Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 26, Number 1, 1 January 2009 — Front and center: Native Hawaiians and Hawaiʻi [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Front and center: Native Hawaiians and Hawaiʻi

Aloha pumehana kākou. As we greet Year 2009 and look toward the horizon before us, Hawai'i is front and center and Native Hawaiians must be front and center as well. Hawai'i is often proclaimed with mueh to offer the world - our aloha spirit, our island values, our appreciation of mukiple cultures, and lessons from our collective ancestors. A Divine Hand, and our ancestors, indeed have guided this moment for Hawai'i and the Spirit of Hawai'i to be one with the 44th President of the United States born and raised in these Islands. With equal anticipation, Hawai'i awaits impending Sainthood to be declared for Father Damien and Mother Marianne Cope - humhle, compassionate servants for the many who struggled to survive with dignity on the rugged and remote Kalawao peninsula on the island of Moloka'i. They now rise as two Saints destined for worldwide recognition having led others in eommitment and service to care for the "shunned," those claimed by Hansen's Disease. Consider further and particularly that Hawai'i and its "specialness" is rooted in Hawaiian tradition and values, culture and history millennia-old; and imagine what we, together, in collective effort, ean accomplish. In 2003, the Hawaiian Benevolent Societies (the 'Ahahui), the Hawai'i Congressional delegation, the Ke Ali'i Maka'āinana Hawaiian Civic Club and OHA served as catalysts urging that the statue of Kamehameha, onee in a dark corner of Statuary Hall in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol, be relocated to a more appropriate venue. In partnership with the Capitol Architect, Kamehameha was relocated in September and now stands prominent in a plaee of honor under a skylight open to the heavens, in Emaneipahon Hall in the new Capitol Visitors Center opened to the puhlie on Dec. 2. Also lighting the way for Hawai'i

and Hawaiian culture is the Hawai'i Commemorative Quarter, the Kamehameha Coin, the final eoin memorializing the last of the 50 states. Ua mau ke ea o ka 'āina i ka pono (The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness) frames Kamehameha's ann outstretched to all the islands. This eoin in circulation around the United States and the world emboldens this message of pono. The Quarter is a powerful voice for Native Hawaiians and all of Hawai'i affrrming Kamehameha, an indigenous, native leader bearing witness to his leadership and 1810 unification of these islands into one governance that survived for nearly 85 years. Although the "illegal overthrow" of Hawaiian government in 1893 led to annexation of Hawai'i in 1898, history notes throughout the 1900s, numerous efforts by other Native Hawaiian leaders to stabilize, improve and advance the poliheal, eultural, social and eeonomie condition of Native Hawaiians. From these efforts emerged the Ali'i Trusts, the Hawaiian Civic Club movement, the 'Ahahui (Hawaiian Benevolent Societies), the Hawaiian Homes Commission, OHA, Hawaiian Service Institutions and Agencies, other Hawaiian councils and associations, federal programs, and the 1993 Apology Bill - to menhon only a few. 2008 Presidential and Congressional eleehon results open the window of opportunity for Native Hawaiian initiatives and Hawai'i initiatives. No more waiting time to ensure that Native Hawaiians have similar recognition and legal protection as the other two indigenous groups in the U.S., American Indians and Alaska Natives. A timely passage and enactment of the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act is anticipated. Committed support by the President-elect has been memorialized. Hawaiian governance guided by Native Hawaiian leadership is at the forefront, poised to re-emerge, to reorganize with passage of the Native Hawaiian Govermnent Reorganization Act (the Akaka Bill) as an option. Let us find and encourage Hawaiian leaders who are infonned, compassionate, humhle, hardworking, courageous and ethical, committed to service, not selfservice, to stand front and center. 2/48 ^

LEO 'ELELE ■ TRUSTEE MESSAGES

Haunani Apnlinna. MSW Chairpersūn, TrustEE, At-large