Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 20, Number 11, 1 November 2003 — Royal society members join trustees on historic D.C. trip [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Royal society members join trustees on historic D.C. trip

Ali'i descendants help lobby for passage of federal recognition bill

By Naomi Sodetani In 1897, Queen Lili'uokalani traveled to Washington, D.C., to protest Hawai'i's annexation before the U.S. Congress. For the first time since her journey, descendants of Hawaiian ali'i walked the halls of Congress in September to make a similar personal plea. Dressed in their impressive flowing regalia, nine members of royal societies, including the Royal Order of Kamehameha, 'Ahahui Ka 'ahumanu, Hale O Nā Ali'i O Hawai'i and the Daughters and Sons of Hawaiian Warriors, visited the offices of all 100 senators, urging them to support legislation that would establish a process to extend U.S. recognition to a Hawaiian governing entity. During the same week, undeterred by Hurricane Isabel's sweep through the eastern states, Office of Hawaiian Affairs trustees and staff also met with key lawmakers, leading minority organizations and members of the Hawaiian community. The trustees' fourth trip to the nation's capital this year focused on moving the issue of Hawaiian recognition onto the Congressional calendar for a floor debate See DC TRIP on page 3

Photo: Richard Pezzulo Royal society members Marguarite Kealanahele, Margaret Stafford and Edward Akana talk in a Senate hallway with a staffer for Sen. Jim Jeffords of Vermont.

DC TRIP from page 1 before the full Senate. "This is really the full court press," OHA Administrator Clyde Nāmu'o said. "Our eommunity needs to know the trustees are very mueh committed to making this happen. Having OHA there as a constant reminder, whieh is really what the visits are all about, is to let the lawmakers know that we're still interested, we want to see this bill passed." The trustees and royal society members met with representatives of national minority organizations, including the National Association fot the Advancement of Colored People, the Japanese American Citizens League, the National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium and the National Organization of Pacific Islanders in America, an umbrella group comprised of organizations representing Asian and Pacific Islander groups. The groups' response was "overwhelmingly positive, very supportive," Nāmu'o said. "As minorities, they understand the issue of social injustice. They also understand the distinction between indigenous and minority rights, whieh is an important distinction, and more importantly, the need to correct historic injustice." "We believe that Native Hawaiians are entitled

to be accorded this status based on historical, legal and constitutional grounds," NOPIA Chairperson Celestin Aguigui wrote in a letter of support endorsing the Akaka-Stevens legislation. OHA Chairperson Haunani Apoliona called the Hawaiians' visit "a blessed mission" undertaken by groups founded by the ali'i and steeped in tradition. "It's the first time the royal societies have stepped forward in voicing their support for the recognition bill," she said. Ali'i Sir William Souza, protocol officer for the Royal Order of Kamehameha, said the royal society members traveled to Washington at their own expense, prompted by a sense of urgency. "It was truly a diplomatic mission," Souza said.

"We don't do this kind of thing, but we feel it's our responsibility not to be silent ... We felt it was time to express our mana'o on preserving our eulture, our programs, to show who we are as a people." Though the Akaka-Stevens Bill "is not a cure-all, it's not a perfect thing," Souza said, he believes "it's a first step we need to move things forward." The Hawaiians, many among them kūpuna, split into teams of three, turning heads as they walked through the three Senate office buildings. "It's very important that people begin to realize that we actually exist," said Eirayna Kaleipolihale Adams, a member of the Daughters and Sons of Hawaiian Warriors. "If they ean recognize us by seeing us, perhaps they will recognize us on paper." "The momentum of support in the Senate is building," Apoliona said. But with an agenda full of pressing economy and global security concerns, she acknowledged, "We know the road is long." By lining up the support of other indigenous people and minorities, Nāmu'o explained, "Our strategy is to show the administration and the White House that, 'Look, there is wide support among all the different minority groups and indigenous people, and that Native Hawaiian recognition is something they all support."" ■

Royal society members, OHA Trustees and National Museum of the American lndian staff gather by a statue of the great Nez Percē leader Chief Joseph.

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