Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 3, Number 1, 1 January 1986 — E Ala Na Moku [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

E Ala Na Moku

By Moanikeala Akaka Trustee, Hawaii

As Trustee for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, I feel it necessary that we be accountable to you, our eonstituents, through more than the election process every four years. It is our mandate through the Constitutional Convention to help "better the conditions of the Hawaiian people." For many, it is a matter of survival; the U . _ . _ _ .1 I I

grass-roois neea KOKua. Circuit Court Judge Edwin Honda's recent ruling reaffirms his earlier one that states "OHA does have the right to sue the state for our share of harbors and airport revenues of ceded land" whieh could enable we Trustees to create housing, job training, education, health services and other survival programs desperately needed by our people. This would not be a handout to we natives, but our legal entitlement, as we

native Hawaiians receive 20 percent of ceded resources through OHA while the state, usually the Department of Education, receives 80 percent. It should he remembered that if not for the Hawaiian people and nation, the state would not haue the ceded land trust at all. Through these resources, we OHA Trustees ean create programs that depressing statistics prove we need to better our peoples' condition. We ean do it, but first we need Trustees "who care, have eleu minds and no scared." After all, we Trustees were elected to be advocates. Remember, there will be five Trustee vacancies in 1986. We need an aloha aina slate statewide for OHA and other offices. We must make the Hawaiian vote count for those who care about justice and will help take our nation and aina forward. We natives have been used far too long by these politicians, including Hawaiian ones who, onee elected by us, turn around, abuse and neglect Hawaiian needs and eoncerns. Frank Fasi and D.G. Anderson's abuse of native Hawaiians at Waimanalo Beach in early summer on lands under the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands is an example we must not forget. OHA needs an advisory committee statewide of caring, concerned, grass roots leaders who know and live with and understand the problems facing our kupuna, kamalii and makua today, who want to do something about it, who best know the problems but the people living with them, not the "maka-maka alii." Though in the old days, our ali'i helped kokua the people, today it is said that they are out for themselves and become Americanized, institutionalized, bureaucratized, and close their eyes while our people and aina suffer. If honest, you'll admit this is true, yet, there are those of us who care; so now it is time to stand up and be counted. This is a very crucial time in our Hawaiian history, our people, your children need your kokua. You ean make the difference. E ala na moku O ke kai liloloa E moe loa nei Maka'e o ka po Aloha aina Wake up Our islands are ebbing away, While you sleep We are on the edge of darkness To love the land May the new year take our Hawaiian nation forward. Ua mau ke ea o ka 'aina i ka pono.