Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 25, Number 1, 1 January 2008 — Rebuttal to Stender column [ARTICLE]

Rebuttal to Stender column

I respected Oz Stender, but his malicious eolumn, "Fight cultural annihilation," about Small Business Hawai'i's October forum on the Akaka Bill is knowingly false and disrespectful. Even more outrageous is his likening our event to the movie "Bury Me At Wounded Knee," something that only validates critics of the Akaka Bill and its perceived divisiveness. As president of SBH, let me set the record straight. A sold-out crowd eame to hear "The Pros and Cons of the Akaka Bill's Impact on Hawai'i Small Business," - everyone wanted more debate. The program was open to everyone; all were invited to make conunents. Mr. Stender attacks speaker Elaine Willman of the Citizens Equal Rights Allianee (CERA), but never discloses that Ms. Wilhnan was one of two speakers in our well-balanced presentation and that Native Hawaiian Chamber of Conunerce spokesman Bruss Keppeler was given equal

time to support the Akaka Bill. Mr. Stender puts down Native Hawaiians who spoke up calling them "tokens" while making the outrageous elaim that SBH wants to "annihilate" Native Hawaiians who refuse to "assimilate." How disrespectful, degrading and patronizing from an OHA Trustee. What motivates Mr. Stender is unfathomable to me. Samuel M. Slom President, Small Business Hawai'i