Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 17, Number 5, 1 May 2000 — Difficult times for Hawaiians [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Difficult times for Hawaiians

WE HAVE witnessed many things of late; things and actions that have occurred that wiU change our Uves and Uie Uves of our ehildren and families forever. Some of us truly beheve that recognition by the federal govemment is the only course of aeūon. Perhaps it may be. I don't know. When the Office of Hawauan Affairs was started, the Legislature was determined to control OHA ffom day one. Continuous educational fomms were provided. Govemor Waihe'e directed Norma Wong to sit with OHA and identify issues and proposed solutions. Act 304 was bom; it identifies 20 percent of the ineome from certain ceded lands to go to OHA. Even as this was happening, OHA was not receiving this identified ineome. As advocates for the Hawaiians, we resorted to Utigation as another way of ensuring adherence to Act 304. All my life, it has been my

experience that Hawaiians have had to scratch and elaw to retain their own culture and control of their affairs. The Legislature has never supported any issues that we had proposed. And now we go to the feds? Aren't they the reason we are now becoming, onee again, pawns in the disenfranchisement game? The mistake I made in 1978 was to honesUy beUeve that democracy would work for us, that the poUUeal wiU to identify resources described in law would be identified, accounted for and distributed in accordance with the intentions of the ffamers of the Admission Act of 1959, specificaUy Section 5. But now we are experiencing another eoup d'etat wherein WilUam Burgess and John Goemans are fanning Uie flames. Oh yeah, I forgot, 'Twiggy" somewhere in the ffont, claiming to be Hawaiian because his ancestors lived here. Out of Utis madness, smacking

of reverse discrimination, someone has lost touch wiUi the fact that Hawaiians were the original tenants of this land. Hawaiians' relationship with their culture and spirituahty accounts for our uniqueness. Strange, Hawaiians welcomed aU people with mueh aloha into their homes and now

those people are complaining, "Hawaiians reaUy are not entitled to a level playing field" or, "The overthrow was just as painful to the entire community" so, "Entitlements, then, are to be given to everyone." The laws that provide entitlements to Hawaiians were not enacted by Hawaiians but by those of other persuasions and now enemies of the Hawaiians want to take the last vestiges of empowerment from you. for 100 years, non-Hawai-ians have controlled our resources and they have managed to screw it up. Let us control our own; we are wiUing and capable. Enough of your coloniaUst mind set. Now, John Goemans declares he has chents of non-Hawaiian descent that wiU mn for positions as tmstees of the Office of Hawauan Affairs. Now, that is so cute isn't it? When our people 'ōlelo Hawai'i, wiU Mr. Goemans interpret? He is obviously

determined to destroy OHA; but more serious is his obvious hatred for Hawatians. Auwe! Pa'a nō ka po'e aihue, i ka 'ole (a thief persists in denying his guilt). And those who kāko'o will share the same hewa. E Goemans, pēpē 'ōmaka 'oe pā i ka pa'akai, uāni'i (You are a weak 'ōmaka; when touched with salt you stiffen)! History will show and has shown that Hawauans have been subjected to the ltices of Goemans, Burgess and 'Twiggy," the modem day committee of luku. 'A'ole hiamoe e nā po'e aloha, ho'omākaukau. Do not play into the hands of the enemy, lawa, we must stop attacking eaeh other, let us eome together and wala'au and if we disagree with eaeh other it should not mean we are enemies, it just means we disagree and require more wala'au. After OHA, who next? Department of Hawaiian Home Lands? ■

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