Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 6, Number 10, 1 October 1989 — We, as natives, are not alone [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

We, as natives, are not alone

By Moanikeala Akaka

In mid-Ju!y I was invited to Greenland to attend the Inuit (Eskimo) Circumpolar Conference General Assembly whieh is held every three years. The Office of Hawaiian Affairs has participated in the past and it is part of OHA's Master Plan to meet

with native people nationally and internationally. We have many of the same value systems such as that of Aloha 'Aina. As native peoples, conservation practices are an integral part of our culture. We here in Hawai'i must stand up and be counted to protect our 'aina for the sake of the present and future generations. Tbe Inuit Circumpolar Conference was made up of Eskimos from Greenland, Canada, Alaska and, for the first time, those Eskimos from Siberia, USSR, as well. For over 10 years, the ICC has been trying to complete their 'Ohana of Inuit by having their relatives in Russia join them. Because of the Cold War, families have been separated for over 40 years. Now in view of perestroika and a wekome thawing of relations between America and Russia; there was mueh happiness as these natives, who have the same dance, cultural customs, food and who are the same peoples, were brought together. A guest speaker at the ICC was Dr. Erica Daes who is chairperson on the United Nations Working Committee on Indigenous Populations whieh is a part of the Human Rights Commission. She told us about a Draft "Universal Declaration of Rights of Indigenous Peoples" that will in the near future be taken before the General Assembly of the United Nations. I spoke to her for a fewmoments after her speech and she suggested I attend her working committee's annual session that was held July 31 - Aug. 4 in Geneva, Switzerland. I was encouraged to rearrange my schedule for as native leaders it is important to take advantage of opportunities to educate others, especially the United Nations, about our people's plight. It is to be understood that I was speaking for those Hawaiians who have elected me Trustee and others who may feel the same way. The following is a statement I was asked to make in Geneva: "Thank you Dr. Daes for the opportunity to speak and also for your bringing to my attention that such an important indigenous gathering was taking plaee in Geneva when you spoke at ICC in Greenland last week.

"I am Moanikeala Akaka, trustee for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, one of nine representing the indigenous peoples of Hawai'i. I was elected by over 20,000 registered Hawaiian adults, and as trustees it is our mandate 'to better the condition of the Hawaiian people.' "Though our office is supposed to be receiving 20 percent of the revenue from our Ceded Land Trust from the State of Hawai'i, in actuality we only receive a paltry one percent. There are also federal U.S. claims for land and money to be rectified as well. "Like other natives we remain 'strangers in our own homeland' while many who have eome to our island shores as immigrants have done very well for themselves — at our expense. By right as native peoples we have many resources, only we have not had access to them in what has eome to be known as America, so-called Iand of 'justice and freedom.' There is no justice and freedom for us as native peoples and our lands, for it is we who have been, and continue to be, exploited. Our native value system is based upon sharing and helping one another out, whereas this dominant Western system that has been imposed upon us is based upon competition and greed, creating a conflict of values. There was no such thing as private land ownership before Western influence, for our lands were owned communally. "Hawaiians today struggle for survival as now our homeland is priced far out of our reach. Food, land, housing and electricity costs are the highest in America while our wages are very low. Yet this last state legislature gave the Governor a 25 percent increase in salary, but failed to raise the minimum wage. Previously our Hawaiian nation was self-sufficient; today 95 percent of food in the State of Hawai'i has to be imported. For islands this is suicide for if the ships were to stop coming in to Hawai'i for a few weeks, people would be fighting eaeh other for food. "Service industry jobs such as those at McDonald's, 7-Eleven or working as hotel maids are the only jobs available to most of our people. The tourist industry is creating more and more of a caste system of haves and have-nots, while they want us to be the servant-class. Our best beaches are taken over by resort developments, and for $300 to $400 a day the rich ean stay in luxurious hotel rooms while we are expected to wait on them. On my island of Hawai'i, very little oeean frontage is accessible to our people as the tourists get preference and priority. Large corporations and more and more Japanese and other foreign investors are buying out our islands. Golf courses are being built and many, many, many thousands of dollars are being charged as membership fees to join these clubs, while loeal Hawai'i golfers ean-

not afford the high fees. Japanese investors are also buying out many existing hotels in our islands. "On a more positive note, because of mueh Hawaiian and community eoneem, we were recently able to stop the development of a hotel at Honokahua, Maui. Over a thousand of our ancestors' remains were being dug up for yet another hotel; this sacrilegious act was halted and our ancestors are being returned to their resting plaee. "Aloha 'Aina is our traditional value system. It means 'if you live in tune with and take care of the land, the land will take care of you.' These are eommon values we indigenous peoples share for our ancestors since time immemorial used conservation practices. They took only what they needed, for tomorrow was another day. We natives did not pollute or exploit our land and its resources. At a time when the world as we know it is being threatened by ozone-depletion and the Greenhouse effect, the industrialized nation states should pay heed to our native value of Aloha 'Aina. There is really no ehoiee for the sake of global survival, yet the recent Summit of so-called world leaders refused to deal seriously with this global Greenhouse and ozone-depletion threat. "The Office of Hawaiian Affairs believes it necessary that the Hawaiian people determine their own destiny and management of our resourcesfor the state and federal govemments have been negligent in fulfilling their responsibilities to our people. lt is imperative we become more self-suffi-cient. Upon receipt of our long overdue resources, we will be able to fund direly needed viable housing, educational, job training, culture, land, health and eeonomie development programs that will help uplift our people from their dismal plight, so that they may live in dignity in their own homeland. It is time for justice, fairness and moral right to eome into play. "Sea-mining to be done by multi-national corporations off the coast of the island of Hawai'i whieh I represent threatens to turn our oeean into 'the Pittsburgh of the Pacific.' The mining and toxic-waste dumping from this polluting venture is dangerous and exploitative and will do irreparable damage to our people and sea life. Because we are island people in the middle of the oeean, out of sight and out of mind, these corporations think they ean get away with this plunder. "The Native way should be an example of how the peoples of the world should live. Instead the powers that be have been exploiting us for generations and try to assimilate, decimate and destroy our way of life. Enough is enough! Ua mau ke ea o ka 'aina i ka pono, whieh means 'the life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness.' "Mahalo. Thank you for this opportunity to share with you our situation as indigenous peoples of Hawai'i."