Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 17, Number 2, 1 February 2000 — Kahoʻolawe as a model for reconciliation [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Kahoʻolawe as a model for reconciliation

Following is Trustee Maehado 's excerpted testimony to the U.S. Departments ofJustice and Interior regarding reconciliation between Native Hawaiians and the United States government. Trustee Machado serves as OHA's representative to the Kaho 'olawe Island Reserve Commission (KIRC). KAHO'OLAWE AND the KIRC exemplify a model and a means for reconciliation. Located seven miles south of Maui and traditionally significant as an island sacred to the god Kanaloa, Kaho'olawe was Hawaiian Kingdom government land until annexation. During World War II, the Navy seized Kaho'olawe and was given title by an Executive Order for its use as a bombing target. Through civil disobedience and political activism over a 20-

year period, Native Hawaiians (and their supporters) protested this unconscionable desecration of sacred land. Kaho'olawe and the struggle to end the bombing served as the inception and foundation of the contemporary Native Hawaiian sovereignty

movement. After an initial strategy of occupation, the Protect Kaho'olawe 'Ohana (PKO) sued in federal court and secured a consent decree limiting the use of live fire, requiring programs of environmental protection and restoration, and providing for cultural and religious use by Native Hawaiians. Through the efforts of Senators Akaka and Inouye, former Govemor John Waihe'e, and the sustained activism of the PKO, legislation was eventually passed to bring Kaho'olawe home. In 1990, following a directive from President Bush, Congress passed legislation to temporarily halt the bombing and to establish the Kaho'olawe Island Conveyance Commission to study and make recommendations about the island's future status and use. In 1993, following the commission's final report, Congress passed legislation (Title X) to

end military use, elean up the island and return it to the state whieh then created the KIRC, a semi-autonomous agency eontrolled by Native Hawaiians, whieh manages the island and

holds it in trust for a future sovereign entity. Īitle X provided funding to the Navy to clear the island of bombs and repair the environment, and also to the state for planning and restoration. These funds go into a trust that ean only be used for Kaho'olawe, with the authorization of the KIRC. In 1994, the KIRC entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Navy, outlining a process and commitment for the eleanup of the entire island surface and a deeper subsurface eleanup for 30 percent of the island. The eleanup is a tough project and has not progressed well; the KIRC is eoncemed about the Navy's ability to fulfill the terms of the MOU. Additional funding, and greater See Machado on page 8

"Kaho'olawe and the struggle to end the bombing served as the inception and foundation of the contemporary Native Hawaiian sovereignty movement."

V I e E CHAIRPERSON'S MESSAGE

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AAACHADO

From page 6 Native Hawaiian oversight of the Navy, may be needed to achieve the standard of eleanup that is one of the primary terms of reconcihation for Kaho'olawe. Key Features of the Kaho'olawe Model Significant provisions of the federal and state laws returning Kaho'olawe and establishing the KIRC may be of interest when we look at reconciliation with Native Hawaiians. The 1990 federal legislation provided for Native Hawaiian leadership and participation in framing the mechanism for Kaho'olawe's reconcihation. The 1993 federal legislation provided for the return of land, the environmental restoration necessary for the land's meaningful re-use, and initial funding of the successor (non-federal) management entity. The apphcable state law is equahy significant: • It contains the first ever reference and acknowledgement to the existence of a sovereign Native Hawahan entity in state law, and provides for transfer of Kaho'olawe to that entity upon its recognition by the state and the U.S. Congress. • It immediately established a management entity, KIRC, eontrolled by Native Hawahans and having governing authority over the island and resources to implemenī programs of restoration, management and education. • It embedded in the law the vision and purpose of using a Native Hawahan cultural approach to restoring and managing the island, and of revitalizing tradihonal cultural rights and practices for the benefit of the broader community. As we discuss reconciharion, it is important to remember that a successful demonstration model exists between Native Hawahans and the U.S. government, and it provides for the return of lands, the provision of funding and the estabhshment of an autonomous Native Hawahan management authority. ■