State of OHA
Here is the full text of Haunani Apoliona’s speech:
OFFICE OF HAWAIIAN AFFAIRS
State of OHA and the Native Hawaiian Community
Remarks of Trustee Haunani Apoliona, MSW
Chairperson, Board of Trustees
Wednesday December 7, 2005
Kawaiahao Church
Aloha mai kakou e na oiwi olino mai Hawaii a Niihau a puni ke ao malamalama.
Aloha e na kupuna, na makua, na opio, na keiki a me na kamaiki e akoakoa mai nei, ma keia hale pule laahia o Kawaiahao a maloko i ko kakou mau hale ohana a puni ke ao malamalama.
Aloha e na kamaaina a me na malihini kekahi. Aloha no kakou a pau loa.
Oiai e hiki koke mai ana ka hopena o keia makahiki, he wa kupono keia e helu a e hoomanao i na hana nui a koikoi o na mahina i hala aku nei a ke Keena Kuleana Hawaii, a me ke kaiaulu oiwi Hawaii kekahi.
No laila, e hoomaka kakou.
Translation Greetings to our esteemed fellow Native Hawaiians from Hawaii to Niihau and around this brilliant world. Aloha to the elders, adults, youth, children and toddlers who have assembled here at mid-day at this sacred church, Kawaiahao. Greetings to long time residents and newcomers alike. Aloha to you all!
As the year quickly comes to a close, this is a fitting time for us to collectively recall the many important accomplishments over the past months of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and the Native Hawaiian Community, our beneficiaries. Therefore, let us begin.
Aloha and welcome to all who have taken the time to gather with us, in our homeland and elsewhere, to hear this message.
When we talk about the State of OHA, we are also talking about the state of the Native Hawaiian people and the challenges and opportunities for the Native Hawaiian community. We are also talking about the state of the soon-to-be Native Hawaiian nation and OHA’s role in relation to this Native nation. Since “State of OHA 2004” twelve months ago, much has occurred. We have accomplished some important tasks along the way but there remain several issues of great concern. This morning I will focus on a few key areas and suggest how we, Native Hawaiian people and all the people of Hawaii, can move forward from here, sustaining our host culture by bringing the best of our values and tradition from the past with us into the future.
Our tradition teaches us that there is power in the “word” – i ka olelo ke ola, i ka olelo ka make. That is why we are taught to be careful of how we use our words, cautious
about what we promise by our words, and respectful of what we declare by our words. Through theolelo, our kupuna (ancestors) continue to inspire, guide and teach us through olelo noeau. It is our kuleana to apply their timeless wisdom to do good and make a positive difference. I share three olelo noeau with you to set the context for my remarks today.
I. E kaupe aku no i ka hoe a ko mai. (Put forward the paddle and draw it back.)
This olelo noeau urges us to go on with the task that is started and finish it.
When the Office of Hawaiian Affairs was created in 1978, it was tasked with bettering the conditions of Native Hawaiians, a broad mandate covering many areas of priority and need. While some improvements are occurring, Native Hawaiians continue the struggle to surmount dismal socio-economic statistics in terms of education, health, homelessness, substance abuse, incarceration, and similar outcomes of dispossession.
Bettering the conditions of Native Hawaiians in the socio-economic, political, legal, cultural, native rights, natural resource, and environmental areas has proven to be a daunting task over the past 25 years, not just for OHA but for all public and private trusts established to serve Native Hawaiians.
Today’s pause in our journey gives us a chance to look back over the last twelve months, and I would like to share with you a few highlights of how the Trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs have addressed these areas of mandate in the year 2005. (A detailed 14 page summary is attached to the copy of this speech.)
In the area of education, OHA awarded 22 grants and 91 scholarships totaling $7.2 million. This includes a total two-year funding of $4.4 million, $2.2 million per year for two years, to Hawaiian-focused charter schools. Of this $7 million total, more than $5 million is for programs occurring in Department of Education public schools.
In the area of housing, OHA awarded $1.5 million to Habitat for Humanity to help 75 Hawaiian families with a “no interest” 20-year mortgage with monthly payments averaging less than $275 per month.
In addition, OHA maintains a program with First Hawaiian Bank and Bank of Hawaii, which provides mortgage loans for 103% of purchase price to cover down payments and closing costs.
In the area of economic development, OHA distributed $1.5 million this year:
17 business loans to Native Hawaiian businesses, totaling $917,000;
62 personal loans totaling $240,000; and
12 grants to community-based organizations totaling $350,000.
In the area of native rights, OHA responded to more than 600 requests for comments on land-altering activities and environmental issues concerning water use, cultural impacts, special management areas, land use, and protection of burial sites and iwi.
Of particular note is our collaboration with the Pele Defense Fund, Trust for Public Land, State Department of Land and Natural Resources, and USDA Forest Legacy Program to purchase and protect 26,000 acres of conservation land, Wao Kele O Puna, the last lowland rainforest in all of Hawaii nei.
Of equal significance, is that when title to these lands is conveyed to the Office of Hawaiian of Affairs in 2006, it will be the first parcel of crown or kingdom land returned to Native Hawaiian control, since the 1893 overthrow of the kingdom.
As mentioned earlier, more details on OHA’s funding, including initiatives in the areas of health and human services, grant awards and accomplishments these past twelve months can be found in the summary sheets attached to these written remarks.
Another fact of note, for fiscal year 2005, is OHA’s investment portfolio increase by approximately $55 million due to prudent actions taken under our investment policy. On September 30, 2005, our portfolio was valued at $363.9 million, slightly better than the reported all-time high of $359.7 million on June 30, 2000.
Our Trustees’ goal in growing the portfolio is to increase the annual allocation of funds, as permissible by our spending policy, for grants and awards OHA can distribute to relevant community-based initiatives and projects that: (1) enhance the quality of life for Native Hawaiians, and (2) strengthen capacity in our communities and families. We also need to assure adequate funding to continue ongoing advocacy efforts that will result in systemic changes to achieve positive impact for Native Hawaiians and in turn, improve conditions for all in Hawai’i. Concurrently, we keep our eye on the horizon for the time when a matured Native Hawaiian Governing entity will assume responsibility to administer and grow the assets transferred to it by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and Hawaiian Homelands. A lot of work has been done. But indeed, there is much more to do.
Of particular concern this year are the continuing legal attacks designed to end Native Hawaiian programs and funds by dismantling OHA and the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands and unraveling the missions of our Alii Trusts. Plaintiffs and attorneys, unified in their purpose and mindset, seek to eliminate the Native Hawaiian admission preference policy at Kamehameha Schools.
Two adverse decisions this year from the 9th Circuit, Arakaki v. Lingle and Doe v. Kamehameha Schools, underscore more than ever the need for us to come together and support formal U.S. congressional recognition of Native Hawaiians as an indigenous people.
These plaintiffs and their attorneys are linked to well-financed and politically-connected special interests. These parties intend to continue filing lawsuits until they succeed in dismantling all Native Hawaiian rights and programs.
As a community, we cannot let these two 9th Circuit decisions stand. We must challenge these decisions, in court and in Congress, because they seek to undermine all that we are and eliminate all the gains we have made in the past 112 years. If we do not stand up now, we can expect these plaintiffs to eventually seek to eliminate tuition waivers at the University of Hawaii; stop all federal funding for health, education, job training, and economic development; and challenge the survival of the other Alii Trusts.
The Office of Hawaiian Affairs, along with DHHL and our Alii Trusts, must and will vigorously defend against these efforts ---- whatever it takes.
The Office of Hawaiian Affairs has been in the Federal Courts since the year 2000. We have been to District Court, the Circuit Court of Appeals, and the U.S. Supreme Court. We do not relish the thought of spending any more time in these courtrooms. Nor do we relish deploying any more trust assets in the remaining half of this decade to Federal court battles when we could redirect these same resources to needs and priorities of Native Hawaiians.
We are only in the Federal Courts because a few file the legal complaints to hold hostage the many while concurrently attempting to rewrite history and instill fear in the community in which we live.
This is a battle that Native Hawaiians and ALL who support justice and fairness intend to finish and win.
II. Aohe hana nui ke alu ia. (No task is too big when done together by all.)
This second olelo noeau reminds us that nothing is impossible, no task is beyond our successful reach, when there is unified effort.
The task I am referring to is the building of a Native Hawaiian nation. This is our best legal and political option at this time in our history to, once and for all, affirm Native Hawaiians as an indigenous group of people. Native Hawaiians are not a “racial minority” as the “special interest opponents” would like you to believe. As an aboriginal people indigenous to these islands, Hawaii paeaina, we are a special political class entitled to certain protections under United States law.
Establishing ourselves as a Native Hawaiian nation will help to protect Native Hawaiian assets, federal funding and programs, and the Alii trusts.
To this end, OHA has helped to further nation-building by:
Supporting, since February 2004, and throughout 2005, the Native Hawaiian Coalition, an informal group of organizations and individuals tasked with determining the steps to be followed in the process of building a Native Hawaiian governing entity, inclusive of Native Hawaiians both in Hawaii and away from our shores, and to involve all Native Hawaiians in these steps going forward; and in fulfillment of their mission “to establish a process that will provide the Hawaiian people with a mechanism for achieving self-governance through self-determination” (NHC mission statement)
Supporting KAU INOA, a registration of all Native Hawaiians, wherever they may reside; and
Supporting passage of S. 147- The Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act of 2005 (Akaka Bill), one of the few options available to us today to protect Native Hawaiian assets, programs, and funding.
We know there is disagreement within the Hawaiian community about S.147 and federal recognition. To that end, we encourage all Native Hawaiians to get involved and find out the facts. Be informed. Don’t rely on second-hand or third-hand information. Read the Bill for yourself, understand what it means, and share your manao with your ohana. We cannot let the hurt, anger, and mistrust generated by the past infect and spoil the renewed efforts to generate positive outcomes for Native Hawaiians and Hawai’i nei.
Building a nation cannot be done alone or by only a handful of people. All Native Hawaiians need to participate. OHA cannot do it alone. All Native Hawaiian organizations and Trusts need to step forward and discuss nation-building with their beneficiaries and constituents. Native Hawaiian families must get informed and encourage education on these matters within the ohana. We must seek and welcome support from non-Natives, as well, in our pursuits. Natives and non-Natives unified for this cause will insure success. In 2005, over 2,000 supporters of S. 147 courageously stepped forward to place their names in two full-page advertisements in the newspaper and over 200 gathered in unified voice at Iolani Palace on an August morning to declare, “S.147, AE”.
Native Hawaiians have a cultural and spiritual capacity to work toward resolution of problems and conflict. We have strength in reconciliation. Now is the time to use our ancestral wisdom and discernment to forge common ground among our Native Hawaiians, chart the course for the Native Hawaiian nation, and make it a reality.
With nation-building, we have the opportunity to revisit the words of Queen Liliuokalani who, in 1917, near the end of her life said, “I could not turn back the political change.” In 2005 going forward, we have the opportunity to redirect that political change into one that can be of benefit to present and future generations. We must succeed. Our degree of success will be weighed by our capacity to work in unified effort.
The OHA trustees and administrator established a Washington D.C. Bureau in 2003 to assure an ongoing national presence and advocate for more than 401,000 Native Hawaiians. The primary goal is to educate Congress and the executive branch on issues important to Native Hawaiians and secure passage of favorable legislation at the national level.
In 2005, our Washington Bureau developed national partnerships for OHA and facilitated OHA’s co-sponsorship in 32 events and represented OHA at over 50 D.C., Congressional, Departmental, Alaska Native, American Indian, national and pacific organization meetings and events; and hosted Native Hawaiians and visitors to increase awareness of issues important to Native Hawaiians.
Passage of S.147 (the Akaka Bill) is the primary focus of the OHA D.C. Bureau because Native Hawaiian public and private trusts, programs, assets, and cultural resources are likely to be lost to future generations as a result of hostile litigation and misinformation. Enactment of S.147 is a solution NOW, because it reaffirms and clarifies the United States’ political and legal relationship with Native Hawaiians and establishes a process for federal recognition of a reorganized Native Hawaiian governing entity.
In 2005, the OHA D.C. Bureau coordinated initiatives with OHA trustees and the administrator, legal advisors, the Hawaii congressional delegation and key staff, the Governor of Hawaii, State and County policy-makers, Native Hawaiian royal societies, homesteaders, Hawaiian civic clubs, other Hawaiian organizations, American Indians, Alaska Natives, various Pacific and Asian American organizations, and an array of civil rights organizations to increase national understanding of our distinct Native Hawaiian community and secure support for passage of S.147- the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act of 2005 (the Akaka Bill).
Our presence in Washington, D.C., has reminded us that most people DO NOT KNOW that Native Hawaiians and our Native Hawaiian culture exist today, NOR DO THEY KNOW the history of the overthrow of our sovereign Hawaiian nation. They do not understand we are a unique, indigenous community living as Native Hawaiians through our ohana, cultural practices, Hawaiian institutions and organizations, and churches, while also living life to succeed within Western priorities and values. Washington D.C. and surrounding areas may not know all there is, but with our unified and diligent efforts they are learning.
III. Aohe loaa i ka noho wale. (Nothing is gained by idleness.)
This third, and final, olelo noeau, shared this morning reminds us that success is not earned without hard work, joint effort and the commitment of energy and passion to strive.
In seeking to build a nation and protect what many have worked in the past 112 years to achieve, we need to take action NOW. Native Hawaiians, throughout this nation and the world, must step forward to be counted. We are fast approaching 50,000 KAU INOA registrations, and we have 8 times that number to go if we are to achieve the levels of outreach to Native Hawaiians counted by Census 2000. We need to rebuild and reorganize our nation NOW. We cannot sit idly by and wait for others to do it for us. We must not let a few, disgruntled voices misrepresent our history. Nor can we let loud voices of intimidation attempt to control the process. Individual personal agendas of self-service within our Hawaiian community must not be allowed to detract from moving toward the greater good.
Lastly, on this commemorative day for Pearl Harbor, December 7, we are once again reminded of the patriotism of people in Hawaii over these decades of world conflict. We know indigenous people nationwide serve in the U.S. military at rates higher than any other ethnic group in the U.S. We are respectful and proud of all of Hawaii’s daughters and sons who have served America with distinction over the years, some to whom we have said goodbye … in this very Church.
I challenge all Native Hawaiians, and non-Hawaiians who support us, to extend patriotism to the building of our Native Hawaiian nation. Let the principles of self-determination be applied to the domestic agenda for Native Hawaiians. Our survival as a unique group of people, nurtured by culture and values millennia old, depends on our ability to withstand these legal attacks. The survival of the host Hawaiian culture, the foundation of our unique Hawaii life style and multi-dimensional community, depends on the collective efforts of all of Hawaii’s people, kamaaina, and malihini.
Closing
In our journey to rectify the past, we continue to be helped by many native people along the way including Alaska Natives, Indian tribes and native nations across the U.S, native nations in the Pacific, and other civil rights organizations throughout America. Alaska Natives and American Indians share their wisdom so we can learn from their experiences. Therefore, in closing, I wish to use a quote from one of their leaders, Vine Deloria, a beloved Indian writer who died just a few weeks ago. In his book Custer Died for Your Sins, in discussing the years of mistreatment and injustice by the U.S., Mr. Deloria notes, “It is up to us to write the [next] chapter of the American Indian upon this continent.”[1]
We, today, have the same opportunity to write the “next chapter” for the Native Hawaiian (in Hawaiian history).
Let us build a nation, a Native Hawaiian governing entity, with leaders and members who will go forward to reconcile past injustices and build for the future. Let us build a nation that embraces all Native Hawaiians, wherever they reside. Let us build a Native Hawaiian nation that respects the many non-Hawaiians who call Hawaii home; who have embraced our host Hawaiian culture as theirs in the multicultural lifestyle that is unique to Hawai’i, remembering that the faces of our 21st century ohana mirror all these cultures.
When we have done all of this, charting justice for Native Hawaiians, aware of the challenges and significant strides of the last 112 years, crafting changes which remain to be done while being sensitive to the needs of all who call Hawai’i home, we will have begun to write the next chapter in Hawaiian history. We, collectively committed, can and will make profound and magnificent progress, and it will be a story for and about Native Hawaiians of which we will all be proud.
And finally, I want to say mahalo a nui loa to all the working hands of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, our staff and employees. Our foundation of work that serves Native Hawaiian beneficiaries is one built by your labor and dedication to the mission.
On behalf of the OHA Board of Trustees and our community we thank you and those who have supported our efforts. May 2006 and beyond continue to mark successful steps toward our promising future.
Nolaila……………………………………
I mua, e na pokii, a inu i ka wai awaawa. Aohe hope e hoi mai ai.
Indeed there is no retreat.
Mahalo and aloha!
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posted by Hawaiians @ 3:23 PM
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