Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 21, Number 9, 1 September 2004 — Akaka Bill detractors fuel the permanent loss of fimding for vital Hawaiian programs [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Akaka Bill detractors fuel the permanent loss of fimding for vital Hawaiian programs

Aloha all. As the Board of Trustees visits eaeh island, as we hear from the few souls who take the time to attend our community meetings, as we give of our time to hear community members give their mana'o to us, I have noticed a recurring theme from Hawaiians who attend: we don't need Akaka so let us go back to where we were in 1893. My purpose in continuing to write this eolumn is to focus on the other side, whieh is for the most part silent at puhlie meetings of Hawaiians. I appreciate my colleagues on the board recognizing individuals and programs benefiting Hawaiians since that is a key role OHA plays in seeking to improve life for Hawaiians. I am appreciative of the funding OHA has provided for so many programs and situations for the benefit of Hawaiians, and I hope to be able to continue to assist in

this objective of "Hawaiians helping Hawaiians" and thereby the rest of the state. What we fail to acknowledge as we recognize recipients of grants and aid from OHA is that we stand a good ehanee of losing future funding for the betterment of Hawaiians should we fail to secure our existence as an indigenous people via act of Congress. Lands such as Mū'olea Point in Hāna with a rich and cultural Hawaiian history whieh are still undeveloped and pristine will not have a ehanee of being preserved for the benefit of Hawaiians and Hawai'i but will be lost forever to landowners who will do what they so desire and will preclude us from experiencing the Hawai'i of our ancestors. Even today, there are those Hawaiians who believe that this is not something for OHA to seek to preserve, but for others. Without federal recognition, there is not even an argument to be had:

OHA and its funds will not be around to offer to preserve these lands and protect them from nonHawaiians with their money and their own agendas. And so, instead of nitpicking the Akaka Bill, Hawaiians should be picnicking on a feast of the positive effects the bill has for Hawaiians and on Hawai'i. First and foremost is the positive effect it will have in our argument against the Arakaki case plaintiffs. A win in the Supreme Court is absolutely necessary for the survival of the Hawaiians as a people and Akaka gives us the edge. Next is the voice we will be given in our nation's government and the assurance of a focus upon the needs of Hawaiians by the birth or our own Hawaiian government. A consolidation of Hawaiian agencies into one government will be a benefit to all Hawaiians and be unique in the scheme of indigenous governments

now existing. Pro-Independence opponents of the bill will not be deprived of the opportunity to eontinue arguing in the international courts for their independence for whatever that may be worth. Finally, the bill ean be amended, and will be many times hereafter, as Hawaiians seek to perfect it eaeh year. Though one senator has been a significant obstacle to passage of the Akaka Bill in Congress up until now, if ever the bill were to make it, the time is now, with our senior senators in plaee and able to aptly maneuver bills. This is a window of opportunity we must take advantage of and vigorously pursue. Failure is not an option to a proud people whose very existence depends upon their recognition and acceptance as an indigenous people of America and the host culture of Hawai'i nei. ■

Boyd P. Mossman Trustee, Maui