Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 23, Number 12, 1 December 2006 — Warrior spirit [ARTICLE]

Warrior spirit

I am deeply concerned with a dreaded undercurrent in the Hawaiian rights movement summed up in Ronald Obrey's KWO letter from September 2005, in whieh he states, "We must work within the court system to obtain justice." As I read this, I look to our history and hang my head: look at how us Hawaiians just follow the curve. I am not trying to downplay the achievements of our legislators and lawmakers, nor am I trying to dishonor those who devote their lives to protecting our rights. I simply want to see that our warrior spirit lives on. Before any organization dedicated to fighting for Hawaiian rights was created, Hawaiians had to fight tooth and nail to get anything. Since then, Unele Sam has given us a few breaks, rights and organizations. All in all, while he has given Hawaiians more power than we enjoyed before, it has served more as a bit in the mouth than anything else. Now we only see that whieh we ean do in the courts, and we grasp for only what Unele Sam hangs before us. We have allowed ourselves to be contented on the scraps the U.S. government throws us. It's obvious that the courts, Legislature and Congress have failed us. Their system should never have been our system. The court system, the education system and the voting system are just institutions of control. If we confine ourselves within their system, we have already lost the fight, giving them the reigns to our future. Please, don't allow the spirit of Mākaha to become "domesticated" in the halls

of bureaucracy. Confused by their words, he'll speak their tongue, and stumbling through their narrow halls, he'll start walking their walk. Don't let our Hawaiian warriors walk and talk like American Soldiers! La'ameaomauna'ala Burgess Via the lnternet

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— KA LEO KAIĀULU ■ LETTERS TD THE EDITDR