Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 26, Number 2, 1 February 2009 — 'We all have a great deal to be proud of' [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

'We all have a great deal to be proud of'

By ī. Ilihia Giansan Publicatians Editur Five years after Native Hawaiians began registering themselves and their 'ohana with Kau Inoa, the registry has reached a milestone: more than 100,000 Hawaiians have placed their names, perhaps a quarter of the total Native Hawaiian population worldwide. The latest count of registrants available at press time was 102,881, midway to the goal of registering half of the 400,000 Native Hawaiians worldwide. "I'm proud and excited. Hawaiian Governance has always worked hard to educate people about Kau Inoa," said Chantelle Belay, a lead advocate in OHA's Hawaiian Governance division who has been working on building the Kau Inoa registry since its genesis in 2003. "We all have a great deal to be proud of." Kau Inoa is just the frrst step toward building a Native Hawaiian governing entity. OHA's Hawaiian Governance division is looking to the coimnunity to fonn the next steps toward holding a nation-building convention, where elected delegates will discuss the fonn of the governing entity and draft governing documents. Since the first registration in Ianuary 2004, Hawaiians have been signing up en masse in front of grocery stores, at concerts and in neighborhood OHA offices to have a voice in building a new Hawaiian nation. In the course of registering beneficiaries, OHA has provided pens, bumper stickers, wristbands, and of course the ubiquitous black and red Kau Inoa T-shirts that have found homes with Hawaiians across Hawai'i and on the continental U.S./the globe? Hawai 'i Maoli, a nonprofit entity of the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs, is the official repository for Kau Inoa registrations. The intent is that the list will be turned over to the governing entity when such an entity is created and recognized. S

Registering Hawaiians at the recent Kū i ka Pono March and Rally. - Photo: Blaine Fergerstrom