Schools history when adequate funds will have been gained to sustain it for its future and allow this madness to end?

Seven trustees are deducting $6,300,000 from the estate annually for their salaries? I think it is so obscene, it makes me want to lua'i. The latest hot off the press lua'i now is to use the Princess' money to lobby Congress to retain and sustain their greed. Any Hawaiian, if asked, would agree that $200,000 is more than adequate life subsistence and what is presently received for Bishop Estate trustee services is ridiculous. Many Hawaiians would gladly take over this job for the lesser amount. John K. Kamanu Kailua, Hawai'i We are Hawaiian, nothing more, nothing less Recently, I heard the comment, "I am not Hawaiian, I'm an American." I listened and said nothing because I wanted to hear their thoughts. To me, this Hawaiian, who was educated by Queen Emma like my grandmother. my cousin, and my sister, says

she is "not Hawaiian," but what she is also saying is she's only "an American." This is said daily by many Hawaiians. I am Hawaiian American and proud to be both, but my roots are in Hawai'i. It is not only because the Hawaiians are "first born," but, more importantly, it is because we were the first to die here. Our ancestors' bodies, bones, and spirits are deeply buried beneath the concrete. I don't care what color I paint myself, I will always be Hawaiian. Whether I paint myself white or paint myself black, America will always look at me as Hawaiian and I accept that proudly. I don't want to be black, I don't want to be white. I want to be brown, as brown as I ean be. The modern-day Hawaiian ean be defined as white-educated, Hawaiian-cultured, aloha-spirit-ed, and one who perpetuates the race.

This is a white man's world. This is a white man's Hawai'i, and in order to survive we must learn the white man's ways. But we must not be ignorant enough to think because we learn the white ways, we are white. We are not white, we are Hawaiian. Not more Hawaiian or less Hawaiian, we are just Hawaiian. Manu Ayau KS/BE '64 Kealoha offensive As a Hawaiian, I am deeply offended by the remarks from Trustee Kealoha (Trustee's Views, December). First he apologizes for the tiresome bickering on the OHA chambers, then he proceeds to discuss his filing of charges against the 'minority trustees' for misuse of funds and for some not meeting HRS 10-3 "50 percent blood quantum" requirement for benefits. I, for one, will be glad when his "majority" are out of the Hawaiian leadership picture. In these difficult times in Hawaiian history, we need leaders who will unite the Hawaiian people and

accept ALL of us, regardless of quantum. The 50 percent quantum issue was initiated by the federal government to limit their responsibility to Hawaiians. It's disgraceful to have one Hawaiian pointing fingers and considering

another any less a Hawaiian because of blood quantum. We are all Hawaiians, whether it be with one percent or 100 percent blood quantum. Kealoha should realize it is the non-"native" Hawaiians that compose the fastest growing

segment of the Hawaiian population and his largest growing eonstituency. Mālama pono Douglas Kam -> ■ Kailua, Hawai'i

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