Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 20, Number 04, 1 April 2003 — Leo 'Elele [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Leo 'Elele

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John D. Waihe'e IV ] Trustee, At-large

No aloha in a 'colorblind' Hawai'i

The Campaign for a Colorblind America, the opprobrious organization backing the drive to eliminate the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, is certainly busy these days. Not content to confine its atrocities to any single plaee and coming off a successful campaign ending affirmative action in California government and universities, its latest crusade seeks to prohibit the golden state from collecting racial data on its citizens. Called the 'Racial Privacy Initiative,' this demented endeavor would make it nearly impossible to measure the impact of race on socio-economic matters or collect concrete evidence for litigation against discrimination or inequality. Racial data has been a useful tool for many minority groups, native Hawaiians in particular. Hard data provided the United States with tangible evidence that the illegal

overthrow of the Hawaiian government had an adverse affect on native Hawaiians. In an effort to reverse the impact of that action, the U.S. Congress consequently established the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act as well as over 150 federal laws dealing with a myriad of issues concerning native Hawaiians. Needless to say, the Racial Privacy Initiative poses a serious threat to California. It also poses a serious threat to the rest of the country, as there is no reason to believe that the Campaign for a Colorblind America will be satisfied limiting this effort to a single state. There is also no reason to believe that it will be satisfied should it succeed in passing the Racial Privacy Initiative and/or eliminating the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. In fact, there is no reason to believe that the Campaign for a Colorblind America will ever be

satisfied until the United States becomes a society that aeeommodates a single culture, as defined by it. Unfortunately, its definition of Ameiiean culture is one that whitewashes the Country's diversity rather than celebrate it. The eoncern for native Hawaiians is that historically what has been defined as "Ameiiean" has often conflicted with what is "Hawaiian." In a eolorblind Hawai'i, all the laws established to address these conflicts would be rendered unconstitutional. This puts more at stake than just University of Hawai'i tuition waivers and Hawaiian governmentsponsored rehabilitation programs and service providers like OHA, DHHL, and Alu Like. Laws protecting Hawai'i's traditional and customary rights would have no plaee in a colorblind Hawai'i. Neither would Hawaiian language immersion programs. Hawaiians would not qualify as claimants

under NAGPRA, or for any laws affecting native peoples in a colorblind Hawai'i. Developers would not need to conduct a Cultural Impact Statement, at least not one based on native Hawaiian culture, in a colorblind Hawai'i. Actually, any law involving native Hawaiian culture: fresh water, kuleana lands, gathering practices.... the list goes on, would have no plaee in a colorblind Hawai'i. For generations, Hawaiians who have asserted their cultural identity were stigmatized as rabble-rousers who should be stifled in order to keep the Ameiiean status quo comfortable. By its actions here and in the mainland, it is evident that the Campaign for a Colorblind America wants to mutate this unconscionable prejudice into law. ■