Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 13, Number 4, 1 April 1996 — Rebuilding a Hawaiian nation [ARTICLE]

Rebuilding a Hawaiian nation

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Land, land claims, natural resources, none of these ean be ignored in discussions of Hawaiian nation-building. Recognizing this, OHA's land and natural resources division, in cooperation with trustee leadetship. has played a key role in OHA activities since the creation of the agency and continues to take on a central role in many of the issues that face the Hawaiian community today. The division has a broad range of activities — helping to eonserve the past, strengthen the present, and shape the future — and is made up of many parts — some working within the agency, others extemally contracted. All eomhine to create an effective team focused on carrying out OHA's mandate. The recovery and protection of the past is a central component of land division activities. Land division officer Linda Delaney says the proper respect and treatment of ancestral remains and traditional objects from earlier times helps to strengthen the Hawaiian identity and spirit and ean have an empowering effect on individuals and the community. She adds that objects from the past have a spiritual power that cannot be overlooked. "These items contain the mana of the Hawaiian people, these items are sacred." Mea Kapu - Hawaiian Cultural Documentation Items Project In 1995, OHA's land division and Hui Mālama received a $45,000 grant ffom the federal government to estabhsh a computerized data bank of Hawaiian artifacts located in federally funded museums, institutions and federal agencies. The grant is part of the implementation of the Native Ameiiean Graves Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) Under the act, all museums receiving federal funds must summarize all

sacred and patrimonial objects, and inventory all human remains, in their collection. They then must send the infonnation to the affected native community. OHA has received more than ninety summaries listing thousands of objects whieh may be subjcet to retum as sacred or paūimonial Hawaiian objects. With the computerized information, OHA will be able to better monitor any sales of the artifacts, or remains, and ean begin consultations on possible repatriation of those objects. Recent discussions between Hawaiian groups over whether ki'i lā'au — an ancient Hawaiian artifact in a Rhode Island museum — ean be sold are some examples of NAGPRA and OHA inaction. "This is a sovereignty issue," Delaney explains. "Retrieving pieces of our past identity and restoring them to our care will bring together the Hawaiian people, it will make us whole, and assures our plaee in our homeland." Native Hawaiian Historic Preservation Uouneil The Native Hawaiian Preservation Council began as a 1989 task force created by OHA's Board of Tmstees in response to the discovery of ancient Hawaiian remains in Honokahua, Maui and changes in preservation laws. The council's mandate is to review federal, state, and county laws and to recommend changes to strengthen historic preservation and ensure the inclusion of Hawaiian values. Important achievements of the eouneil include: • lobbying successfully to have Hawaiian organizations in general and OHA in particular, named in such federal legislation as the National Historic Preservation Act and the Native Ameiiean Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. • recommending measures to minimize the effect of the H-3 highway

construction on historic sites in Hālawa Valley. These recommendations - including one suggesting the state buy the North Hālawa Valley from Bishop Estate - were eventually accepted. • repatriation of more than 1,000 'iwi (bones) from American museums in coordination with Hui Mālama i Nā Kūpuna o Hawai'i Nei. See Land Division page 4