Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 18, Number 3, 1 March 2001 — Makaʻala: Beware of 'divide and conquer' tactics [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Makaʻala: Beware of 'divide and conquer' tactics

Last year's ruling of the United States Supreme Court in Rice vs. Cayetano certainly opened up a huge proverbial ean of worms. It did not eome as a total surprise, as we knew someday we as Hawaiians might be faced with that kind of challenge. So now, all voters in Hawai'i ean elect OHA trustees, and by way of subsequent lawsuit, ean run as trustees. The current board reflects these new laws, as far more than the 100,000 registered Hawaiians selected the new board; and, for the

first time, a non-Hawaiian, Charles Ota, previously appointed as interim trustee by the governor, was elected. Now, the consolidated CarrolI and Barrett cases challenge the Department of Hawaiian Homelands, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, and the right of our people to gather. The Hawaiian Homes Commission Act defines native Hawaiians as those with 50 percent or more native blood. This was not the doing of Pnnee Kūhiō who pushed for a 1/32 blood quantum requirement.

Congress said 50 percent, whieh was a compromise. The Department of Hawaiian Homelands is not.a grant or trust, but a rehabilitation program for Hawaiians. When OHA was created by the 1978 State Constitutional Convention, delegates looked at the Hawaiian Homes Commission language and how its language had been inserted into the Admission Act. I'm sure that OHA's mandate to serve all Hawaiians as voted on by all Hawai'i voters at that time, spoke to the spirit of Prince

Kūhiō's original wishes. We must eome together as a people, not necessarily to always agree, but not be divided as the 50 percenters, and the thousands upon thousands of their keiki and mo'opuna who are a quarter Hawaiian or Iess. We are Hawaiian, Hawai'i is our 'āina kulaiwi (native homeland), and we honor those before us who sacrificed and worked hard so that we could be here today. ■

Linda Dela Cruz

■ Trustee, Hawai'i