Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 16, Number 1, 1 January 1999 — Zero Sum Game [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Zero Sum Game

The Economics of Annexation: Part 2

Editor's note: Last month, Ka Wai Ola published the first part of Mike Markrich's article detailing the eeonomie consequences ofHawai'i's relationship with the United States. This eoncludes the article. Remarkable eomehaek. Mlke Markrich ĪHERE WERE Native Hawaiians among the Democrats, however, and by shrewdly building a polineal network with the old boy network of Bums loyalists they would forge a eomehaek. Speaker of the House Henry Peters and Senate president

Dickie Wong, supreme court justice William Richardson and social worker Pinky Thompson all leveraged their poliheal skills to seats on the Bishop Estate board of tmstees. These appointments changed the complexion of the trust whieh before had been dominated by white Protestant men. The estate, with Native Hawaiians dominating the board, became a major player in state politics. With the eleehon of John Waihe'e as the first Native Hawaiian govemor in 1984 this enormous gain was secured. At the same time, Native Hawaiians began waging campaigns for recognition of their nationhood with powerful political symbols such as the cultural renaissance of their music and dance and the voyages of the sailing eanoe Hōkūle'a. With the stmggles eame victories, the formation of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, the retum of revenue from crown lands, the retum of the island of

Kaho'olawe and, peihaps most significant of all, a formal apology from the President of the United States whieh tacitly recognized their nationhood. With eaeh victoiy they gained confidence and authority. A new generation of leaders stepped forward, including Nainoa Thompson, captain of the Hōkūlea, who says that he speaks "not for only for Native Hawaiians but for all who live in these Islands." These accomplishments weie possible with the help of some of the same generation of AJA poliheal leaders whose cohorts had displaced Native Hawaiians from territorial and state jobs during the 1950s. For example, it was Senator Daniel Inouye, prominendy positioned in Congress, who championed on the nahonal agenda of Native Hawaiian issues such as the retum of Kaho'olawe. But there were also costs. Despite their gains, Native Hawaiians represent the demographic group with the highest number of childien applying for Aid For Dependent Children, the highest rates for repoited child abuse and the lowest life expectancy. Although Native Hawai-

ians make up zu percent ot the populahon, they aie 38 percent of those in Hawaii prisons. Mueh of the difficulty has to do with obtaining enough education to compete for jobs in high- priced Hawaii. At the present time, 47,274 children who are pure or part Native Hawaiian are being educated in the public school system, approximately 25 percent of the total. The Bishop Estate, with its enormous assets, educates only 4,402 (3,200 at the Kapālama campus), less than 1 percent of the total. The laek of educational opportunity virtually ensures a small educated class and low eeonomie growth among Native Hawaiians. In the age of information technology, with its global markets, ethnicity and race are less important than the ability to master mathematics and computer programming, or to create or sell a usable producL Whatever bad cards Native Hawaiians diew in the 19th century, the decision of the Bishop Estate trustees, with their vast resources, to limit to an elite few the education of

native children will have longterm repercussions for the future of the Hawaiian people. "»17 rt Whal needs to be elone. In New Zealand, the Maori are negotiating as equal partners with the white govemment over the fiiture of their countiy. A similar process must accord Native Hawaiians special status for land claims in the way that Native Americans are treated in states such as New Mexico - where many Ameiiean Indians live in self-goveming eommunities under the American flag. (To some extent this process is already happening. The public disagreements within OHA and the aiguments over Princess Abigail Kawānanakoa sitting on the throne chair at Iolani Palaee reflect Native Hawaiians' growing ease in discussing their issues, regardless of what others may think) There must also be recognition of the SDecial reauire-

ments of Native Hawaiians. Native Hawaiians represent peihaps the largest group that fishes and gathers plants. They also have special claims on the land because of burial rights and religious practices. Thanksgiving is celebrated eaeh year as a great Ameiiean holiday that brings families and communities together befoie God. But we know today - thanks to new, more objective historical research - that the joy in this event is really one-sided. The children of Wampanoag have less to be thankfiil for than those of the Pilgrims. As the truth emerges about what really happened 100 years ago Hawai'i, too, must squarely face its pasL Native Hawaiians must be acknowledged politically for what they have always been: a separate nation with their own language and culture. Only then will white and Asian Hawai'i and Native Hawaiians be free from the bitterness that keeps us from moving together into the 21st century. ■

United States Senator Dan Akaka and University of Hawai'i Regent Nainoa Thompson are among those who have heeome major players in Hawai'i's puhlie life.